Program

MANTEGNA AND BELLINI

They were contemporaries working at close quarters in 15th Century Padua, but Renaissance masters Giovanni Bellini and Andrea Mantegna shared much more than a city. In 1453, Jacopo Bellini – father of Bellini and tutor to Mantegna – consented to the marriage between Mantegna and Bellini’s half sister, Niccolosa, which made the friends then family. Concrete evidence of their relationship is ample, so this joint exhibition at the National Gallery next year – the first to show the two painters in juxtaposition – is long overdue.

Placing two vast collections of paintings, drawings and sculptures side by side, the exhibition promises to unfold a web of similarities. The focus will be on the ways that Bellini and Mantegna use perspective, their commitment to classicist themes, and their shared interest in architecture.

In 1460 Mantegna moved 80 miles inland of Padua to Mantua, where he remained until his death. Despite the distance, a continuing artistic exchange prevailed and techniques, themes, and motifs continued to crisscross between the two painters.