Bacchanal with Silenus

Discussion

FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG

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.

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