![Mantegna, madonna della vittoria, dettaglio 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Mantegna%2C_madonna_della_vittoria%2C_dettaglio_01.jpg)
The ''Madonna della Vittoria'' is a painting by the Italian
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
painter
Andrea Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna (, , ; September 13, 1506) was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini.
Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g. by lowering the horizon in order ...
; the painting was executed in 1496.
History
On 6 July 1495 the French army of
Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII, called the Affable (french: l'Affable; 30 June 1470 – 7 April 1498), was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. He succeeded his father Louis XI at the age of 13.Paul Murray Kendall, ''Louis XI: The Universal Spider'' (Ne ...
, retreating from Italy after the
French Invasion of 1494-1498, fought the Italic League at the
Battle of Fornovo. The League, commanded by
Francesco II Gonzaga
Francesco II (or IV) Gonzaga (10 August 1466 – ) was the ruler of the Italian city of Mantua from 1484 until his death.
Biography
Francesco was born in Mantua, the son of Marquess Federico I Gonzaga.
Francesco had a career as a condottiero act ...
, Marquess of Mantua, was made up of numerous nation-states determined to prevent French dominance in Italy, and included the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Venice, Milan, and the Papal States controlled by
Pope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI ( it, Alessandro VI, va, Alexandre VI, es, Alejandro VI; born Rodrigo de Borja; ca-valencia, Roderic Llançol i de Borja ; es, Rodrigo Lanzol y de Borja, lang ; 1431 – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Churc ...
. Despite the League failing in its goal to destroy the French army, taking more casualties at Fornovo, and allowing Charles VIII to retreat back to France with his army intact, Francesco claimed victory. As a sign of his self-proclaimed victory at Fornovo, he commissioned Mantegna to paint the ''Madonna della Vittoria''.
During Francesco's absence from Mantua, Daniele da Norsa, a Jewish banker, had purchased a house in the city's San Simone quarter and replaced the image of the
Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
which decorated its façade with his own coat of arms. The regent,
Sigismondo Gonzaga
Sigismondo Gonzaga (1469, Mantua – 3 October 1525, Mantua) was an Italian cardinal. He was the third son of Federico I Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua.
Life
He was the son of Frederick I of Mantua and commanded his brother Francesco II's troops ...
, ordered him to restore the depiction. Although Daniele agreed to do so, the populace, inflamed by anti-semitic feeling, destroyed his house.
When Francesco returned, he forced Daniele to fund a chapel and a devotional painting. The painting was to be executed by the Mantuan court painter, Mantegna, and was inaugurated in 1496 on the anniversary of the duke's victory at Fornovo. The work was placed in the church of
Santa Maria della Vittoria, which had been constructed over the ruins of Daniele da Norsa's house.
The painting was one of
the artworks looted by the French during the
Napoleonic invasion of Italy, and by 1798 was being exhibited in the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
. The painting was never returned; the given excuse was that its large size made the transport difficult. The presence of a
sulphur-crested cockatoo
The sulphur-crested cockatoo (''Cacatua galerita'') is a relatively large white cockatoo found in wooded habitats in Australia, New Guinea, and some of the islands of Indonesia. They can be locally very numerous, leading to them sometimes being ...
in the painting is considered as evidence of Arab trade in the Australasian region with the bird being a gift from
Sultan al-Kamil
Al-Kamil ( ar, الكامل) (full name: al-Malik al-Kamil Naser ad-Din Abu al-Ma'ali Muhammad) (c. 1177 – 6 March 1238) was a Muslim ruler and the fourth Ayyubid sultan of Egypt. During his tenure as sultan, the Ayyubids defeated the Fifth Cru ...
to
Frederick II.
Description
The altarpiece shows Francesco Gonzaga paying homage to Mary, who sits on a high throne decorated with marbles
intarsia
Intarsia is a form of wood inlaying that is similar to marquetry. The start of the practice dates from before the seventh century AD. The technique of intarsia inlays sections of wood (at times with contrasting ivory or bone, or mother-of-pear ...
s and
bas-relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
s. The base of the throne, with lion paws, has, within a medallion, the inscription "" (Queen of Heaven, rejoice, Alleluia); it lies on a circular basement with a bas-relief of the "
Original Sin
Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 (t ...
" and other stories from the
Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning") ...
which are partly obscured by the praying figures. The throne's back has a large solar disc, decorated with weavings and
vitreous pearls.
The child Jesus, who holds two red flowers (symbols of the
Passion) and Mary look at Francesco Gonzaga, who is kneeling and has a grateful and smiling expression while receiving their blessing. The protection given to Gonzaga during the battle is also symbolized by Mary's mantle, which partially covers his head. Opposite to the donor are
St. John the Baptist with a cross featuring the usual
cartouche
In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the fea ...
saying "" (Behold the
Lamb of God
Lamb of God ( el, Ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, Amnòs toû Theoû; la, Agnus Dei, ) is a title for Jesus that appears in the Gospel of John. It appears at John 1:29, where John the Baptist sees Jesus and exclaims, "Behold the Lamb of God wh ...
, which takes away the sins of the world), and his mother,
St. Elizabeth, protector of
Isabella d'Este
Isabella d'Este (19 May 1474 – 13 February 1539) was Marchioness of Mantua and one of the leading women of the Italian Renaissance as a major cultural and political figure. She was a patron of the arts as well as a leader of fashion, whos ...
, wife of Francesco Gonzaga. The choice of St. Elizabeth in the place of a patron may have been chosen as a message of judgement to the Norsa who were made to pay for the work as a penalty for removing an image of the Madonna from their home. Unlike the Norsa, St. Elizabeth who is represented as a Jewess in a yellow turban, was said to be the first to recognize the sanctity of Mary.
At the sides are two couples of standing saints: in the foreground are two military saints, the archangel
St. Michael with a sword and
St. Longinus with a broken spear, donning richly decorated armors; behind them are
St. Andrew
Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Peter ...
, patron saint of Mantua, with a long stick with the cross and
St. George
Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...
, another military saint, with a helmet and a long red lance.
The scene is set in an
apse
In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...
formed by a
pergola
A pergola is most commonly an outdoor garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are trained. The ...
of leaves, flowers and fruits, with several birds; the pergola's frame has at the top a shell (an attribute of the Virgin as new
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...
), from which hang threads of
coral
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...
pearls and
rock crystal
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
, as well as a large piece of red coral, another hint to the Passion of Jesus. The
parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoid ...
is a comment on the birth of Jesus.
[Lajos Kalmár: "Der intellektuelle Hintergrund der Vogeldarstellungen der ]Victorinus
Marcus Piavonius VictorinusSome of the inscriptions record his name as M. Piavvonius Victorinus, as does the first release of coins from the Colonia mint. A mosaic from Augusta Treverorum (Trier) lists him as Piaonius. was emperor in the Gallic ...
-Corvina
Corvina is an Italian wine grape variety that is sometimes also referred to as Corvina Veronese or Cruina. The total global wine-growing area in 2010 was , all of which is grown in the Veneto region of northeast Italy, except for planted in Ar ...
. Topos- und Status-Untersuchung der Illumination", Acta Historiae Artium, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( hu, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, MTA) is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. Its ma ...
, Budapest 1973, p. 34.
Notes
Sources
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References
External links
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''La Vierge de la Victoire'' Louvre
{{Authority control
1496 paintings
Paintings in the Louvre by Italian artists
Paintings of the Madonna and Child by Andrea Mantegna
Paintings depicting Michael (archangel)
Paintings depicting Andrew the Apostle
Paintings of Saint George (martyr)
Gonzaga art collection
Paintings of Elizabeth (biblical figure)