Das Reich des Comus

When Andrea Mantegna died in 1506 he left this canvas unfinished. It was one of a set of mythologies commissioned by Isabella d'Este, marchioness of Mantua, for her studiolo, a small private study where she gathered pictures on learned themes. Lorenzo Costa took over as court painter and completed it by about 1511, working from Mantegna's own drawings. The subject is Comus, a god of festivity and excess. In the crowded garden two figures, Mercury and the two-faced Janus, turn the ragged and unworthy away from his pleasures. It is painted in tempera on canvas, the technique Mantegna favored for these works. Isabella was a demanding patron who specified her subjects in detail and pressed her artists hard for delivery.