Mantova. THE LOMBARD CITY AND PALAZZO TE, JEWEL OF MANNERISM

Mantova is an inescapable destination for art lovers thanks to the interventions in the city of Giulio Romano, Andrea Mantegna and Leon Battista Alberti.

by Fabio Massimo Penna

One is Raphael's most talented pupil, the other is the first Duke of Mantua. The one between Julius Romano and Federico II Gonzaga is one of the lucky encounters that positively mark the history of art. Gonzaga had long been in Rome and had been able to admire the work of Raphael and his circle and, having to rearrange Mantova to make it one of the main Italian cities, he plans to call in Lombardy Giulio Pippi, better known as Giulio Romano. Pippi had intervened in some frescoes of the room of theFire of Borgo in the famous rooms of Raphael in the Vatican and had participated in the decoration of Villa Madama, which shows the esteem that the Divine Painter had towards him. The artist receives the appointment of prefect general of the factories and superintendent of streets and palaces of Mantua. But, above all, it changes its appearance externally by creating the famous Palazzo Te just outside the city. The building is one of the greatest masterpieces of mannerism and was thought of as a place of recreation for Frederick II. The Roman artist designs a square-plan building attached to a spacious garden bordered by an exced and the duke's stables. The work shows an extreme balance between classical elements (lesene, lodges with arches) and motifs related to mannerist innovations (the vigorously detected bugnate, the sequence of serliane in the facade). The authentic jewel of the complex is represented, however, by the decorations inside. The room of Psyche, intended to exalt the power of love, in the succession of golden frames tells the story of the mythological maiden while on the walls imposes a lush feast of the gods with bright colors and brightly dissonant. The most striking fresco is, of course, that of the Hall of the Fall of the Giants in which, in the name of a bizarre all mannerist, the visitor feels threatened by the collapse of the painted architectures that, for a visual effect, seem to really crash inside the hall.

Another must-see is the Palazzo Ducale with the famous Chamber of the Newlyweds frescoed by Andrea Mantegna. The great artist of Isola Carturo (Padua) had obtained important assignments at the court of Gonzaga as that of curator of collections and artistic consultant and in 1465 receives from Ludwig III the commission to paint the 'camera picta'. Painting interacts with architecture in a set that combines real surface with illusionistic space. A fundamental element is the oculus of the ceiling that initiates the tradition of the "breakthroughs" (frescoes simulating an open space) that will have a great successor in Correction with the famous breakthroughs of the Cathedral and the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Parma. The oculus of the Palazzo Ducale simulates an opening from which are overlooked ladies and angels with putti protruding from the powerfully glimpsed balustrade. Also noteworthy is the prospective illusionism of the frescoes of the walls(The Court of Gonzaga and The Encounter between Ludwig III and his sons Francesco and Frederick) with the first painting showing a curtain opened by the wind that mimics a theatrical curtain that opens showing on the stage a court scene. Mantegna creates a wonderful gallery of characters with a naturalistic verismo and a attention to detail enhanced by the rich clothes of the effigies.

Another genius who defines the appearance of Mantua is Leon Battista Alberti. The Genoese architect is often remembered for his important theoretical activity that sees him spread the Renaissance novelties through the three essays De pictura, De re aedificaria, De statue. Among his works two are in the city of Gonzaga, the churches of San Sebastiano and St. Andrew. The latter church is characterized in the facade by the presence of two arches with the central one replicated by the overlapping arch located above the pediment. Alberti is inspired by the example of triumphal arches and thus realizes the Renaissance ideal that sees in antiquity the source of architectural norms and ideas to be declined in a modern way. The plant is a Latin cross with a unique aisle and the barrel vaults of the aisle and the transect refer to the architectural model of the Roman baths. The Church of San Sebastiano draws its inspiration from the cemetery places (martyrion) of antiquity. It is a central plan structure (a Greek cross) that in its structure should have shown a assiduous study of classical architecture. In this sense it must be understood the facade that personally reinterpreted the front of the ancient temple raised on a podium and characterized by the double staircase and the broken eardrum. The aesthetic rendering of the facade of San Sebastiano is, however, compromised by the interventions that have taken place over the centuries.