Saint Andrew with the Reliquary

As a decoration of the atrium of the Basilica of Sant'Andrea, built on a project by Leon Battista Alberti from the year 1472, were placed three rounds with the relative sinopias, detached, for conservative reasons, in the middle of the last century. Two of the greatest Renaissance artists, Andrea Mantegna and Antonio Allegri known as Correggio, are the authors. The first would work there, together with his workshop, around 1488, to make the figures of the tympanum and the Ascension of Jesus to heaven ; Correggio intervened between 1511 or 1512. Of the three rounds, of which the frames remain on site, the larger one was placed above the portal and depicts the Ascension. The subjects of the other two, to complete the narrative of the earthly story of Jesus opened with the first, are the Holy Family and the Deposition in the tomb. This fragment is what remains of the façade, which is known to include the figure of San Longino. In the tradition relating to the Precious Blood, Longinus is the soldier who would have brought the relic to Mantua, while the apostle Andrew, whose basilica is entitled, is the apostle who would have allowed the relic to be found.