The Mandolin Player

The young mother listens raptly to the father, engrossed in his mandolin playing in the shadows of an arbor. Her blue cloak and the green foliage surrounding her remind us of depictions of the Madonna in an enclosed garden (Hortus conclusus). But Anselm Feuerbach does not depict family bliss in this idyllic garden scene. Rather, here he has created a symbol of personal melancholy. The artist has portrayed himself as the mandolin player. The mother is Anna (Nanna) Risi, the wife of a shoemaker from Trastevere, whom Feuerbach viewed as the embodiment of the classic ideal of beauty. This was in keeping with his endeavor to produce a painting that is timeless. Nanna became Feuerbach’s model and mistress in 1860, but left him in 1865 for an Englishman, plunging Feuerbach into a deep personal and artistic crisis. The two did not have a child together. His great love did not turn out to be eternal but, instead, as fleeting as the music.