Outside Italy, the most important collection of paintings by Mantegna is in the Musée du Louvre. Joined by exceptional loans from both French and foreign collections, a major retrospective exhibition of this eminent Renaissance figure has been organized, for the first time in France. The exhibition aims at tracing, through works of varying techniques, the principal stages of this artist’s career; it will evoke the different influences which marked this artist and the precocious diffusion of his art.
 
Bron: mini-site.louvre.fr

In 1550, in his “Life” of the artist, Giorgio Vasari described Mantegna as the inventor of copperplate engraving in Italy, thus creating a real myth. Specialists are still divided over this question: some consider that Mantegna never handled a burin himself but provided designs for printmaking. As court painter, Mantegna was under the strict control of the Gonzaga family who forbade him to sell his works. This new reproduction technique, in addition to its particular expressive qualities, enabled him to export his inventions outside Mantua. The contract signed in 1475 with Gian Marco Cavalli is explicit: the young goldsmith was obliged to keep his models and prints secret, under threat of severe penalties. For having done just this, Simone Ardizzoni another engraver, was severely beaten on Mantegna’s orders, and was to claim justice from the Marquis.
 
Bron: mini-site.louvre.fr