Triumphs of Julius Caesar: Canvas No. II
18th century
Medium
Pen and brown ink, with brush and gray wash, heightened with lead white (oxidized), on cream laid paper prepared with yellow wash
Dimensions
37.2 × 38 cm (14 11/16 × 15 in.)
Classification
pen and ink drawings
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
95689
Art Historical Context
Andrea Mantegna's *Triumphs of Julius: Canvas No. II* is a captivating drawing that evokes the grandeur of ancient Rome, part of the renowned Renaissance series celebrating Julius Caesar's military victories. Created in the 18th century—likely a meticulous study or copy after Mantegna's late-15th-century tempera paintings—this work reflects the artist's profound influence on generations of draughtsmen. Mantegna, a pioneer of the Early Renaissance in northern Italy, drew inspiration from classical texts like Plutarch to depict triumphal processions, blending historical narrative with innovative...
About the Artist
Andrea Mantegna · 1431–1506
Andrea Mantegna was born around 1431 near Padua, in the Venetian Republic, the son of a carpenter. At approximately age eleven he was taken into the workshop of the Paduan painter and antiquities collector Francesco Squarcione, who enrolled him as a guild member and immersed him in the study of Roman sculpture and classical Latin. Though Mantegna later claimed that Squarcione had exploited his lab...