The Infant Savior
Andrea Mantegna·c. 1460
Historical Context
Mantegna's Infant Savior, painted around 1460, is a devotional image of the Christ Child that demonstrates the Paduan master's ability to imbue even a simple subject with monumental presence. Mantegna's images of the infant Christ combine tenderness with an almost sculptural gravity that sets them apart from the more sentimental treatments of his contemporaries. The tempera-on-canvas technique was unusual for Mantegna, who more frequently worked on wood panel.
Technical Analysis
Mantegna's tempera technique on canvas creates the firm, sculptural modeling characteristic of his work. The infant's body is rendered with the precise anatomical observation and the hard, clear light that reflect Mantegna's study of classical sculpture and his partnership with the Bellini family.
Provenance
Sir Francis Cook, 1st bt. [1817-1901], Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey, by 1901;[1] by inheritance to his son, Sir Frederick Lucas Cook, 2nd bt. [1844-1920], Doughty House; by inheritance to his son, Sir Herbert Frederick Cook, 3rd bt. [1868-1939], Doughty House; by inheritance to his son, Sir Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook, 4th bt. [1907-1978], Doughty House, and Cothay Manor, Somerset; sold June or July 1947 to (Gualtiero Volterra, London) for (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence);[2] sold July 1948 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1952 to NGA. [1] Paul Kristeller, _Andrea Mantegna_, English ed. by S. Arthur Strong, London, 1901: 455; German ed., Berlin, 1902: 476. [2] See letter of 8 July 1947 from H.J. Wasbrough, one of the Cook collection trustees, to A.J. Shanly, the collection's caretaker (copy in NGA curatorial files, from the Cook Collection Archive in care of John Somerville, England). Volterra was Contini Bonacossi's agent in London. [3] The Kress Foundation made an offer to Contini Bonacossi on 7 June 1948 for a group of twenty-eight paintings, including the Mantegna; the offer was accepted on 11 July 1948 (see copies of correspondence in NGA curatorial files, see also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2203).
