Ovetari Chapel
Encyclopedia
The Ovetari Chapel is a chapel in the right arm of the Church of the Eremitani
in Padua
. It is renowned for a Renaissance fresco cycle by Andrea Mantegna
and others, painted from 1448 to 1457. The cycle was destroyed by an Allied bombing in 1944: today, only two scenes and a few fragments survive, which have been restored in 2006. They are however known from black-and-white photos
, Antonio Vivarini
(a Venetian late Gothic painter) and two young Paduans, Niccolò Pizzolo and Andrea Mantegna
. The latter at the time was seventeen year old and had just begun his apprenticeship in Squarcione's workshop. According to the original agreement, the first two artist had to paint the arch with histories of the Passion of Christ (never executed), the cross vault and the right wall (Histories of St. Chrisopther) while the two Paduans would paint the rest, including the apse (Histories of St. James, son of Zebedee) and the apse.
In 1449 there were the first personal problems between Mantegna and Pizzolo, the latter accusing the former of continuous interferences in the execution of the chapel's altarpiece. This led to a redistribution of the works among the artists; perhaps due to this contrasts Mantegna halted his work and visited Ferrara
. In 1450 Giovanni, who had executed only the decorative festoons of the vault, died; the following year also Vivarini left the work, after he had completed four Evangelists in the vault. Thery were replaced by Bono da Ferrara and Ansuino da Forlì
, whose style was influenced by that of Piero della Francesca
. Mantegna began to work from the apse vault, where he left three saints, mixed with the Doctors of the Church by Pizzolo. Later Mategna likely moved to the lunette on the left wall, with the Vocation of Sts. James and John and the Preaching of St. James, completed within 1450, and then moved to the middle sector.
At the end of 1451 the works were halted due to lack of funds. They were restarted in November 1453 and completed in 1457. This second phase saw Mantegna alone at work, as Pizzolo had also died in 1453. Mantegna completed the Stories of St. James, frescoed the central wall with the Assumption of the Virgin and then completed the lower sector of the Stories of St. Cristopher begun by Bono da Ferrara and Ansuino da Forlì, where he painted two unified scenes: the Martyrdom of St. Christopher.
In 1457 Imperatrice Ovetari sued Mantegna, accusing him of having painted, in the Assumption, only eight apostles instead of twelve. Two painters from Milan, Pietro da Milano and Giovanni Storlato, were called in to solve the matter. They justified Mantegna's chose due to the lack of space.
Around 1880 two scenes, the Assumption and the Martyrdom of St. Christopher, were detached from the walls. During World War II
the two frescoes were stored in a separate location, and were thus saved from the destruction of all the rest of the cycle during an Allied air bombardment of 11 March 1944. The destroyed scenes are known today through black-and-white photographic reproductions.
introduced by an arch, where are a circular opening and four windows which illuminate the chapel.
.
The southern wall was entirely painted by Mantegna and included:
The northern walls included the Stories of St. Christopher:
On the central wall, where is the window, is a representation of the Assumption of the Virgin by Mantegna. There are also further fragments, likely painted on the piers.
The vault was decorated with Four Evangelists by Antonio Vivarini between festoons by Giovanni d'Alemagna, while the apse was divided into sectors, where Mantegna had frescoed the saints Peter, Paul and Christopher within a stone frame with fruit festoons. These figures show similarities with the frescoes by Andrea del Castagno
in the Venetian church of San Zaccaria (1442), both in the format and their sculptural firmness. Also similar is the cloud on which the figures are standing.
In the remaining spaces were the Eternal Father Blessing and the Doctors of the Church within frames, frescoed by Niccolò Pizzolo. The Doctors were majestic figures, the saints being portrayed as Humanist scholars at work in their studios. The arch had two big heads, usually identified as self-portraits by Mantegna and Pizzolo. The decoration of the chapel was completed by an altarpiece in terracotta covered with bronze by Pizzolo, which, although very damaged, is still existing. It shows a Hole Conversation' in bas-relief.
Church of the Eremitani
The Church of the Eremitani , or Church of the Hermits, is an Augustinian church of the 13th century in Padua, northern Italy....
in Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
. It is renowned for a Renaissance fresco cycle by 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...
and others, painted from 1448 to 1457. The cycle was destroyed by an Allied bombing in 1944: today, only two scenes and a few fragments survive, which have been restored in 2006. They are however known from black-and-white photos
History
Antonio Ovetari was a Padua notary who, at his death, left a large sum for the decoration of the family chapel in the Eremitani church. The project was cared by is widow, Imperatrice Ovetari, who, in 1448, commissioned the work to a group of artists, which included the elder Giovanni d'AlemagnaGiovanni d'Alemagna
Giovanni d'Alemagna was a German painter, active in Italy, who collaborated with his brother-in-law Antonio Vivarini on various important religious paintings in Venice and Padua....
, Antonio Vivarini
Antonio Vivarini
Antonio Vivarini was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance-late Gothic period, who worked mostly in the Republic of Venice...
(a Venetian late Gothic painter) and two young Paduans, Niccolò Pizzolo and 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...
. The latter at the time was seventeen year old and had just begun his apprenticeship in Squarcione's workshop. According to the original agreement, the first two artist had to paint the arch with histories of the Passion of Christ (never executed), the cross vault and the right wall (Histories of St. Chrisopther) while the two Paduans would paint the rest, including the apse (Histories of St. James, son of Zebedee) and the apse.
