Mantegna and Bellini at the National Gallery

They were contemporaries working at close quarters in 15^th Century Padua, but Renaissance masters Giovanni Bellini and Andrea Mantegna shared much more than a city. In 1453, Jacopo Bellini – father of Bellini and tutor to Mantegna – consented to the marriage between Mantegna and Bellini's half sister, Niccolosa, which made the friends then family. Concrete evidence of their relationship is ample, so this joint exhibition at the National Gallery next year – the first to show the two painters in juxtaposition – is long overdue.

Placing two vast collections of paintings, drawings and sculptures side by side, the exhibition promises to unfold a web of similarities. The focus will be on the ways that Bellini and Mantegna use perspective, their commitment to classicist themes, and their shared interest in architecture.

At the core of the exhibition sits two prestigious pairings: each painter completed a version of Christ’s Presentation at the Temple and the Agony in the Garden, both of which have been twinned on the walls of the National Gallery since the late 19^th Century. Only considered in such proximity can the resemblance as well as nuances between their compositions be appreciated with clarity.

In 1460 Mantegna moved 80 miles inland of Padua to Mantua, where he remained until his death. Despite the distance, a continuing artistic exchange prevailed and techniques, themes, and motifs continued to crisscross between the two painters.

Indeed Mantegna and Bellini is its own collaboration, between the National Gallery and the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, as well as a celebration of the transfer of ideas and inspiration.