This fifteenth-century engraving of ten naked men fighting is one of the largest and most influential prints made in the Renaissance. A variety of weapons are depicted: bows and arrows, swords, daggers, axes and a heavy chain. Two shields, one face up, one face down, are lying on the ground.
The subject of this print is an enigma. What historical period is being depicted, who are these men, why are they fighting, and why are they nude? Does the print illustrate a philosophical idea or a text from ancient Rome or Greece?
Various authors have proposed different answers to these questions because there is no documentary evidence dating from the time the print was made that can provide a definitive answer. Some experts believe the artist made this print as a demonstration of his own skill at depicting the male nude which could then be copied by other artists and in other media.
What cannot be disputed is that this print depicts brazen male nudity and murderous aggression. There is a strong emphasis on contour. Some pairs of figures mirror each other, most noticeably the two figures in the centre clutching the chain. Aggression is communicated through the men’s dynamic poses as well as their facial expressions.
This is the first engraving in Europe to include the artist’s full name and place of origin (in Latin) on the sign hanging from the broken tree branch on the left. Pollaiuolo was also a painter, sculptor, goldsmith and designer of embroideries and this is his only engraving.
Physical description
Engraving on paper of a battle of nudes.
Place of Origin
Florence, Italy (engraved)
Date
1467-1470s (engraved)
Artist/maker
Pollaiuolo, Antonio, born 1427 - died 1498 (engraver)
Materials and Techniques
Engraving on paper
Marks and inscriptions
.OPVS.ANTONII.POLLAIOLI.FLORENTINI. The work of the Florentine Antonio Pollaiuolo
CAI in a circle stamped in red.
793 inscribed in ink at the bottom right corner.
Anchor in a circle.
NAL in a circle.
Dimensions
Height: 40.6 cm cut to, Width: 59.2 cm cut to
Object history note
A unique first state is in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Approximately 48 second state impressions suvive, Langdale, p.26.
Historical significance: This engraving has been interpreted as a sort of study sheet equvalent to a printed modelbook presenting a range of poses (and emotional expressions Manca p.28) that can be given to the aggressive male nude. (Emison note 1 and p.263) There have been various attempts to align the subject with classical or Renaissance texts (Emison note 2) or an actual historical incident (Emison note 27) but none of these has earned a consensus of support .
Emison, p.262, describes it as belonging to "the very inception of the tradition of the brazenly exposed adult male nude" and sees in the vine and the grain in the background a reference to the Eucharist, p.265. Emison, p.265, also sees this print as being about generalised, philosophical and theological belief about the conflict between the body and the soul, and the conquering of the body by the soul which is unfettered from its bodily prison in death.
Rather than being as some have suggested an all'antica image of struggle (Manca note 1), Manca proposes on the basis of on an analysis of the agricultural background and selection of weaponry, a moral reading of the image. He suggests that the signs of primitivism and barbarity in this print signal a setting at the very early or very late stages of antiquity, p. 32."Pollaiuolo reminds us that human vice is tied to very low level of economic and cultural existence." p.33. "...they could be Ostrogoths, Vandals, Thracians, or another barbaric tribe or rough, fringe culture from antiquity." p.34
Copied in two woodcut versions around 1500. The first engraving to bear an artist's full signature. Langdale, p. 25.
Historical context note
Purchased by Ionides in 1882, with a group of prints by Mantegna from the dealer Goupil for £75
Descriptive line
Battle of the Nudes, engraving by Pollaiuolo, 1467-70s
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Langdale, Shelley R.Battle of the Nudes: Pollaiuolo's Renaissance Masterpiece. The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2002 p.81, no 43
Emison, Patricia. The Word Made Naked in Pollaiuolo's Battle of the Nudes. In Art History vol 13, September 1990 pp.261-275
Manca, Joseph. Passion and Primitivism in Antonio Pollaiuolo's Battle of Naked Men. In Source Notes in the History of Art. vol XX no 3, Spring 200, pp. 28-36
Langdale, Shelley R. Battle of the Nudes: Pollaiuolo's Renaissance Masterpiece. The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2002 p.37
"The ...engraving may be seen as a comparable object [to Pollaiuolo's bronze of Hercules and Antaeus in the Bargello] designed to engage this kind of intellectual appreciation because the "pivotal representation" of the nude warriors (so close in physiognomy and physical type that they appear to be based on one model shown from multiple viewpoints) may allude to the function of a small bronze that could be picked up and rotated in the viewer's hands."
Langdale, Shelley R. Battle of the Nudes: Pollaiuolo's Renaissance Masterpiece. The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2002, p. 38
Strong emphasis on outlines. Points out the pose of the archer in the engraving is similar to that of Hercules in a drawing of Hercules and the Hydra by the same artist dating from the 1460s in The British Museum.
