Andrea Mantegna

Timeline

1. 1431–1459Padua · PaduaHe entered Squarcione's workshop at about age eleven, cultivating an archaeological taste through plaster casts and drawings of antiquities, and later sued for independence after being exploited. From 1448 he participated in the frescoes of the Ovetari Chapel in the Eremitani Church (largely destroyed in World War II), and absorbed Donatello's sculptural space in Padua. In 1453 he married Nicolosia Bellini, opening an artistic dialogue with the Bellini family of Venice; the San Zeno altarpiece in Verona was completed around 1456–1459.
2. 1460–1474Mantua · MantuaIn 1460 he settled in Mantua at the invitation of Luigi (Lodovico) Gonzaga, becoming the most important court painter in northern Italy. Between 1465 and 1474 he completed the Camera degli Sposi (Camera Picta) in the Ducal Palace, embedding group portraits of the Gonzaga family into real architecture through unified perspective; the di sotto in sù illusion of the ceiling oculus became a precedent for later ceiling paintings by Correggio and others.
3. 1475–1506Mantua · MantuaAround 1484 he received the honor of knighthood. The nine Triumphs of Caesar, painted for Francesco II Gonzaga (begun c. 1484/1486, now at Hampton Court), transformed antiquarianism into a monumental procession. He worked in Rome in 1488–1490. Late religious paintings such as the Madonna of Victory reflect his sculptural modeling. He died in Mantua on 13 September 1506.