L’EREDITA` PROSPETTICA DI DONATELLO: MANTEGNA E LA CAPPELLA OVETARI A PADOVA

he essay proposes a critical reading of some of Donatello’s works, in particular those executed in the Basilica del Santo in Padua between 1446 and 1453, and others executed by Mantegna in the Ovetari Chapel, also in Padua, between 1448 and 1457, in order to trace a continuity not so much in the figurative themes, but rather in the rigorous use of Alberta’s rule of perspective. The tool at the basis of the investigation is perspective restitution, a method that can, succinctly, be defined as the inverse operation of perspective, capable of revealing the geometric-projec-tive structure at the basis of a figurative layout. Perspective restitution thus helpsto clarify and highlight the perspective choices adopted by the author, sometimes even taken to the extremes of the rule itself, to better calibrate the perspective dis-tortions in favour of a greater perceptive optical realism of the images. Moreover, again thanks to restitution, it is possible to free the individual elements represented from perspective distortion and restore them to their real dimensions and thus bet-ter compare them with the references adopted by the painters for their pictorial nar-ration. The comparison between the works of Donatello and Mantegna, thanks to the perspective restitution, acquires a character of greater rigour that goes beyond the appearance of the painting but investigates the motives and more intimate choices underlying the individual representations, highlighting points of strong affi-nity and continuity.