MANTEGAZZA, CRISTOFORO and ANTONIO. — Sculptors, natives of Milan. Sons of Galeazzo, they initially worked as goldsmiths, perhaps in their father’s workshop, to which it seems two of their brothers, Giorgio and Giovanni, continued to attend.
In 1464 Cristoforo appears among other stonecutters among the workers at the Certosa of Pavia, with the humble task of supplying cut stones; but from the very beginning of the same year he had presented worked marbles to the direction of the works and subsequently is recorded as receiving a monthly salary. In 1465 he attends to the terracotta decoration of the great cloister; in 1467 he receives six pieces of marble to make sculptures for the Sforza Castle. Following the recommendation of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, the two brothers are commissioned to supply the marbles for the façade of the Certosa, which was being constructed under the direction of Guiniforte Solari. However, in 1474 half of the work was taken from them and entrusted to Amadeo. Documents mention several sculptures executed by the brothers, one of whom, Cristoforo, died on 7 February 1482. Antonio moved to Milan, where he died not long before 1 October 1495.
Cristoforo and Antonio are, in chronological order, the first Renaissance sculptors born and active in Lombardy, and their works at the Certosa of Pavia reveal a passionate formal energy, an extraordinary plastic vigour, and a search for expressiveness through sharp planes and profiles, while the metallic accentuation of the relief may derive from their practice in repoussé work. Since it is reasonable to consider Cristoforo as the more authoritative of the two brothers, to him are attributed the busts on the northern side of the small cloister of the Certosa of Pavia (1464–66), the ornamental sculptures of the great cloister, the Doctors on the capitals of the Tiburio (recorded in a document of 1478); the three reliefs with scenes from the Passion in the Museum of the Certosa, the Madonna in the Foulc College, three Virtues in the Louvre, two Angels at the Sforza Castle in Milan, etc. The figurative language of A. instead appears as a development of that of his brother, and is represented by a securely dated work, the lavabo, with the Washing of the Feet from the Certosa (1488), around which may be grouped the Pietà from the door of the transept leading to the small cloister, three panels with scenes from the life of Christ, two kneeling Angels from the Sforza Castle, the Pietà in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and other works, probably in collaboration.
In light of the latest research, the influence exerted by the two brothers seems very broad and important; and it was fundamental for the formation of the taste that would dominate in Lombardy in 1480–1500.