page_title: Ovetari Chapel
section_title: Frescoes
hierarchical_section_title: Ovetari Chapel / Description / Frescoes
caption_attribution_description: detail: Szene: Maria Verkündigung,
context_page_description: The Ovetari Chapel is a chapel in the right arm of the Church of the Eremitani in Padua. It is renowned for a Renaissance fresco cycle by Andrea Mantegna and others, painted from 1448 to 1457. The cycle was destroyed by an Allied bombing in 1944: today, only two scenes and a few fragments survive, which have been restored in 2006. They are, however, known from black-and-white photographs.
context_section_description: The Chapel was dedicated to the saints James and Christopher. The two lateral walls were dedicated to the stories of each saint, with six episodes placed on three sections. The upper one consisted of a round lunette. Despite the presence of several painters in the work, the layout of the cycle is generally attributed to Mantegna, who devised  the architectural frames. The stories portrayed were inspired by Jacopo da Varazze's Golden Legend. 
  The northern wall was entirely painted by Mantegna and included:
  Vocation of the Saints James and John
  St. James Preaching
  St. James Baptizes Hermogenes
  Judgement of St. James
  Miracle of St. James
  Martyrdom of St. James
  The southern wall included the Stories of St. Christopher:
  St. Christopher Leaving the King by  Ansuino da Forlì (attributed)
  St. Christopher and the King of the Devils  by  Ansuino da Forlì (attributed)
  St. Christopher Ferrying the Child by  Bono da Ferrara (signed)
  St. Christopher Preaching by  Ansuino da Forlì (signed)
  Martyrdom of St. Christopher  by Andrea Mantegna
  Transportation of St. Christopher Beheaded Body by Andrea Mantegna.
  On the central wall, where is the window, is a representation of the Assumption of the Virgin by  Mantegna. There are also further fragments, likely painted on the piers. The vault was decorated with Four Evangelists by  Antonio Vivarini between festoons by   Giovanni d'Alemagna, while the apse was divided into sectors, where Mantegna had frescoed the saints Peter, Paul and Christopher within a stone frame with fruit festoons. These figures show similarities with the frescoes by Andrea del Castagno in the Venetian Church of San Zaccaria (1442), both in the format and their sculptural firmness. Also similar is the cloud on which the figures are standing.
  In the remaining spaces were the Eternal Father Blessing and the Doctors of the Church within frames, frescoed by Niccolò Pizzolo. The Doctors were majestic figures, the saints being portrayed as Humanist scholars at work in their studios. The arch had two big heads, usually identified as self-portraits by Mantegna and Pizzolo. The decoration of the Chapel was completed by an altarpiece in terracotta covered with bronze by Pizzolo, which, although very damaged, is still existing. It shows a Holy Conversation in bas-relief.
caption: Detail of the Assumption.
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