BIBLIOGRAPHY 121 INDEX 122 [Illustration] LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE MANTEGNA. BUST PORTRAIT OF MANTEGNA _Frontispiece_ MEETING OF LODOVICO GONZAGA AND HIS SON, THE CARDINAL FRANCESCO 26 THE ENTOMBMENT (_engraving_) 35 JUDITH WITH THE HEAD OF HOLOFERNES (_drawing_) 37 PART OF THE TRIUMPHS OF JULIUS CÆSAR 42 THE MADONNA DELLA VITTORIA 46 VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH ST. JOHN AND THE MAGDALEN 48 THE CRUCIFIXION 58 FRANCIA. PORTRAIT OF FRANCIA _Frontispiece_ THE VIRGIN ENTHRONED WITH SAINTS 80 MADONNA AND CHILD WITH THE BIRD 85 DEPOSITION FROM THE CROSS 89 A PIETÀ 91 THE MADONNA OF THE ROSE-GARDEN 101 [Illustration] ANDREA MANTEGNA. CHAPTER I. EARLY YEARS AND WORK AT PADUA, A.D. 1431-1457. Among the different schools of painting which flourished on the mainland of North Italy during the fifteenth century, that of Padua was the only one which attained more than a merely local importance. Independent of Byzantine traditions and strikingly peculiar in its characteristics, it rivalled for a time and even surpassed the Venetian school in the vigour and individuality of its art. A Paduan by birth, Andrea Mantegna became the greatest master of his day, and left the stamp of his powerful genius not only on the schools of neighbouring cities, but on the whole artistic world. By his own achievements, and still more by the greatness of his aims, he stands foremost among the men of his generation who carried on the work of the Renaissance and prepared the way for the splendid age that was to follow.