Throughout his life Mantegna was fascinated with classical antiquity. Giorgio Vasari, in the middle of the sixteenth century, was but the first of many to note how Mantegna's work in two dimensions aspired to the quality of sculpture, writing that 'Andrea was ever of the opinion that the good ancient statues were more perfect and had greater beauty in their various parts than is shown by nature.' From 1488 to 1490 Mantegna spent a year and a half in Rome, where he could revel in both the monumental architecture, standing since antiquity, and the statuary and reliefs that were being dug up and collected with Renaissance fervor by antiquarians. Much of his work after he returned to Mantua in the 1490s referred to this imagery. This composition and the companion 'Bacchanal with Silenus' were inspired by antique sarcophagi that were in the collections of the della Valle family and at Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. These prints, as well as his paintings of the 1490s that hark back to works seen in Rome, are prime examples of the way Mantegna's imagination could endlessly reformulate antique sources into entirely original designs. It has been conjectured that these compositions of classical subjects were originally destined to decorate one of the Gonzaga country palaces; alternatively, the suggestion has also been made that they were meant to exist only as prints.
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<P>Throughout his life Mantegna was fascinated with classical antiquity. Giorgio Vasari, in the middle of the sixteenth century, was but the first of many to note how Mantegna's work in two dimensions aspired to the quality of sculpture, writing that 'Andrea was ever of the opinion that the good ancient statues were more perfect and had greater beauty in their various parts than is shown by nature.' From 1488 to 1490 Mantegna spent a year and a half in Rome, where he could revel in both the monumental architecture, standing since antiquity, and the statuary and reliefs that were being dug up and collected with Renaissance fervor by antiquarians. Much of his work after he returned to Mantua in the 1490s referred to this imagery. This composition and the companion 'Bacchanal with Silenus' were inspired by antique sarcophagi that were in the collections of the della Valle family and at Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. These prints, as well as his paintings of the 1490s that hark back to works seen in Rome, are prime examples of the way Mantegna's imagination could endlessly reformulate antique sources into entirely original designs. It has been conjectured that these compositions of classical subjects were originally destined to decorate one of the Gonzaga country palaces; alternatively, the suggestion has also been made that they were meant to exist only as prints.</P>
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