7 ANDREA MANTEGNA The Renaissance was characterized by an intense reawakening of interest in classical Italian, circa 1431­1506 art and civilization. During the fifteenth century, some of the most overt emulation The Adoration of the Magi, of "classical" style occurred in northern Italy, especially in Padua and Mantua. This circa 1495­1505 was primarily due to the influence of Andrea Mantegna, who worked in both cities Distemper on linen and spent much of his career in the court of the Gonzaga of Mantua. 54.6 x 69.2 cm (21½ x 27 in.) Although Mantegna probably had no examples of classical painting for study, 85.PA.417 he did have access to some sculpture and to recently excavated fragments of Roman figures and reliefs. In his religious pictures, as well as his works with classical or mythological themes, the emphasis on sculptural models is apparent. His style is characterized by sharp definition of figures and objects, combined with a clear articulation of space. Some of his pictures are executed in grisaille, or tones of gray, as if he were imitating reliefs, and they give the impression of having been carefully carved in great detail. The Museum's painting was most probably made in Mantua, very possibly for Francesco II Gonzaga. It has a completely neutral background with no attempt to indicate a setting. Kneeling before the Holy Family are the three kings: the bald Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar the Moor. The hats worn by Melchior and Balthasar are reasonably accurate representations of oriental or Levantine headgear. Caspar presents a blue­and­white bowl of very fine Chinese porcelain (one of the earliest depictions of oriental porcelain in Western art). Melchior holds a censer, which has been identified as Turkish tombac ware, and Balthasar offers a beautiful agate vase. Objects of this sort were not commonly found in Italy, although some of the costume accessories might have been seen in Venice, which maintained an active trade with the East. They may have been gifts from foreign heads of state that formed part of the Gonzaga collections. The Museum's Adoration is one of the few fifteenth­century Italian paintings executed on linen instead of wood. Such pictures were not originally varnished because they were painted in distemper rather than oil. Varnish applied at a later time has darkened the linen, but the beauty of the figures and the richness of the detail have hardly been affected. BF 20 ITALIAN SCHOOL