id: 157224 accession number: 1994.102 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1994.102 updated: 2023-08-23 23:20:29.198000 The Triumph of Julius Caesar: Caesar Triumphant, 1593–99. Andrea Andreani (Italian, about 1558–1610), after Andrea Mantegna (Italian, 1431–1506). Woodcut printed on silk, heightened by hand with gold; sheet: 37.6 x 37.3 cm (14 13/16 x 14 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1994.102 title: The Triumph of Julius Caesar: Caesar Triumphant title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1593–99 creation date earliest: 1593 creation date latest: 1599 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: Italy, 16th century technique: woodcut printed on silk, heightened by hand with gold department: Prints collection: PR - Woodcut type: Print find spot: catalogue raisonne: Bartsch XII.101.11, plate 9 (p. 102) --- CREATORS * Andrea Andreani (Italian, about 1558–1610) - artist Born in Mantua in ca. 1559, Andrea Andreani was the most accomplished practitioner of chiaroscuro technique in late sixteenth-century Italy. Little is known about his initial training. He began as a blockcutter. Around 1583, he started to copy early line woodcuts into new chiaroscuro versions. He also reproduced intarsia pavements, sculptures, and bronze reliefs with the same method. Andreani was active in Rome (ca. 1580), Florence (1583-86), and Siena (1586-1593), before returning permanently to his native city and setting up a workshop. He died in Manuta in 1629. Andreani's oeuvre includes large prints comprising several sheets, such as his copy of Triumph of Christ after Titian, and copies of drawings based on Mantegna's cartoons for the Triumph of Caesar. Between 1602 and 1610, Andreani reprinted and recut earlier chiaroscuro woodblocks by Ugo da Carpi, Antonio da Trento and Niccolò Vicentino, bringing them to new levels of technical and visual refinement. * Andrea Mantegna (Italian, 1431–1506) - artist --- measurements: Sheet: 37.6 x 37.3 cm (14 13/16 x 14 11/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Against the Grain: Woodcuts from the Collection opening date: 2003-08-17T00:00:00 Against the Grain: Woodcuts from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 17-November 9, 2003). title: Gods and Heroes: Ancient Legends in Renaissance Art opening date: 2017-08-26T04:00:00 Gods and Heroes: Ancient Legends in Renaissance Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-December 31, 2017). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: Commissioned by Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga, this series of chiaroscuro woodcuts reproduces Andrea Mantegna’s Triumph of Julius Caesar, painted a century earlier. The scenes imaginatively portray the triumphal procession of the renowned Roman general and consul Julius Caesar following his successful defeat of Gaul in 52 BC. Each section of the continuous frieze shows elements typical of these parades, sanctioned by the Roman Senate and described in ancient texts. The printed suite’s frontispiece features a portrait bust of Mantegna, and the text below boasts that the famous paintings attracted many viewers. People who owned sets of these woodcuts often tacked them up to create a decorative frieze. Andreani issued the prints with a sheet of classical columns that could be cut out and placed between the scenes. Two fragments of these columns, colored orange, still flank the fourth scene.

This special impression of the final woodcut in Andreani’s Triumph of Julius Caesar was printed on dyed silk. The gold highlights, added by hand, make Caesar in his triumphal car appear especially luxurious. In their descriptions of Roman triumphs, the ancient chroniclers Plutarch and Appian each wrote that the hero of honor wore purple robes decorated with gold. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1994.102/1994.102_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1994.102/1994.102_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1994.102/1994.102_full.tif