How to Read This Bizarre and Spellbinding Painting

In the final pinnacle of his career, Andrea Mantegna painted this wonderfully eccentric image called Triumph of the Virtues, completed in about 1502.

The painting takes us inside a walled garden, where archways and lattice fences are covered with leafy, fruiting plants. Outside the walls, the landscape opens onto a view of fields and mountains, bisected by a winding river.

But the longer you look at the garden, the stranger it becomes.

Its inhabitants are bizarre and mischievous. The pond has decayed into a murky, stagnant marsh, and chaos has engulfed the space, with fear and panic seeming to have corrupted any Elysian dreams it once hosted.

Tree terror

Press enter or click to view image in full size

To understand what’s happening, start at the far left, where an olive or laurel tree has sprouted arms and a face. It is also issuing what might be a warning cry or a scream of terror.

(Notice too how every single leaf of the garden has been individually painted.)