The drunken Silenus with putti: a trompe l'oeil bas-relief

The painting is closely related to a print, known in one unique impression, that clearly reproduces a composition by Mantegna known in no other form (Andrea Mantegna, exhibition catalogue, London-New York, 1992, pp. 295-6, no. 84). The print is attributed to the anonymous Premier Engraver, and was copied by Giovanni Antonio da Brescia a few years later (op. cit., pp. 295-6, no. 85). The subject was inspired by Mantegna's Bacchanals, prints that reflect the artist's lifelong fascination with antiquity and his constant study of Roman sculptural remains, specifically sarcophagi carved in high relief. The bacchanalian compositions are normally dated around the years of the Camera picta in Mantua, of 1474, and consequently the Premier Engraver print is considered to be slightly later, probably around the 1490s. The present picture would appear to be around this period, and provides clear evidence of the continued interest in the Antique among Mantegna's circle.

We are grateful to David Ekserdjian for having inspected the painting in the original and for his help in cataloguing this lot.