Well, it’s that time of year when wedding bells ring, and happy couples start a new life together. Back in the early Renaissance the same type of thing happened, but if it concerned a prince, duke, or marquis, as in this case, Marchese Ludovico Gonzaga II, things could definitely take a magnificent turn toward the spectacular. In fact, the famous Camera degli Sposi (often called the Bridal Chamber because it was set in what was Gonzaga’s bedroom at the time) was more a commemoration of the whole family that had sprung from the marriage of Gonzaga and Barbara de Brandenburg.
As can be seen above, this “bedroom,” which later became an area where the marchese would hold private audiences, is a painted wonder for several notable reasons.
PORTRAITURE
Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506) was noted for his ability to capture the human image. His painting is so structured that it sometimes seems architectural and rather “dry,” and for his day, he seems to have been something of a rather brutal realist, with the facial features often being criticized as lacking “grace.” Of course, as Leonardo da Vinci would point out, grace and reality don’t often happen together. One example of such is the portrait of Carlo de Medici.
Though “His Grace” the cardinal certainly looks like the important man he was, Mantegna has captured also a man whose face has moulded itselt into the hard cynicism that came from the dangerous politics of his time. The face shows the underlying structural detail of the man’s face, his strong square jaw, the prominent bowed nose with the two hard lines descending from the end of the nose to the sides of the downturned mouth, and the hard, icy, blue eyes. The high cheek bones form the base of the hollow of the eyes, that hollow filled in by the puffy skin (bags, as we say) just under the eye. What one has is a rather accurate portrait of the man painted from the inside out, which allows the personality developed from his personal history to be worn on his face. He doesn’t look like someone you would want to have to ask for a favor.
Once again these portraits of the marchese and his wife have been seen as lacking in grace. However, they were quite accurate in terms of what Mantegna saw, so much so that the marchese, Ludovico II, had members of his family stand close by their portraits so that guests could see the verisimilitude in the portraiture.
PERSPECTIVE
The 15th century was full of dynamism in terms of the discovery and rediscovery of various artistic principles. The search for perpsective animated a number of artists, in particular Paolo Uccello and Andrea Mantegna. Mantegna seats the Gonzagas over a real hearth so that when one looks at the figures, one must look up. Taking that perspective into account, the artist painted the figures as though one were actually looking up at them from below, which means that one sees a bit under some of the objects and the hems of the garments.
One aspect of perspective that Mantegna was particularly adept with was foreshortening. For those who may have forgotten their first drawing class, foreshortening is the effect of drawing an object that seems to be lying flat or pointed in your direction. It changes the apperance of the length of the object. Mantegna’s Lamentation of Christ c. 1470 puts a fine point on the wonders of how a well-foreshortened figure looks.
Mantegna has fun with the foreshortening in the oculus at the top of the painted trompe l’oeil dome where he has figures looking down on those who are looking up. Notice in the picture below that there are some precariously placed items which might just fall on the spectators who dare stand underneath the dome. One figure seems to be unloosening a planter, and those heavily foreshortened cherubs have various parts of their naked baby bodies positioned to allow both biological elements #1 and #2 to fall upon the spectators. Nothing like an artist with a cheeky sense of humor (see oculus below).
TROMPE L’OEIL
The real magic of Andrea Mantegna’s chamber is that all of the vaulting of the ceilings, the oculus opening that allows the sky to reign over the whole room, and the delicate molding that surrounds various cameos of Roman emperors, are all tricks of the eye, yes, trompe l’oeil. Mantegna had studied as a young apprentice with Francesco Squarcione, where he learned the tricks of the trade used to do decorative painting, including what we now call trompe l’oeil. He pulled out all the stops when it came to the Camera degli Sposi to make what was a relatively small room in the ducal palace look indeed palatial. Take a moment to look at all of the arches and the tondos with figures in them. Mantegna’s love for the sculptural and his clever use of perspective take over as he turns this room into a fantasy of sorts.
Mantegna did not leave out other participants in the household. Here we see a fine steed and several dogs, probably used for hunting, being held by their grooms. Behind them is a fanciful landscape. The artist shows the versatility which made him a favorite for quite a long time. Ultimately his work was seen as being a bit too decorative and somewhat passé. The artist however, had a long career in Mantua, arriving there in 1460 and dying there in 1506.
Before leaving the master’s art, let’s do look at the beauty of some of his purely decorative work, as in this bountiful garland. Do use the magnifier.
Sources for this article are as follows:
“Art in Tuscany: Andrea Mantegna” travelintuscany.com
“Frescoes in the Camera degli Sposi, Ducal Palace in Mantua (1471-1474)” Web Gallery of Art www.wga.hu
Mantegna by Alberta de Nicolo Salmazo for Citadelles et Mazenod, 2004.