Langdale, Shelley R. Battle of the Nudes: Pollaiuolo's Renaissance Masterpiece. The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2002, p.40
In book 2, section 40 of De Pictura, Alberti writes "In my opinion, there will be no historia so rich in variety of things that nine or ten men cannot worthily perform it".. "though variety is pleasing in any historia a picture in which the attitudes and movements and of the bodies differ very much among themselves is most pleasing of all."
Langdale, Shelley R.Battle of the Nudes: Pollaiuolo's Renaissance Masterpiece. The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2002, pp.48-49
"Since Pollaiuolo repeated favourite motifs in other media in which he worked, his conceptions also circulated through works produced in a variety of other media. It has recently been suggested [Vasari, Lives, I: 543. See Wright in Rubin and Wright, Renassaince Florence, 260] that a terracotta relief Battle of Nude Men[7598-1861] in the Victoria and Albert Museum, possibly late fifteenth or early sixteenth century, may represent a copy of a "metal" (presumably bronze) relief of battling figures by Pollaiuolo that according to Vasari, was sent to Spain, but of which "every craftsman in Florence has a plaster cast". The composition shares affinities with the Battle of the Nudes engraving in the two-tiered layout of mostly paired-off figures in a relatively shallow stage-like space; the inclusion of two fighting figures with a chain shown in the same pose pivoted in 180 degrees with feet slightly overlapped; the range of activity and pose revealing a generalized portrayal of violent action in the service of anatomical display; and the articulation of musculature and classiczing robust type. Yet the three-dimensional qualities of the medium, even in relatively shallow relief, allow for more subtle modeling than that portrayed in the engraving, and the more archaic facial type(deep-set eyes, stylized mask-like profile) is less expressive.
Rubin, Patricia Lee and Wright, Alison Renaissance Florence: The Art of the 1470s, no 53, pp.257-259
it would have been evident to a contemporary audience that Antonio's own model for his engraving was the relief sculpture of antiquity. The frieze-like arrangement and lunging poses of the conbatants recall battle scenes on sarcophagi that he could have seen in Rome or Tuuscany....
Exhibition History
'Most magnificent and generous': master drawings, watercolours and prints from the Ionides Bequest (Victoria and Albert Museum 01/10/2005-30/11/2008)
Medieval and Renaissance Galleries (Victoria and Albert Museum 01/01/2009-31/12/2009)
Labels and date
STUDIES OF MALE NUDES IN COMBAT [Terracotta and print]
The Florentine painter Antoinio Pollaiuolo's interest in drawing the male nude in active poses, was shared by many Renaissance artist. Prints of his engravings [see Curator's Comments] were widely distributed across Italy and Northern Europe, as shown by the figures appearing in other works of art.
The terracotta relief [7598-1861] recalls elements of Pollaiuolo's engraving. It might reflect a bronze relief which Pollaiuolo was said to have made for export to Spain.
Below
Engraving [on paper]
About 1467-70
Antonio Pollaiuolo
(about 1432-96)
Italy, Florence
Inscribed [Lettered] in Latin, 'The work of the Florentine Antonio Pollaiuolo'
Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides
Museum no. CAI.793
NOT SURE WHERE THIS TEXT COMES FROM
[Pollaiuolo was one of the leading artists in fifteenth-century Florence, a versatile painter, sculptor and goldsmith who worked in a wide variety of media. The battle of nude men is one of the largest and most technically accomplished engravings of the period. It demonstrates Pollaiuolo's skill in composition based on his knowledge of classical relief sculpture, as well as a precocious undertsanding of anatomy. Even in Ionides' day, the print was considered a rarity; although it is a rather late, worn impression, this was one of the prizes in his collection.] [May 2008]
Antonio Pollaiuolo 1429/33 -98
The Battle of Nude Men (also known as The Gladiators)
Probably late 1460s
This is one of the largest and most technically accomplished early Italian engravings. Even in Ionides’ day, it was a rarity. Although this is a rather late, worn impression, it was a prize of his collection. The complex scene shows Pollaiuolo’s skill in composition, acquired through a study of classical relief sculpture, and his unusually advanced understanding of anatomy.
Materials
Printing ink; Paper (fiber product)
Techniques
Engraving (printing process)
Subjects depicted
Vines; Nudes; Swords; Arrows; Battle; Weapons; Quivers; Bows (weapons); Chains; Violence; Warfare; Daggers (weapons); Battle-axes; Anger; Olive tree; Grain(crop)
Categories
Prints; Arms & Armour
Collection code
PDP
