Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 104. (Budapest, 2006)

TERÉZ GERSZI: Pieter Coecke Van Aelst and Andrea Mantegna

(London, National Gallery, fig. 7).

12 Naturally, he did not follow the prototype in every detail, but he adapted its essence in portraying the mountainous land of the Sacrifice of Abraham. Pieter Coecke drew inspiration from Mantegna not only for the rendition of the landscape, but also for the execution of the figures. The self-assured, stepping figure of the Budapest drawing, his energetic movement and classical costume must have been inspired by one of the figures of Mantegna's tempera painting, The Triumph of Caesar (London, Hampton Court Palace, Royal Collection, hg. 8)," namely the man in billowing clothes leading the marching elephants in the fifth scene. This correspondence explains the elegant movement and decorative attire of the servant. This vigorous, decorative figure of Mantegna seems to have inspired a female figure of Coecke in another of his drawings: the dancing Salome in the right wing of the nwdello representing scenes from the life of Saint John the Baptist (London, British Museum).

14 Mantegna's celebrated work reflecting dignity and pathos was received with unanimous admiration in the sixteenth century, and numerous copies were made after it in various techniques.

11 No wonder then, that its figures deeply impressed the young Flemish master. Mantegna's Triumph of Caesar also exerted an influence on Coecke's Turkish woodcuts series. His figurai types in general must have served as a source of inspiration for Coecke when capturing his figures from different aspects and in various poses, so, e.g., the group of musicians on the eighth piece of the Caesar series probably had an impact on the artist's imagination in the rendering of the figures of the Turkish musicians on the sixth composition of the woodcut series. Teréz Gerszi is Chief Curator, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. The article was written as part of the OTKA research project no. T 46616. Here I would like to express my thanks to the board of directors ol the Munich Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, the Museum in Schwerin, and the Albertina, Vienna, who placed the photos at my disposal. NOTES 1 Pen, light brown ink, light brown wash, black chalk, 255 x 386 mm, inv. no. K. 90.29; no watermark; three vertical erasures in the middle upper portion of the paper, tears at the right and left edges, and below, dark brown patch of paint on the rear of the dog and to its right on the ground. 2 Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie, eds. E. Kirschbaum and W. Braunfels, vol. 2, Rome, Freiburg, Basel, and Vienna 1970, 351.