The Ovetari Chapel: Patronage, attribution, and chronology

The Ovetari Chapel (Church of the Eremitani, Padua) was the defining moment of the Paduan Renaissance; scholarship on this commission shapes our views on that artistic movement. This dissertation is the first study in nearly 25 years to systematically examine the Ovetari commission as a totality, from the chapel's foundation to the completion of its terracotta altarpiece and 27 murals. Part 1 (chs. 1-3) discusses the patronal family, their relationship to the chapel, and Antonio Ovetari's testatory provisions for the decoration. In addition, this section examines the mechanics of the commission, e.g., executorial control, pictorial guidelines, selection of the work force, artist partnerships, methods of bookkeeping, and scaffolding construction. This practical information assists subsequent analyses of the decoration. Part 2 (chs. 4-7) reconstructs the chronological and attributional history of the chapel's embellishment, which spanned 10 years (1448-57) and involved over a dozen artists (e.g., Giovanni d' Alemagna, Antonio Vivarini, Niccolo Pizzolo, Andrea Mantegna, Giovanni da Pisa, Bono da Ferrara, and Ansuino da Forli. Three appendices provide 25 documents, published and unpublished; a summary of the chapel's hagiographic program; and a catalogue listing conclusions on chronology and attribution, supplemented by a review of past opinions. Methodologically, the dissertation is predicated on a comprehensive re-examination of the project's rich documentation, with stylistic evidence reassessed within the archival framework. This approach has clarified such turbid areas of debate as da Pisa's role in the altarpiece; authorship of the main cross vault; and the date of Mantegna's St. Christopher frescoes. Moreover, research has led to notable revisions. For example, the dissertation assigns formidable maturity to Mantegna's work in 1450-51 resulting from attributional and chronological changes; recognizes in the chapel two anonymous Paduan masters, who were early, competent practitioners of the Ovetarian style; and restructures Pizzolo's career and oeuvre. Such proposals broadly challenge conventional views on the formation of the Paduan Renaissance.