. The study and criticism of Italian art : second series. ddle period, and not, like all theother drawings, from his later For thetechnique it is in, it is somewhat stiff and laboured,leading one to suspect that at the time of its execu-tion Mantegna dared not yet allow himself we need only hold this little sketch at a certaindistance from the eye to perceive its essentialfeatures. General effect of mass, scarcely surpass-able plastic values, muscular realization of move-ment, proper emphasis on points of force—such are 1 The Child is of the type that we find in such a ch
. The study and criticism of Italian art : second series. ddle period, and not, like all theother drawings, from his later For thetechnique it is in, it is somewhat stiff and laboured,leading one to suspect that at the time of its execu-tion Mantegna dared not yet allow himself we need only hold this little sketch at a certaindistance from the eye to perceive its essentialfeatures. General effect of mass, scarcely surpass-able plastic values, muscular realization of move-ment, proper emphasis on points of force—such are 1 The Child is of the type that we find in such a characteristicwork of Mantegnas middle period as Mr. Monds Holy Madonnas right hand is long and slim—the hand Mantegnahas in common with the young Giambellino—like the hand ofthe young woman in the Circumcision of the Uffizi Madonnas left hand, with its thick fingers, is like the handof the old Magian in the same triptych, and like the hand of theMadonna in a work even earlier, the San Zeno altar-piece of1458. ANDREA MANTEGNA. [British Museum THE MADONNA AND CHILD MB wmm ANDREA MANTEGNA 53 the marked traits of this drawing. The technique isone aiming at light and shade alone, and the line iscompletely subdued to this end. Look at any scarcely exists by itself. It is a series of meeting-points between a mass of light and a mass of wavers, it vanishes, it gains body and growspuissant, the humble and always helpful ministrantto the plastic effect. Look at the thick line—if in-deed we may not more correctly call it dense shadow—outlining the right hand : we feel even more fullywhat we cannot see, the inside of wrist, palm andfingers, than what we actually behold, the pictorial is the depth of dense shade severingthe Madonnas cheek from the Childs head andshoulders, or his leg from her mantle ! Here alsowe are compelled to an even keener realization ofthe unseen than of the visible. Note how themasses of shadow along the l
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectartital, bookyear1902
