Titel
Project Code: Peru.
A study of "The triumphs of Caesar"

År
1999

Mål
160 x 185 cm

Teknik
Olie på lærred / Oil on canvas

Betegnet


G. F.'s kommentar/henvisning
Thomas Coryat, an Englishman, who visited Mantua in 1608, when the Gonzaga were on the height of their splendour, wrote "This is a citie which of all other places in the world I would wish to make my habitation in... London whiche both for frequencie of people and multitude of houses doth thrise exceed it, is not better furnished with gardens". Aldous Huxley called it "the most romantic city in the world" and in another context, a place "pregnant with the memory of splendour".
The Gonzaga were somewhat exceptional among Italian princely dynasties in their many links with Northern Europe. Partly owing to Mantua´s position (directly south of the Brenner Pass route into Italy) and its tradition of deference to the authority of the Emperor. An awareness of Mantua in sixteenth century England, not least for its thoroughbred horses and Latin poetry.

The Triumphs of Caesar at Hampton Court, property Her Majesty The Queen, consists of nine panels. The fame of the Triumphs, which was mainly transmitted at first through engravings and later through reproductive woodcuts and painted copies, was based on Mantegna´s mastery of perspective, on the extraordinary fertility of his invention, and above all on his succes in creating a plausible and consistent image of ancient Roman power and civilisation. Untill their acquisition by Charles 1 in 1629 they remained in the Gonzagas collection. They were not sold with the rest of Charles paintings after his excecution, their fame being so great.

If you were to ask me why I attempted to make a study of this work I would have to think more than thrice. But this I can tell you in a painters head there are a kaleidoscope of images that cares not for the correctitude of time or systems of hierarchy. Delicious images return again and again as when a good kitchen door opens.

Note.
The captives,canvas VII, of The Triumphs of Caesar, dimensions not recorded. The Royal Collection St.James´s Palace, copy-right Her Majesty The Queen. I therefore have not seen this canvas and only know it from old black and white reproduction.


Foto nr.
1687
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