Risen Christ between Saints Andrew and Longinus
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
This engraving, held in the National Gallery of Art's Rosenwald Collection in Washington D.C., shows the risen Christ flanked by two figures with a direct, personal connection to the wound that killed him: Saint Longinus, the Roman soldier tradition names as the man who pierced Christ's side with a spear at the Crucifixion, and Saint Andrew, patron of the Mantuan church that was believed to hold a relic of Christ's blood. Giorgio Vasari, writing within a generation of Mantegna's death, named this exact subject, a Resurrection with Longinus and Saint Andrew, among the engravings he credited directly to Mantegna's own hand, listing it alongside a Bacchanalia, a Battle of the Sea Gods, a Deposition and an Entombment as proof of the painter's skill and enthusiasm for cutting his own designs into copper [1]. The pairing of these two saints is not accidental. It ties the print to Mantua's most important relic and to the church, Sant'Andrea, whose reconstruction Mantegna's own patron set in motion in 1472 to house it, and where Mantegna himself was later buried.
Where it is held
Held at National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., United States.
The impression is held in the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., as part of the Rosenwald Collection, the print collection assembled by Lessing J. Rosenwald and given to the National Gallery across the twentieth century.
Vasari's testimony on this print
Vasari's Life of Mantegna gives a short but direct list of the engravings he attributed to the painter's own hand, describing his delight in cutting figures onto copper for printing as a practice of real value, one that let the wider world see not only his own inventions but, through the copies they inspired, the working manners of other craftsmen too [1]. Among the works Vasari names outright is a Resurrection with Longinus and Saint Andrew, the same subject as this print, giving it a rare thing for a fifteenth-century engraving: a specific, contemporary written record naming Mantegna as its author rather than simply its inventor.
Longinus, Andrew, and the relic of the Holy Blood
The choice to pair the risen Christ with these two particular saints points directly at Mantua. Tradition identified Longinus as the Roman centurion who pierced the crucified Christ's side, and Mantuan legend held that Longinus later carried earth soaked with Christ's blood to Mantua, where it became the city's most venerated relic, housed for centuries in a shrine associated with the church dedicated to Saint Andrew. Showing Christ risen and triumphant, flanked by the soldier who witnessed his death at close range and the apostle whose church guarded the relic of that death, turns this print into more than a generic Resurrection image. It reads as a statement about Mantua's own claim to a direct, physical connection to Christ's Passion.
The Basilica of Sant'Andrea and Mantegna's own life
The great Basilica of Sant'Andrea in Mantua, designed by Leon Battista Alberti and begun in 1472 under Mantegna's Gonzaga patrons, was built specifically to give the relic of the Holy Blood a setting worthy of it, replacing an older church on the same site. Mantegna's own connection to Sant'Andrea outlasted this print: Vasari records that Mantegna died in Mantua in 1517 and was buried there with honourable ceremony, his tomb marked by a bronze self-portrait and a Latin epitaph comparing him to the ancient painter Apelles [1]. A painter whose engraving of the risen Christ, Longinus and Andrew already tied his art to this building and its relic ended his own life memorialised inside it.
Common questions
Who is Longinus and why does he appear with the risen Christ?
Longinus is named in tradition as the Roman soldier who pierced the crucified Christ's side with a spear. Mantuan legend held that he later brought a relic of Christ's blood to Mantua, which made him a saint of particular local importance to the city.
Why is Saint Andrew paired with Longinus in this print?
Mantua's relic of the Holy Blood associated with Longinus was housed at the church dedicated to Saint Andrew, rebuilt as the Basilica of Sant'Andrea from 1472. Pairing the two saints ties the print directly to that church and its relic.
Did Mantegna engrave this print himself?
Vasari names a Resurrection with Longinus and Saint Andrew directly among the engravings he credits to Mantegna's own hand, one of the few fifteenth-century prints with this kind of specific, near-contemporary written attribution.
Is Mantegna buried at the church shown in this print's subject?
Yes. Mantegna died in Mantua in 1517 and was buried in the Basilica of Sant'Andrea, the church built to house the relic of the Holy Blood associated with Saint Longinus, marked by a bronze self-portrait on his tomb.
Sources
Editorial draws on the following references, verified against the museum and public-domain image record for this work.
- [1] book Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, 1550 Used for: this artwork.
Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-09-03. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.
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