The man in black behind the court

Abstract

Among the Gonzaga court members in the Camera picta Mantegna painted a man in black whose identity is unknown. A possible explanation is the one which identifies him with the humanist and educator Vittorino da Feltre, founding figure of the Mantuan humanism. He was the creator of the Giocosa, the first school that fused the humanist ideals with the Christian principles and which become a centre of erudition and the most renowned humanistic school. He never wrote a single text. Despite that, the humanist influence of his school in the education and the moral character embraced the whole Renaissance through the actions of his pupils.