Man of Sorrows

Man of Sorrows at the Courtauld Gallery, dating from around 1500, belongs to Mantegna's final period when the aging master was producing devotional images of extraordinary concentrated power. The subject's long tradition in Italian painting takes on new intensity in Mantegna's hands Andrea Mantegna combined a scholar's knowledge of Roman antiquity with extraordinary graphic precision, making Mantua a major center of Renaissance art under his long patronage.

The close-up format eliminates all but the essential elements of the composition — the wounded body, the instruments of the Passion, and the grief-stricken expression. Mantegna's drawing is razor-sharp, each contour etched with the clarity of an engraving.