The Resurrection

Andrea Mantegna's Resurrection, painted around 1459 and now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours, is a predella panel from the San Zeno Altarpiece in Verona. The three predella panels were separated from the altarpiece by Napoleon's troops in 1797. Mantegna's treatment of the Risen Christ emerging from the tomb with classical Roman soldiers standing guard reflects his characteristic fusion of Christian narrative with archaeological precision in Roman military costume.

Mantegna renders the sleeping soldiers with meticulous attention to Roman armor and weaponry, while the risen Christ's monumental figure demonstrates the sculptural, relief-like quality of his painting technique.