The Reign of Comus

The Reign of Comus was left incomplete at Andrea Mantegna's death in 1506 and was finished by Lorenzo Costa for Isabella d'Este's studiolo in the Ducal Palace, Mantua. Isabella commissioned a series of mythological paintings for her private study from the leading painters of the age — Mantegna, Perugino, Costa, and eventually Raphael — making the studiolo one of the most ambitious private art programs of the Renaissance. Comus, god of festivity, presides over a realm of pleasure and music. Mantegna's contribution shows his late style's increased freedom of handling, and Costa's completion reveals the generational shift from Mantegna's lapidary classicism toward a more lyrical idiom.

Mantegna's characteristically precise, sculptural drawing is visible in the main figures, while the softer passages are attributed to Costa's completion. The tempera-like precision reflects Mantegna's archaeological approach to antiquity.