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Why was Andrea Mantegna legally adopted by Francesco Squarcione?
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Andrea Mantegna
Arrival of Cardinal Francesco Gonzaga, fresco by Andrea Mantegna, completed 1474; in the Camera degli Sposi, Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, Italy.
Francesco Squarcione, a teacher of painting and collector of antiquities in Padua, established a private school that differed from traditional workshops. A notable feature of his school was his practice of legally adopting his more skilled students to enlist them in painting for him.12
Andrea Mantegna, who was recognized early for his extraordinary abilities, was one of the students adopted by Squarcione by the time he was 10 years old. However, this arrangement was not mutually beneficial in the long term; Mantegna later disassociated himself from Squarcione’s guardianship in 1448, claiming that his teacher had profited considerably from his services without providing due recompense.1