Explore the Frame about the Style, subject and description of the San Zeno Altarpiece of this artwork, San Zeno Altarpiece (Mantegna).
The frame is carved from wood that has been gilded. Four Corinthian columns serve as engaged columns that divide the three scenes of the central panel, as well as the three scenes of the predella. The frame has been described as a portico or façade to the actual painted central scene, which is set in a pagan temple (see above: Central and side panels). The frame has a rounded pediment and entablature that recalls the architectural elements of an Ancient Greek temple. Despite the separating the scenes, the painting behind these carved Corinthian columns is continuous. In fact, if looking closely, the real carved Corinthian columns of the frame are placed directly in front of the painted square pilasters that have the Ionic order of column capitals; this superimposition blends together the carving of the frame with the painted illusionism of the pagan temple of the central scene. Stylistically, Mantegna's use of a continuous narrative that unfolded behind the carved columns and the painted square pilasters creates a unified pictorial plane. This approach was markedly different than the approach popular during the Trecento, which demarcated individual scenes by these architectural dividers and thus there was not a continuous narrative across the pictorial space. An example of this non-continuous narrative with the use of gold columns that spatially divide the scenes can be found in Giotto's Badia Polyptych from around 1300.While the frame is original, the decoration that originally ornamented the center of the pediment has been lost.
Trecento Corinthian columns engaged columns entablature Ancient Greek temple Ionic order Corinthian gilded pilasters portico predella Polyptych pediment Giotto column capitals Badia Polyptych façade