Flip Side of Florence: Padua Artist Mantegna
佛罗伦萨是早期文艺复兴的中心城市，之前介绍过的波提切利等人都是佛罗伦萨的代表人物。其实，意大利的其他城市也涌现出了各具特色的艺术家。
Florence was the center city of the early Renaissance as Botticelli and others who were introduced in previous blogs all came from Florence. In fact, other cities in Italy also have their own unique artists.
今天我们要介绍的是来自意大利帕多瓦的帕多瓦画派代表人物安德烈亚·曼特尼亚（Andrea Mantegna）和他的名作《哀悼基督》。
Today we are going to introduce Andrea Mantegna, the icon artist from Padua, Italy, and his masterpiece “The Lamentation over the Dead Christ”.
“哀悼基督”是宗教绘画中的一个重要题材，但大多数画家都是从耶稣的身体侧面来展现这一场景，如波提切利的《哀悼基督》和米开朗基罗的《圣母怜子像》:
“The Lamentation over the Dead Christ” is an important theme in religious painting, but most painters show this scene from the side of Jesus’ body, such as Botticelli’s “The Lamentation over the Dead Christ” and Michelangelo’s “Pietà”:
曼特尼亚则采用了截然不同的透视角度来描绘这一场景：
Mantegna used a completely different perspective to present this scene:
画中的基督枕着硬垫，身体上盖着裹尸布。尸体的左边是正在痛哭的人们，右边放着油膏罐（暗示着将要进行最后的洗礼）。基督的身体几乎占据了整块画幅，让观者得以将视线集中在他的身体上。
Christ in the painting is pillowed on a hard cushion, where his body is covered with a shroud. On the left side of the body are the people who are crying, and on the right side there is an ointment jar (implying that a final baptism is about to take place). The body of Christ occupies almost the entire frame, making us fully focus on his body.
基督躺着的石板与画布垂直，因而观者在观赏这副作品中，会首先看到他脚掌上的伤口，而后目光向上移动，进一步看到他盖着裹尸布的腿，肌肉线条明显的上身，带有皱褶的脖子，最后看到他平静但严肃的面孔。他的尸身似乎已经僵硬，但仍然不失尊严与豪迈气魄。曼特尼亚采用的这一角度要求他具备极高的绘画技艺及人体解剖知识，如此才能够恰当地构建人物身体比例。
The slate on which Christ is lying is perpendicular to the canvas. So when viewing this work, we will first see the wound on his foot. Then when we move our eyes upward, we will see his leg covered with the shroud, the muscle lines are obvious in his upper body with a ruched neck, and finally see his calm but serious face. His body seems to be stiff, but he still retains dignity and boldness. This angle Mantegna portrayed requires stellar painting skills and knowledge of human anatomy so as to properly construct the figure’s body proportions.
如此创新的角度选择对于曼特尼亚来说却是家常便饭，他在一座拱廊后面绘制了《圣母升天图》，让信徒能仰头看到圣母升天。他也曾开过一扇“天窗”，让房子里的人仰头看到围绕着天窗飞翔的8只小天使和朝内探身的女人们。他的这些标新立异，也让他拥有了很多“第一个”：第一个“仰角透视”（Sotto in Su）的装饰画，第一个以仰视角度绘制的屋顶天井画等。
Such an innovative choice of angles is Mantegna’s signature in his works. He drew the “Assumption of the Virgin” behind an arcade, allowing believers to look up to see the Assumption of the Virgin. He also opened a “skylight” to let people in the house look up and see the 8 little angels flying around the skylight and the women who leaned inward. His innovations also gave him many “firsts”: the first “Sotto in Su” decorative painting, the first roof patio painting drawn from an upward angle, etc.
曼特尼亚的画作大多采用单一色调，他对于人物的刻画则尽力追求线条清晰。晚年时，他已经能够将人物形象“雕塑化”。
Most of Mantegna’s paintings use single tones, and he strives for the clarity of the lines of characters. In his later years, he managed to “sculpturize” his characters.
这一特点让他获得了瓦萨利（Vasari）这样的评价：“曼特尼亚一直认为，好的古代雕塑品是如此完美，自然界的东西是无法达到此境地的‧‧‧，他作品的线条是那麼锋利，似乎比较接近石头雕像，而不像人类肉体的线条。”曼特尼亚幼时师从弗朗切斯科·斯夸乔内（Francesco Squarcione），而斯夸乔内对古罗马艺术十分狂热。这或许能够解释为何曼特尼亚也对古希腊罗马时代的艺术造型如此向往。
This feature earned him such a comment from Vasari: “Mantegna has always believed that good ancient sculptures are so perfect that things in nature cannot reach this situation The lines are so sharp, it seems to be closer to the stone statues, unlike the lines of human flesh”.Mantegna studied under Francesco Squarcione as a child. Roman art is very fanatical. This may explain why Mantegna is also so eager for the artistic shape of the ancient Greek and Roman era.
