A Mantuan Private Collection, from Renaissance to modern times

The life of Jacobello is quite enigmatic, since the scarce news concerning him was dispersed within the fourteenth century. However, his art is high quality, and obviously cannot be separated from the Venetian environment, in particular the influence of Paolo and Lorenzo Veneziano. The only work definitely attributed to the painter is the Polyptych of Sant’Arcangelo, signed and dated 1385. In this beautiful work we can see a compositional approach, still owing to the Byzantine style, but naturally transformed by the new gothic sensibility. The rhythm of the colors in the Apostles’ clothes is combined with the slight sinuosity of their bodies, giving movement to this series of characters painted against a gold background. The compactness and solidity of the forms, the play of hands, and the effectiveness of the large white marble base gives the whole of the work a peculiar and truly convincing harmony, nevertheless expressing a quiet tension that translates into contemplative ardor.

The swallow that can almost be seen on the large green curtain is evidently a signature of the artist who, perhaps of Venetian origin, was certainly a pupil of Giovanni Bellini. The art of Mantegna's brother-in-law does not have sublime grace, and the composition shows an excessive rigidity in some areas, for example the Venetian landscape, opening up behind the couple, which is carried out in a much too simple manner. However, the beautiful hands of the Madonna and the complex folds of her red dress reveal the technique of an artist that is far from negligible and that channels the unrivaled magisterium of Giovanni in more frank ways.

Formerly known as the Master of the Death of the Virgin, Joos van Cleve is an important representative of the Antwerp school. He distinguishes himself from other contemporaneous masters by his numerous trips, especially those made in Italy. In this way he had the chance to know Leonardo da Vinci, at least artistically so. In fact, he was strongly influenced by Italian painting, as evidenced by this work in which the Virgin's face is evidently modeled on da Vinci’s examples. On the other hand, in the Prague National Gallery there is a painting that refers to the theme of the so-called Monna Vanna, or smiling woman such as the Mona Lisa, with a bare chest, reinterpreted in the appearance of a courtesan. In the group that appears here, the effort to adapt to the first Italian Mannerist style is particularly noteworthy, even if the glossy colors and the strained chiaroscuro testify to the artist's Nordic origins. The iconography of the fruit is interesting, in particular the cherries held by the child Jesus, symbols of the passion, and the apple lying nearby, which evidently evokes original sin.

Son of the most famous Francesco, Giacomo Francia participated at an early age in his father's workshop with his younger brother Giulio. He is therefore an artist who belongs to Bolognese and Emilian Mannerism, capable of works that are captivating yet robust, with bright colors, confident contours, and lavish appearances. For example, the solidity of this Saint Sebastian recalls the resounding physicality of Christ at the Column by Bramante, a famous panel currently hosted by the Pinacoteca di Brera. Note the physical prestige of the saint and his imperturbable gaze. He is a beautiful and almost heroic figure standing in front of a landscape, and on the left church or a temple seems to reveal itself behind a Giorgionesque tree. Giacomo Francia is therefore a gifted painter, continuing his father’s activity thanks to a copious and convincing opus.

Eberhard Keilhau is the real name of this painter, who was born in Denmark, specifically in Elsinore, the place of the legendary castle of Prince Hamlet. After coming to and remaining in Italy for some time at Rembrandt's workshop, Monsù Bernardo made long trips to the peninsula, living for example in Venice, Ravenna and Ferrara, and especially in Rome, where his stay had profound artistic resonance. He is one of the most interesting proponents of the so-called genre painting. Inspired partly by Caravaggio and partly by the Bamboccianti school, which loved to paint popular scenes of papal Rome, he spent most of his non-religious work portraying ordinary people, caught in the normal moments of life. In this context, for example, we admire a woman holding her baby in her lap while the baby suckles greedily from her breasts. At the same time, a man appears from the left, dressed in bright red and carrying a tablet with some items, perhaps jars for perfume or medicine, which he obviously offers for sale. The whole scene is extremely moving and pleasant, both for the richness of the colors, and for the spontaneity of the stroke that portrays the almost astonished faces of the characters, intent on productively completing their day.

In this work which is characteristic of his opus, Luca Giordano seeks expression and movement. The subject is the saint or the martyr to whom the Madonna appears, from her place in heaven with Baby Jesus in her lap, and this subject is enriched by a swirl of characters, probably soldiers and judges called to torment her, who perform a kind of circular movement of surprise, giving tone and vibration to the whole composition. The rest contains a happiness typical of Giordano and his exquisite talent with color. At first a student of José de Ribera in Naples, he then went on a series of journeys to perfect his technique, especially by spending time in Venice. Indeed, Luca Giordano retains the Venetian brilliance and ability to describe, with a few brushstrokes, figures in various attitudes. Yet he retains the solidity he has learned from the old masters, which he was able to demonstrate by becoming a famous painter and frescoing numerous churches and palaces throughout the peninsula and in Spain, from Florence to Castellamare, from the Escorial Monastery in Naples.

In religious-themed paintings, Giuseppe Bazzani very often manages to render, in an extraordinarily effective way, the yearning of the saints, which resembles ecstasy. This certainly happens in the beautiful work that we admire here, in which appears the favorite saint of Mantua: Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, progeny of the famous family, born in Castiglione delle Stiviere in 1568. The verticality of the painting defines the character, who appears slightly bent forward, completely immersed in his vibrant search for faith. The canvas was exhibited in Florence in the 1920s, then in Mantua, and it is dated to the 1740s. Here, once again, Bazzani shows the particular stylistic synthesis with which he operates, on the one hand starting from the distant example of Domenico Fetti and Rubens, and on the other, invigorating his paintings with the sensibility of Veneto, particularly of Venice.