_The Risen Christ Between Saints Andrew and Longinus_ is Mantegna’s last engraving. Christ towers above the two subsidiary figures, with a form and bearing which would better befit a Roman Emperor returning in triumph. In this plate, above all others, Mantegna’s technique shines forth as not only adequate, but as beyond question the best--perhaps the only one--to convey his message. Translated into another mode, one feels that it would lose much of its appeal. It has been suggested that the engraving was made as a project for a group of statuary--perhaps for the high altar of S. Andrea, in Mantua, raised above the most precious relic possessed by the city, the Blood of Christ, brought to Mantua by Longinus--a supposition borne out by the statuesque impressiveness of the group and by the fact that Christ gazes downwards, as though from a height. Although 1480 is the earliest date to which we can assign the first of Mantegna’s original engravings, there were in existence, at least five years before that time, engravings by other hands after designs by the master, and it may have been either to protect himself from unauthorized and fraudulent copyists, or as an artistic protest against the incapacity of his translators, that Mantegna was compelled to take up the graver. There has come down to us a letter, dated September 15, 1475, addressed by Simone di Ardizone, of Reggio, to the Marquis Lodovico, of Mantua, complaining to the prince of Mantegna’s behavior towards him. His story was that “Mantegna, upon his arrival in Mantua, made him splendid offers, and treated him with great friendliness. Actuated by feelings of compassion, however, towards his old friend, Zoan Andrea, a painter in Mantua, from whom prints (_stampe_), drawings, and medals had been stolen, and wishing to help in the restoration of the plates, he had worked with his friend for four months. As soon as this came to Mantegna’s knowledge he proceeded to threats, and one evening Ardizone and Zoan Andrea had been assaulted by ten or more armed men and left for dead in the square.” [Illustration: ANDREA MANTEGNA. THE RISEN CHRIST BETWEEN SAINTS ANDREW AND LONGINUS Size of the original engraving, 15½ × 12¾ inches In the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston] [Illustration: SCHOOL OF ANDREA MANTEGNA. ADORATION OF THE MAGI Size of the original engraving, 15⅛ × 10¾ inches In the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]