Full title | A Woman Drinking |
---|---|
Artist | Andrea Mantegna |
Artist dates | about 1431 - 1506 |
Series | Two Exemplary Women of Antiquity |
Date made | about 1495-1506 |
Medium and support | Egg tempera on poplar |
Dimensions | 71.2 x 19.8 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1882 |
Inventory number | NG1125.2 |
Location | Room 57 |
Art route(s) | A |
Collection | Main Collection |
This woman is most likely Sophonisba, an ill-fated but brave Carthaginian princess; she drains a glass of poison. In 206 BC Massinia allied with the Roman general Scipio to defeat the western Numidians, ruled by Sophonisba’s first husband, Syphax. Massinia fell in love with Sophonisba, but could not dissuade Scipio from his plan to parade her in Rome as a victory trophy. To spare her this humiliation, Massinia sent her poison.
Sophonisba appears as if lit by a strong light coming from the left. Areas hit by this imaginary light – the tips of the folds of the drapery, for example – are bright, while the creases are much darker. The sharp contrasts help create the illusion that the figure is sculpted. Mantegna is showing off: with paint alone he could create a figure that looks as hard and solid as a bronze relief. It may have been made to decorate the studiolo (study) of Mantegna’s patron Isabella d'Este.
A woman drinks from a large goblet; she looks up with resolve in her eyes, as though she has just made a noble toast. We don‘t know exactly who she is, but it’s likely she is the ill-fated but brave Carthaginian princess, Sophonisba, whose turbulent life and tragic death were recorded by several Roman writers including the historian Livy. Many centuries later, her story inspired the fourteenth-century Italian poet Petrarch to celebrate her in his Triumph of Love, as well as his poem about the Second Punic War (entitled simply, Africa).
The goblet contains poison sent to Sophonisba by her new husband, Massinia, the ruler of eastern Numidia. In 206 BC Massinia allied with the Roman general Scipio to defeat the western Numidians, ruled by Sophonisba’s first husband, Syphax. But Massinia fell in love with Sophonisba the moment they met; she was, according to Petrarch, very fair, with golden hair and a complexion like lilies and roses. Massinia married her but could not dissuade Scipio from his plan to parade her in Rome as a victory trophy. In order to spare her this humiliation he sent her poison, which we see her drink here.
Other than the goblet, the only clue to her identity is her costume: Mantegna has conveyed her exoticism through her clothes and accessories, which include a headdress with a turban covered by a loose veil and a pleated neck covering. The outfit is finished off with a dangling pearl earring. The context in which she was originally displayed would also have helped: it is very likely that this panel was painted as a pair to Mantegna’s image of the Vestal Virgin Tuccia. Both are painted in imitation of gilded bronze against a pink and white background painted to look like marble. This panel seems to have been cut down at the long edges and so was probably made with the same dimensions as the panel showing Tuccia. Both may have been made as part of the decoration of the studiolo (study) of Mantegna’s patron Isabella d’Este.
Mantegna has emphasised the rigidity of the figure by painting it as though lit by a strong light coming from the left. This allowed him to make utmost use of the limited colours by painting the areas hit by this imaginary light – the tips of the folds of the drapery, for example – as bright and gleaming, and the creases, which are in shadow, much darker. The sharp contrasts increase the illusion that the figure is in fact sculpted – actual fabric would not fold in such a stiff way. Mantegna is showing off here: his skill was so great that he could use paint alone to create a figure that looks as hard and solid as a bronze relief.
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Two Exemplary Women of Antiquity
Viewed from a distance these two small pictures look like little bronze sculptures set against a pink and white marble background. They were known as bronzi finti – fictive bronzes. Mantegna painted several images mimicking antique sculpture, reflecting his interest in the art of antiquity but also showing off his ability to rival the work of sculptors using just paint.
The woman holding the sieve represents Tuccia, a renowned Vestal Virgin (a priestess who maintained the eternal fire at the temple of the chaste goddess Vesta in Rome). The woman with a goblet could be Sophonisba, a Carthaginian ruler who drank poison rather than be taken into slavery by the Roman general Scipio Africanus. Both were celebrated in the work of the fourteenth-century Italian poet Petrarch.
Archaeological discoveries of ancient artefacts sparked new appreciation of the classical world among the aristocracy. Mantegna’s inventive imitation of classical-style artefacts would have appealed to his sophisticated patrons – the ruling Gonzaga family – in Mantua.
Viewed from a distance these two small pictures look like little bronze sculptures set against a pink and white marble background. They were known as bronzi finti – fictive bronzes. Mantegna was particularly skilled at this trompe l‘oeil effect (’tricking the eye‘), and he painted several images mimicking antique sculpture. These reflected his personal interest in the art of antiquity but also showed off his ability to rival the work of sculptors using paint alone.
The woman holding the sieve represents a renowned figure from antiquity – the Vestal Virgin Tuccia. Vestal Virgins maintained the eternal fire at the temple of the chaste goddess Vesta in Rome. The woman with a goblet could be the legendary Sophonisba, a Carthaginian ruler who drank poison rather than be taken into slavery by the Roman general Scipio Africanus. Both women were celebrated in the work of the fourteenth-century poet, Petrarch.
Mantegna was fascinated by the classical artefacts that were being uncovered in Italy. His enthusiasm for and knowledge of the art and culture of ancient Greece and Rome were particularly prized in his lifetime: his own collection of classical objects was so important that in 1483 the great collector Lorenzo de’ Medici came to see it. In pioneering, inventive paintings he reimagined the art of ancient Rome by including classical-style objects and architectural features or, as here, recreating the effect of a classical technique.
Mantegna’s classical-style artefacts, which were also mentioned by contemporary Italian poets, would have appealed to his patrons – the ruling Gonzaga family – in Mantua, where he had become court painter in 1490. While we do not know the original location of the panels, we do know that the Marchioness of Mantua, Isabella d‘Este, had a picture of this kind in her studiolo, painted by Mantegna. Studioli were small rooms dedicated to the contemplation of the arts and scholarship: here Isabella could admire her personal collection of art and antiquities as well as play music, read and study.
It has been suggested that these two small vertical panels showing exemplary women of antiquity may have been commissioned for Isabella’s studiolo – but this is only speculation. They do not appear in any fifteenth-century inventories of the Gonzaga collection, although this might be because they were quite literally part of the furniture – fitted within panelling into the walls of the room. The fact that the figures are lit from the opposite side – Tuccia from the right and Sophonisba from the left – could be because they were made for specific positions on either side of a window.
Our two pictures have been linked with two others described as chiari e scuri (’dark and light‘, painted in monochrome, as here) by Mantegna in the eighteenth-century inventory of the last ruler of Mantua, Carlo Ferdinando Gonzaga, and then, later in the eighteenth century, in that of a German collector. The inventories refer to four pictures: two on panel, as here, and two on canvas. The two on canvas have been identified as Judith with the head of Holofernes, as described in the inventories, and Dido (both now in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts). It is possible they were originally intended as a group; they all showed heroic historical women. This has added support to the idea that they might have been made for Isabella d’Este, herself a strong and powerful woman.

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