Triumph of Caesar: Soldiers carrying Trophies

Andrea Mantegna

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Full of rich tonal contrasts and expressive vigor, this engraving reproduces a famous scene from The Triumphs of Caesar, a series of nine canvases painted by Mantegna between 1500 and 1507 for the Gonzaga family in Mantua (now in the Royal Collection, Hampton Court Palace). The Corselet Bearers, the sixth scene in Mantegna’s Triumphs, represents a procession of men and boys in classical dress bearing the spoils of victory—coins, plates, and trophies of royal armor. The highly descriptive manner of the figures and the reference to Roman frieze sculpture characterize the style of Mantegna, who was the major innovator in the history of the early Italian Renaissance print. Mantegna collaborated with one or more printmakers in addition to producing his own prints, and an engraving of this subject was in the possession of his son Ludovico at his death in 1510, thus placing the invention of this work in proximity to the great artist.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art