Bacchanal with Silenus

late 1400s–early 1500s

after Andrea Mantegna

(Italian, about 1431–1506)

Culture

Italy, 15th century

Medium

engraving

Measurements

Sheet: 30.1 x 44.3 cm (11 7/8 x 17 7/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 1924.515

Catalogue raisonné

Hind V(II).13.3a ; P.v. 83.42

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Location

Not on view

Description

Perhaps unhappy with the way his engraved plates had worn down from use, Andrea Mantegna commissioned Giovanni Antonio da Brescia to reengrave several of his compositions. Comparing Da Brescia’s impression to Mantegna’s shows that the copperplate was less worn when the later print was made and the inks more expertly mixed to adhere to the incised lines, resulting in an overall stronger impression with greater contrast. The impact is a work that has a strong affinity with the relief-carved Roman sarcophagi (stone coffins) that inspired Mantegna.