The Senators, from Triumph of Caesar
Andrea Mantegna (Italian, 1431-1506)
c. 1495
- Medium
- Engraving in black on cream laid paper
- Classification
- Dimensions
- Plate/sheet: 28.5 × 26.8 cm (11 1/4 × 10 9/16 in.)
- Culture
- Italy
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Prints and Drawings
- Credit line
- Bequest of Mrs. Potter Palmer, Jr.
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
Andrea Mantegna made expertly rendered sketches that he intended for reproduction as engravings by his workshop. This engraving of The Senators is in fact derived from a drawing, not the artist’s series of completed canvases of the same theme. Mantegna captured the classical antiquarian essence of ancient Rome through his depiction of architectural practices of the era, such as the aedicula framing the window in the center of this image. Such architectural features provide the backdrop for the victorious procession of Julius Caesar.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
