![]() Whoever the engraver may have been, it is clear that the engravings were executed in the immediate surroundings of the artist and that he retained ultimate control over the plates. The comparison revealed subtle but distinct differences in the engraving technique between the two groups: she identified a single hand on the plates of the core group - which she considered to be Mantegna’s – and two separate hands on the four additional plates including The Descent into Limbo - presumably Cavalli and another, unknown engraver. Following this documentary evidence, Shelley Fletcher in 2001 published the results of her microscopic examination of the seven plates traditionally attributed to Mantegna and the four questionable plates ( Print Quarterly, XXIII, no. This remarkable document did not, however, specify any prints made by Cavalli - nor did it rule out that Mantegna had made some engravings himself. The discovery of a contract from 1475 between the artist and the goldsmith Gian Marco Cavalli ( circa 1454–after 1508) in the state archives of Mantua in 2000 confirmed Mantegna’s collaboration with at least one engraver. This view was contested by Suzanne Boorsch, who not only rejected the re-attribution but challenged Mantegna’s authorship of any engravings, suggesting instead that the entire engraved oeuvre was the work of an unidentified professional engraver. Although it has traditionally been ascribed to Mantegna’s workshop or school, Landau in 1992 proposed that The Descent into Limbo be added to the corpus of seven plates generally attributed to Mantegna himself, arguing that this degree of variation from the drawing was not indicative of a copyist. Unusually however, the engraver of The Descent into Limbo departed from the original composition in places: by extending the height of the rock façade and elaborating its cracked surface by completing the figure of Eve to the right of Christ by altering the features of the central demon and by re-positioning his left arm to accommodate the curved shape of his instrument. David Landau noted that the engraving and drawing correspond so closely in scale and detail that the image must have been transferred to the plate via a tracing or some other mechanical means. While Mantegna’s invention of this extraordinary composition is undisputed, the attribution of the engraving has long been controversial and remains uncertain. The desolate landscape and the formidable gateway to the abyss draw upon descriptions of Hades in classical mythology, evoking heroic tales of long and perilous journeys into the land of the dead. Only the figure of a young man bearing a cross at left, identified as the thief to whom Christ said ‘ Today shalt thou be with me in paradise’, stands undismayed by the devilish antics. Beset by the routed devils and the clamour of their sounding horns, Mantegna’s newly liberated captives seem traumatised and penitential, rather than joyful and relieved. Adam and Eve, along with an unidentified figure, have already been freed and stand dejectedly to the right of Christ, while the Saviour continues his redemptive work. The moment of his triumphant arrival in Limbo has passed. Mantegna’s representation, however, is more nuanced and emotionally complex than earlier iterations. This act of reversing the Fall is traditionally reflected in the order in which Christ frees the souls: first Adam and Eve, then the Patriarchs and the Prophets a prayerful throng emerging from the depths of Hell. ![]() ![]() ![]() For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive’ (1 Corinthians 15). For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. ' But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. ![]() In the Byzantine Church the Descent into Limbo was synonymous with the Resurrection, an image of His victory over Sin and Death. Mantegna’s radical innovation of depicting Christ from behind, directly in front of the abyss and not from the side as in Byzantine and Italian antecedents, has the dramatic effect of involving the viewer in Christ’s act of salvation, as he reaches down to liberate the souls of the dead. The composition centres on the figure of Christ standing on the shattered gates of Hell, holding the staff and banner of the Resurrection. 2) to a group of engravings relating to the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. 4), and The Entombment with Four Birds (B. Based on a drawing attributed to Andrea Mantegna in the collection of the Bibiothèque de l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, The Descent into Limbo belongs, together with The Flagellation with a Pavement (B. ![]()
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