so that their feet and legs are lost to view in the exact proportions required; and in like manner with the spoils, vases, and other accessaries and ornaments, of which he permits only the lower part to be seen, the upper part being lost to view, as the rules of perspective demand,—a precaution observed with equal care by Andrea degl’ Impiccati[1] in the Last Supper, which he painted in the refectory of Santa Maria Nuova. We perceive, then, that these excellent masters carefully enquired into the various properties of natural objects, and imitated the life with studious care. As to this work of Mantegna, to say all in one word, it could not possibly be superior or more perfectly executed, wherefore if the marquis esteemed our artist before, lie valued and lionoured him much more highly ever after. But what is more, Andrea so increased his reputation thereby, that Pope Innocent VIII., having finished the building of the Belvidere, and having been informed respecting the excellence of this master in painting, hearing also of the other good qualities with which he was admirably endowed, sent for him, as he did for many other artists, to the end that he might adorn the fabric with his paintings.
Repairing to Rome, therefore, Andrea Mantegna went much favoured and highly recommended by the marquis, who, to do ]]im the more honour made him a knight. He was very amicably received by the pontiff, by whom he W'as immediately commissioned to decorate a small chapel which is in the palace. This he accomplished with so much care and goodAvill, that the walls and ceiling, minutely and elaborately adorned as they are, would rather seem to be painted in miniature, than decorated in fresco.[2] The largest figures of this work, like all the rest in fresco, are those above the altar, where the master has depicted the Baptism of Christ by St. John: around the principal figures are numbers of
- ↑ See the life of Andrea dal Castagno, ante, p. 104, note.
- ↑ These paintings were destroyed when Pope Pius VI. enlarged the gallery of the Vatican by the addition of the Nuovo Braccio, that Pontiff conamanding the chapel to be demolished in spite of all the efforts made to deter him from so barbarous an act. — See Platner and Bunsen, Beschreibung der Stadt Rom. Vasi, Itinerario di Roma, vol. ii. p. 518, affirms that there are still paintings on a ceiling of one of the rooms in the Borgia apartments, ascribed to Mantegna.
