1475
ink
paper
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Descent into Limbo is a 1475 ink by Andrea Mantegna, a Renaissance work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This black-and-white print shows a group of figures in an ancient-looking setting. On the left, a man in modern clothes leans on a doorway. Inside, an older man with a long beard holds a staff. Around him, three muscular men stand in a line, while above them, a winged figure floats near a dark archway. The ground is rough stone, and the walls look cracked and old. The artist used tiny parallel lines to build up dark shadows, making the figures pop. This kind of shading is called cross-hatching. Look up cross-hatching to see how it works.
Andrea Mantegna (UK: , US: ; Italian: ; c. 1431 – September 13, 1506) was an Italian Renaissance painter, a student of Roman archaeology, and the son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna…
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