Description
The Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria is a small late Gothic church on the little Piazza San Simone, in the centre of Mantua: Francesco II Gonzaga had it built to celebrate the victory of Fornovo, and Andrea Mantegna painted one of his masterpieces for it.
Outside, the façade is simple, with a terracotta frieze running beneath the cornice. Inside, the nave is entirely painted with illusionistic effects, in Mantegna's taste for antiquity and Roman marbles: three arches framed by pilasters decorated with candelabra motifs.
On the wall facing the entrance, parts of a refined imitation Cordoba leather hanging survive. Against that wall stood Mantegna's Madonna della Vittoria, a tempera on canvas measuring 280 by 160 centimetres; in its place today there is a life-size photographic copy.
In the painting the enthroned Madonna blesses the kneeling Francesco II, between Saints Michael, George, Andrew and Longinus, with Elizabeth and the infant John at her feet. All around is a pergola thick with flowers, fruit, birds and precious stones; on the base of the throne, the story of Adam and Eve.
The church's story begins with a scandal. While the marquis was at war, in 1495, the Jewish banker Daniele da Norsa bought a house in the borgo of San Simone and replaced the image of the Virgin painted on its façade with his own coat of arms.
The act was judged sacrilegious. Sigismondo Gonzaga ordered the image to be put back, on pain of hanging; the house was razed by an angry crowd. When Francesco II returned, the penalty became the obligation to pay for a chapel and a painting for the Virgin, to whom the marquis attributed his victory.
So, on the site of the house, Bernardino Ghisolfo built the church between 1495 and 1496, and the altarpiece was solemnly unveiled on the first anniversary of the battle. In 1797 the French took it to Paris: it has been in the Louvre ever since.
Deconsecrated at the end of the 18th century, the church became a military warehouse, then a nursery school and a paint workshop. A trace of that remains in the wooden ceiling that still divides it into two floors. Since 2001 it has been looked after by the Amici di Palazzo Te e dei Musei Mantovani.
Outside, the façade is simple, with a terracotta frieze running beneath the cornice. Inside, the nave is entirely painted with illusionistic effects, in Mantegna's taste for antiquity and Roman marbles: three arches framed by pilasters decorated with candelabra motifs.
On the wall facing the entrance, parts of a refined imitation Cordoba leather hanging survive. Against that wall stood Mantegna's Madonna della Vittoria, a tempera on canvas measuring 280 by 160 centimetres; in its place today there is a life-size photographic copy.
In the painting the enthroned Madonna blesses the kneeling Francesco II, between Saints Michael, George, Andrew and Longinus, with Elizabeth and the infant John at her feet. All around is a pergola thick with flowers, fruit, birds and precious stones; on the base of the throne, the story of Adam and Eve.
The church's story begins with a scandal. While the marquis was at war, in 1495, the Jewish banker Daniele da Norsa bought a house in the borgo of San Simone and replaced the image of the Virgin painted on its façade with his own coat of arms.
The act was judged sacrilegious. Sigismondo Gonzaga ordered the image to be put back, on pain of hanging; the house was razed by an angry crowd. When Francesco II returned, the penalty became the obligation to pay for a chapel and a painting for the Virgin, to whom the marquis attributed his victory.
So, on the site of the house, Bernardino Ghisolfo built the church between 1495 and 1496, and the altarpiece was solemnly unveiled on the first anniversary of the battle. In 1797 the French took it to Paris: it has been in the Louvre ever since.
Deconsecrated at the end of the 18th century, the church became a military warehouse, then a nursery school and a paint workshop. A trace of that remains in the wooden ceiling that still divides it into two floors. Since 2001 it has been looked after by the Amici di Palazzo Te e dei Musei Mantovani.