Hampton Court ... Illustrated with forty-three drawings by Herbert ...

ANDREA MANTEGNA 189
Gonzaga, in the hands of whose descendants they
remained till war and wrack and the coming end of
the dynasty induced the sale to Charles I. Thus
they have been practically in the hands only of two
States from the day they were painted until now;
and but for William III. and Laguerre they might
have been worthy of so clear a descent.
They are worthy stillof a detailed explanation, from
the proud trumpeters who lead the procession to the
pale Cæsar in his car, with palm branch and sceptre,
and crowned by Victory with a laurel wreath. But
only a brief word must be said here. The first picture
contains the heralds, trumpeters with " tables " hanging
from their trumpets, soldiers bearing S.P.Q.R., leaders
of the triumph, with censers aflame, and a bust of
Roma Victrix held high above their heads. In the
second are the spoils of temples, antiquities such as
Mantegna loved to paint, statues, busts, drawn on
cars or carried in the arms of the crowd. The splendid
triumphal car has not been repainted. One tablet is
inscribedImp.fulio CSsariob Galliam devict.militari
potentia triumphus decrectus invidia spreta superata.
Next come soldiers and youths turning to each other
as they walk, with trophies, urns, and vases. Among
those in this third picture a strong young man, with
breastplate and short white breeches, rosy-faced (but
with the colour of La Guerre), and confident, arrests
attention. Behind come the oxen decked for the
sacrifice, a flaxen-haired lad leading with his right hand
on one of the oxen, whose unhappy simper reveals