The Battle around the Shield and Lance

Discussion

FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

Amidst the chaos of battle, a shield and lance rest quietly in the foreground. These icons of military prowess are surrounded by bucking horses, falling soldiers, and spears. It is ironic that Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio chose to depict the Romans as skilled cavalrymen, since the cavalry was the weakest part of the Roman army until the late Imperial Period (A.D. 3rd/4th century). The inscription at the bottom of the engraving attributes the design for this print to Raphael; it may preserve a rejected idea for his Battle for the Milvian Bridge in the Sala di Costantino in the Vatican, Rome.

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