For more on Marjorie Vernelle, see the About Page or the author page at amazon.com/author/marjorievernelle. Go to the Art Blog at vernellestudio.com and for my original art goods see etsy.com/shop/VernelleArtStudio.
Who’s getting married in the morning…
Wines for weddings, now that is a hot topic right about now with well-planned spring and summer outdoor nuptials coming up. So where does one start? Well one of the best things to do is to set up some general guidelines. Decide if you are going to have a professional barman/maid host for you. That person or company can help you with a lot of the decision making about how much and what type of beverages to have. In particular, it is important to know your guests, which means what kinds of taste do they have, how many may be beer drinkers, and how many may want a soft drink (children, grandma, great aunt Betty, for example). To see how a bar with a barman/barmaid works take a look at this video, Wedding Bar – Beer and Wine youtube.com
The Champagne Toast
Normally, it is suggested to separate the champagne quantities from the white, rosé, and red wine choices. As the champagne is used for the special toast, you can count how much you will need by the glass size. Generally a champagne flute will hold 4 ounces of champagne. With approximately 25 ounces in a bottle, you could get about 6 glasses from a bottle. Divide that into 6 into 150 (the normal number of wedding guests) and you’d need to have 15 bottles.
Now, the choice of champagne can include other sparkling wines like cremant, cava, and prosecco, many made with the celebrated French méthode champenoise, though they don’t bear the name champagne due to treaty restrictions. However, since the U.S. is not a part of that treaty, you can use a fine American one which has the word champagne on the label. My suggestion is Gruet. It comes from Santa Fe, New Mexico, runs around $15-$20/bottle, and is divine. Yes, it also comes in pink!
Red, White, and Rosé
Generally it is advised to think of the ratio of white and rosé wines to red wine as a ratio of 2/3 to 1/3. Yes, it is summer, but you will have red wine drinkers and a nice Pinot Noir would work well for them. The wine that seems to be the safest in terms of appealing to a wide variety of tastes is a white wine, Sauvignon Blanc, with really good ones from California and New Zealand; however, Pinot Grigio is also a good possibility. I would even suggest an Off-dry Riesling. The Off-dry version of this wine has just a touch of sugar but is dry rather than sweet. It is acidic so it pairs well with anything savory. That means if your crowd likes light to moderately spicy treats to eat, this could be a great wine to serve with that type of food. You can get a choice of fine ones from Washington State’s Chateau Ste Michelle for under $10.00.
Again, in terms of how many bottles, it is estimated that people will each drink 2.5 to 3 glasses. Now, that is an average, but it means that you can count on about 1/2 bottle per person. For 150 people that is about 75 bottles. Again, remember to know your guests. If you have heavy beer drinkers, you may cut back on the wine. If you are serving very light fare to eat then go heavy on the white and rosé and very light on the red.
Cocktails, anyone?
The most trustworthy advice I can give is to limit the cocktails to a choice that can be made with wine. The summer favorite of course is the wine spritzer. The recipe given by Colleen Graham and tested by Sean Johnson for the Spruce Eats has only 92 calories, 9 g carbs, 0 fats, and 1 g of protein. Beyond that there are canned spritzers in a variety of flavors. Your rosé wine could be used in the spritzer cocktails for an added touch of celebratory color for a bit of romantic la vie en rose.
Finally when trying to keep costs down and still have enough wine and good quality wine, there is a new trend in which various small entrepreneurial companies are offering the place, the tools, and the basic products for you to make and bottle your own wine for your wedding. This idea ties nicely into another specialty of the modern wedding industry, making your own labels with some memorable graphic or poetic content written on the label. DIY Wedding Wine on youtube.com has videos on both.
So congratulations to all the grooms and best wishes to all the brides!
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©marjorie vernelle 2022
Coming Soon: The Shape of Landscape Painting and the Meaning of Terroir in Winemaking.
We tend to have a well-defined idea about what landscape painting is, but there is more than one way to see what it is that the land looks like. There is also more than one meaning for the French word for land, terroir, and that is especially important when it comes to making wine.
As usual, great information! You point out things that might have escaped our notice and give fascinating explanations.
BUT! Center-right in the ceiling painting, above the most-centered cherub, the thing that looks like maybe a ballpoint pen got lost on the way to the mid-20th century — What is it? That cherub and the bird seem to be puzzling over it.
Thanks for the education, dear Marjorie!
Hi Nancy, I just saw this comment, so sorry for the delay in responding. I looked at that with the magnifyer and my guess is that it is just damage to the painting. This is over 500 years old, so things happen. In fact when my art history group went to Mantua ostensibly to see the ducal palace we were not able to do that because of earthquake damage from 8 months before. They had thought that the palace would be open when we scheduled but the reparations had not finished. The space in the cloud would not have been there in Mantegna’s design, so I think it is damage.