The Young Christ

1507 · Private collection

religious

This is the primary signed and dated version of three panels representing the young Christ which Montagna executed in or around 1507 when the artist was in Verona. The iconography of representations of the young Christ was well established in the Veneto in the 16th century. The inspiration for many of these representations probably depended on a lost prototype by Leonardo or on Albrecht Dürer's Christ Among the Doctors, which was in Venice in the early 16th century.

About the Artist

Bartolomeo Montagna

1450 – 1523

Bartolomeo Montagna (actually Bartolomeo Cincani), Italian painter from the Brescia region. His initial training was presumably under Domenico Morone in Verona. He had a distinct Venetian influence, probably in Giovanni Bellini 's studio. He may also have adopted the Mantegnesque severity. His occasional obsession with detail is reminiscent of Carpaccio. He was active in Venice (Scuola di San Marco) and in Verona, mainly however in Vicenza. Powerful use of colour (zinc plating), symmetrical picture composition, and marked light-dark contrasts are his distinguishing characteristics. The Friulian School ( Pellegrino and Pordenone) is indebted to him. Benedetto Montagna, a productive engraver, was his son and pupil.

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