The Triumph of Julius Caesar

Andrea Andreani

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The frieze depicts the Triumphs of Julius Caesar after a series of nine paintings created by Andrea Mantegna between 1484 and 1492 for the Gonzaga Ducal Palace in Mantua. The principal subject is a triumphal military parade celebrating the victory of Caesar　in the Gallic Wars (58 BC–51 BC). The print is one of the most ambitious made during the sixteenth century. Printing the complex and detailed scene required up to four separate woodblocks. The first to register the black outlines of the many figures and then separately carved blocks to apply the different shades of colour. The result is beautifully syncopated colour design that approximates the effects of a subtle wash drawing. By any standard, this was an expensive undertaking requiring the skill of a number of people. Andreani and his workshop specialized in this sort of ambitious printmaking that found an eager audience amongst those interested in the revival of classical themes.

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