Mantegna's father-in-law lived here
When we think of Mantua during the Renaissance we must imagine it all colourful.
The facades were richly frescoed, painted in strong hues, with combinations that today seem almost exaggerated to us, with flashy decorations and images taken from the most popular literary texts.
Traces of this can be found in various buildings, but the best preserved and most intact in structure are those of the House of Messer Viani.
Who decorated Messer Viani's house?
Many scholars believe it was decorated by Andrea Mantegna, or, if not by him, by his students. This hypothesis is highly probable: if you look closely, you can recognize two letters "MV" engraved on the column capitals. These are the initials of the owner: Messer Antonio Viani, Mantegna's father-in-law. The artist's daughter, Taddea, married a Viani and lived in this very house, perhaps with her father as well.
The house was painted between 1495 and 1500 and features a classical representation on the façade: an episode from the life and clemency of Alexander the Great, inspired by a passage from the Histories of Alexander the Great by the Latin writer Quintus Curtius Rufus.
