by Jon Lackman | 24 July 2006 | Renaissance
From ANSA: “New research into a work by Andrea Mantegna suggests that the Renaissance master was born earlier than art historians previously thought. The discovery came during preliminary studies for the restoration of one of the artist’s most famous pieces, the San Zeno altarpiece in Verona. These studies, carried out by Milan University using infrared technology, revealed that the date 1443 is painted on one of the central panels. This makes the work 13-16 years older than previous estimates. But this would mean Mantegna would have been only 12 years old when he painted it – too young even for his prodigious talents to produce a piece of such maturity. Italian researchers think it is more likely that the accepted date of Mantegna’s birth is wrong.”
