Madonna della Vittoria
Encyclopedia
The Madonna della Vittoria is a painting by the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

 painter Andrea Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son in law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g., by lowering the horizon in order to create a sense of greater monumentality...

, executed in 1496.

History

On 6 July 1495 the French army of Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII, called the Affable, , was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. Charles was a member of the House of Valois...

 and that of the Holy League of the Italin states led by Francesco II Gonzaga clashed at the battle of Fornovo
Battle of Fornovo
The Battle of Fornovo took place 30 km southwest of the city of Parma on 6 July 1495. The League of Venice was able to temporarily expel the French from the Italian Peninsula. It was the first major battle of the Italian Wars.-Antecedents:...

, the latter being the victors. During the absence of Francesco, duke of Mantua, Daniele da Norsa, a jewish banker, had bought a house in the city's quarter of San Simone and had replaced the image of the Virgin Mary which decorated its façade with his coat of arms. The regent, Sigismondo Gonzaga
Sigismondo Gonzaga
Sigismondo Gonzaga was an Italian cardinal. He was the third son of Federico I Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua....

, ordered him to restore the depiction. Despite Daniele had accepted, the populace rose and destroyed his house.

When Francesco returned, he forced Daniele to fund a chapel and a devotional painting. This would be executed by the court painter, Mantegna, and was inaugurated in 1496 in the anniversary of the duke's victory at Fornovo. The work was placed in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, built in the meantime over the banker's house.

The painting was one of the works robbed by the French during the Napoleonic invasion of Italy
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

, and was brought the Louvre in 1798. It was not restored with the excuse that the size which made the transport difficult.

Description

The altarpiece shows Francesco Gonzaga paying homage to Mary, who sits on a high throne decorated with marbles intarsias and bas-reliefs. The base of the throne, with lion paws, has, within a medallion, the inscription REGINA / CELI LET. / ALLELVIA; it lies on a circular basement with a bas-relief of the Original Sin and others stories form the Genesis, which are barely visible. The throne's back has a large solar disc, decorated with weavings and vitreous pearls.

The Child, who holds two red flowers (symbols of the Passion) and Mary look at Francesco Gonzaga, who is kneeling and has a grateful and smiling expression while receiving their blessing. The protection given to Gonzaga during the battle is also symbolized by Mary's mantle, which partially covers his head. Opposite to the donor are St. John the Baptist, with a cross featuring the usual cartouche saying ECCE / AGNVS / DEI ECCE / Q[VI] TOLL / IT P[ECCATA] M[VNDI], and his mother, St. Elizabeth, protector of Isabella d'Este
Isabella d'Este
Isabella d'Este was Marchesa of Mantua and one of the leading women of the Italian Renaissance as a major cultural and political figure. She was a patron of the arts as well as a leader of fashion, whose innovative style of dressing was copied by women throughout Italy and at the French court...

, wife of Francesco Gonzaga.

At the sides are two couples of standing saints: in the foreground are two military saints, St. Michael Archangel with a sword and St. Longinus with a broken spear, donning richly decorated armors; behind them are St. Andrew, patron saint of Mantua, with a long stick with the cross and St. George, another military saint, with a helmet and a long red lance.

The scene is set in an apse
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...

 formed by a pergola
Pergola
A pergola, arbor or arbour is a garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are trained...

 of leaves, flowers and fruits, with several birds; the pergola's frame has a at the top a shell (an attribute of the Virgin as new Venus
Venus (mythology)
Venus is a Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty, sex,sexual seduction and fertility, who played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths...

, from which hang threads of coral pearls and rock crystal, as well as a large piece of red coral, another hint to the Passion of Jesus.
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