Mantegna was one of the most important humanist painters of his day, and his interests in archeology and literature gave him the grounding for an art directed at the educated upper class. One of his finest illustrations of this ability is a work for the young Francesco Gonzaga: the Triumphs of Caesar. Nine paintings, large, square canvases of the same size - each more than two and a half meters on a side - which Mantegna painted over the course of a decade, from 1485 to 1495.

On 2 March 1494 the canvases of the Triumphs were proudly shown to Giovanni de'Medici, who later became Pope Leo X. Copperplate engravings and wood cuts, as well as painted copies, quickly spread its reputation. These works hung in a large hall in the Palazzo di San Sebastiano (now the Museo Civico) in Mantua, then in 1627 they passed to the British Royal collection.

The paintings show a train of followers bearing looted trophies of war past the viewers. Despite the numerous Latin inscriptions, for the most part legible, it is not known which of the various triumphs of Caesar is celebrated here; perhaps none in particular.

In these paintings we find an assemblage of sophistical antique references, of musical instruments, vases, arms, and standards, with horses and elephants preceding the gilded chariot carrying the victorious Caesar. This cycle of paintings was almost immediately understood as a key work in the history of Italian art, and the paintings have contributed, even more than the Camera degli Sposi, to linking Mantegna's name inextricably with Mantua.

Since the original paintings are not well preserved and have been heavily restored, an exact impression of the detail of the Triumphs is available today only from the woodcuts completed from 1598 onwards by Andrea Andreani (active between 1584-1610).

Preview	Picture Data	Info
	Triumphs of Caesar (scene 1) 1485-95 Tempera on canvas, 267 x 278 cm Royal Collection, Hampton Court
	Triumphs of Caesar (scene 1) 1485-95 Tempera on canvas, 267 x 278 cm Royal Collection, Hampton Court
	Triumphs of Caesar (scene 1, detail) 1485-95 Tempera on canvas Royal Collection, Hampton Court
	Triumphs of Caesar (scene 2) 1485-95 Tempera on canvas, 267 x 278 cm Royal Collection, Hampton Court
	Triumphs of Caesar (scene 2, detail) 1485-95 Tempera on canvas Royal Collection, Hampton Court
	Triumphs of Caesar (scene 3) 1485-95 Tempera on canvas, 267 x 278 cm Royal Collection, Hampton Court
	Triumphs of Caesar (scene 3) 1485-95 Tempera on canvas, 267 x 278 cm Royal Collection, Hampton Court
	Triumphs of Caesar (scene 4) 1485-95 Tempera on canvas, 267 x 278 cm Royal Collection, Hampton Court
	Triumphs of Caesar (scene 4) 1485-95 Tempera on canvas, 267 x 278 cm Royal Collection, Hampton Court
	Triumphs of Caesar (scene 5) 1485-95 Tempera on canvas, 267 x 278 cm Royal Collection, Hampton Court
	Triumphs of Caesar (scene 5, detail) 1485-95 Tempera on canvas Royal Collection, Hampton Court
	Triumphs of Caesar (scene 6) 1485-95 Tempera on canvas, 267 x 278 cm Royal Collection, Hampton Court
	Triumphs of Caesar (scene 6) 1485-95 Tempera on canvas, 267 x 278 cm Royal Collection, Hampton Court
	Triumphs of Caesar (scene 7) 1485-95 Tempera on canvas, 267 x 278 cm Royal Collection, Hampton Court
	Triumphs of Caesar (scene 7) 1485-95 Tempera on canvas, 267 x 278 cm Royal Collection, Hampton Court
	Triumphs of Caesar (scene 8) 1485-95 Tempera on canvas, 267 x 278 cm Royal Collection, Hampton Court
	Triumphs of Caesar (scene 8) 1485-95 Tempera on canvas, 267 x 278 cm Royal Collection, Hampton Court
	Triumphs of Caesar (scene 9) 1485-95 Tempera on canvas, 267 x 278 cm Royal Collection, Hampton Court
	Triumphs of Caesar (scene 9) 1485-95 Tempera on canvas, 267 x 278 cm Royal Collection, Hampton Court