A Sulphur‐crested Cockatoo in fifteenth‐century Mantua: rethinking symbols of sanctity and patterns of trade

Abstract

The earliest image of an Australasian parrot by a European artist predates the arrival of Vasco de Gama's fleet at Calicut on the Malabar Coast in 1498. This article focuses on that image – a small but significant detail in Andrea Mantegna's Madonna della Vittoria, completed in Mantua in 1496. Although Mantegna's altarpiece has been the subject of attention in modern scholarship, the significance of the Sulphur‐crested Cockatoo has not been explored. In this article, I consider why Mantegna would have included parrots in his altarpiece and the symbolic significance of the cockatoo's position in the composition. I also explore the intriguing issue of how a creature native to regions generally considered to have been beyond Europe's trading reach in 1496 could have appeared in a Renaissance artwork. The Sulphur‐crested Cockatoo in the Madonna della Vittoria provides a unique opportunity to place fifteenth‐century Italy in its global context. Its presence not only confirms the interests and purchasing power of Mantegna and his patrons, the Gonzagas, it reveals the complexity and range of South‐East Asian trading networks prior to the establishment of European trading posts in the region.

Who’s a clever bird — now? A brief history of parrot cognition

“…Famous historical examples are Roman philosopher Pliny who noted in his Natural History Records that his ring-necked parakeet (Psittacula krameri) could say 'Hail Ceasar' and was particularly 'merry in vino' (Lach, 1977). Images of an Australasian cockatoo that was brought to Sicily as a gift to the roman emperor Frederick II by the Sultan of Babylon converted debates on trade routes during the 13th century (Dalton, 2014) and Henry VIII kept an African grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus) who is reported to have called the boatman over the waters to Hampton court who then had to be paid for his effort (Sparks & Soper, 1990).…”