Andrea Mantegna: preparatory drawing for one of the canvases in the ‘Triumphs of Caesar’ series. Estimated in excess of $12 million
Important drawing by Andrea Mantegna for sale Sotheby’s will offer one of the most art-historically important drawings ever to appear at auction: Andrea Mantegna’s only known preparatory drawing for one of the canvases in the ‘Triumphs of Caesar’, will headline Sotheby’s Old Master Drawings auction in New York on the 29th of January 2020, and it is estimated to fetch in excess of $12 million.]]>
December 26, 2019, source: Sotheby’s
Andrea Mantegna (c.1431-1506) was one of the most innovative, influential and celebrated artists of the Italian Renaissance. His importance was very recently underscored by the major exhibition, “Mantegna and Bellini”, dedicated to his work and that of his brother-in-law Giovanni Bellini, held at the National Gallery, London, and the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. Approximately 20 drawings by Mantegna are known, all except two (including the present work) are in the collections of major museums, such as the British Museum in London. The sale of this drawing is of enormous significance: only two other drawings by Mantegna have appeared at auction in the last half century.
Dated to the late 1480s, the drawing is the only known preparatory study for Mantegna’s famed and celebrated masterpiece, the Triumphs of Caesar – a series of nine monumental paintings depicting the triumphal procession of Julius Caesar and his army through ancient Rome. The paintings are part of the British Royal Collection at Hampton Court Palace, where they have resided since they were acquired by King Charles I in 1629. The King bought the paintings directly from the Gonzaga family, Dukes of Mantua, who were Mantegna’s most important patrons.
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