The Triumphs of Caesar: 6. The Corselet-Bearers

At the National Gallery, the procession stops with this canvas, the last of the six on show there. In Mantegna's cycle it carries on with captives, musicians and finally Caesar on his chariot. The seventh canvas is being studied in the National Gallery's conservation studio, and the last two remain at Hampton Court Palace, home to the series since 1630, the year after King Charles I bought it from the Gonzaga collection in Mantua. In this sixth canvas the spoils are getting heavy. Men carry armour and treasure slung from poles, some of them almost buckling under the load. A barefoot bald man crouches to rest his pole on the ground, his cheeks red from the effort. Up on an aqueduct at the right, spectators watch the parade go by, and on the left a column is topped by a gilded rider on horseback.