In 1449 there were the first personal problems between Mantegna and Pizzolo, the latter accusing the former of continuous interferences in the execution of the chapel's altarpiece. This led to a redistribution of the works among the artists; perhaps due to this contrasts Mantegna halted his work and visited Ferrara
Ferrara
Ferrara is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north...
. In 1450 Giovanni, who had executed only the decorative festoons of the vault, died; the following year also Vivarini left the work, after he had completed four Evangelists in the vault. Thery were replaced by Bono da Ferrara and Ansuino da Forlì
Ansuino da Forlì
Ansuino da Forlì was an Italian painter of the Quattrocento period. Born and active in Forlì and Padua in the mid-15th century, he was a member of a Forlì painting school and influed the great Melozzo da Forlì....
, whose style was influenced by that of Piero della Francesca
Piero della Francesca
Piero della Francesca was a painter of the Early Renaissance. As testified by Giorgio Vasari in his Lives of the Artists, to contemporaries he was also known as a mathematician and geometer. Nowadays Piero della Francesca is chiefly appreciated for his art. His painting was characterized by its...
. Mantegna began to work from the apse vault, where he left three saints, mixed with the Doctors of the Church by Pizzolo. Later Mategna likely moved to the lunette on the left wall, with the Vocation of Sts. James and John and the Preaching of St. James, completed within 1450, and then moved to the middle sector.
At the end of 1451 the works were halted due to lack of funds. They were restarted in November 1453 and completed in 1457. This second phase saw Mantegna alone at work, as Pizzolo had also died in 1453. Mantegna completed the Stories of St. James, frescoed the central wall with the Assumption of the Virgin and then completed the lower sector of the Stories of St. Cristopher begun by Bono da Ferrara and Ansuino da Forlì, where he painted two unified scenes: the Martyrdom of St. Christopher.
In 1457 Imperatrice Ovetari sued Mantegna, accusing him of having painted, in the Assumption, only eight apostles instead of twelve. Two painters from Milan, Pietro da Milano and Giovanni Storlato, were called in to solve the matter. They justified Mantegna's chose due to the lack of space.
Around 1880 two scenes, the Assumption and the Martyrdom of St. Christopher, were detached from the walls. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the two frescoes were stored in a separate location, and were thus saved from the destruction of all the rest of the cycle during an Allied air bombardment of 11 March 1944. The destroyed scenes are known today through black-and-white photographic reproductions.
Architecture
The chapel consists of an entrance room with a rectangular base, covered by a cross vault, which is connected to a pentagonal apseApse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
introduced by an arch, where are a circular opening and four windows which illuminate the chapel.
Frescoes
The chapel was dedicated to the saints James and Christopher. The two lateral walls were dedicated to the stories of each saints, with six episodes placed on three sections. The upper one was consisted of a round lunette. Despite the presence of several painters in the work, the layout of the cycle is generally attributed to Mantegna, who devised the architectural frames. The stories portrayed were inspired to Jacopo da Varazze's Golden LegendGolden Legend
The Golden Legend is a collection of hagiographies by Jacobus de Voragine that became a late medieval bestseller. More than a thousand manuscripts of the text have survived, compared to twenty or so of its nearest rivals...
.
The southern wall was entirely painted by Mantegna and included:
- Vocation of the Saints James and John
- St. James Preaching
- St. James Baptizes Hermogenes
- Judgement of St. James
- Miracle of St. James
- Martyrdom of St. JamesSt. James Led to His ExecutionSt. James Led to His Execution was a painting by Andrea Mantegna. It was destroyed on March 11, 1944, when the Ovetari Chapel in Padua was bombed by the Allies during World War II.The British Museum owns a preparatory drawing for the painting....
The northern walls included the Stories of St. Christopher:
- St. Christopher Leaving the King by Ansuino da Forlì (attributed)
- St. Christopher and the King of the Devils by Ansuino da Forlì (attributed)
- St. Christopher Ferrying the Child by Bono da Ferrara (signed)
- St. Christopher Preaching by Ansuino da Forlì (signed)
- Martyrdom of St. Christopher by Andrea Mantegna
- Transportation of St. Christopher Beheaded Body by Andrea Mantegna.
On the central wall, where is the window, is a representation of the Assumption of the Virgin by Mantegna. There are also further fragments, likely painted on the piers.
The vault was decorated with Four Evangelists by Antonio Vivarini between festoons by Giovanni d'Alemagna, while the apse was divided into sectors, where Mantegna had frescoed the saints Peter, Paul and Christopher within a stone frame with fruit festoons. These figures show similarities with the frescoes by Andrea del Castagno
Andrea del Castagno
Andrea del Castagno was an Italian painter from Florence, influenced chiefly by Tommaso Masaccio and Giotto di Bondone. His works include frescoes in Sant'Apollonia in Florence and the painted equestrian monument of Niccolò da Tolentino in the Cathedral in Florence...
in the Venetian church of San Zaccaria (1442), both in the format and their sculptural firmness. Also similar is the cloud on which the figures are standing.
In the remaining spaces were the Eternal Father Blessing and the Doctors of the Church within frames, frescoed by Niccolò Pizzolo. The Doctors were majestic figures, the saints being portrayed as Humanist scholars at work in their studios. The arch had two big heads, usually identified as self-portraits by Mantegna and Pizzolo. The decoration of the chapel was completed by an altarpiece in terracotta covered with bronze by Pizzolo, which, although very damaged, is still existing. It shows a Hole Conversation' in bas-relief.