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Battle of the Naked Men
Antonio Pollaiuolo (Italian, 1433-1498)
1489-95
- Medium
- Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
- Classification
- Dimensions
- 40.4 × 58.9 cm (15 15/16 × 23 1/4 in.)
- Culture
- Italy
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Prints and Drawings
- Credit line
- Gift of Herbert F. Perkins
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Adult profiles and older: its museum's description or title mentions nudity. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
A group of men, arranged more or less symmetrically, engage in violent combat against a background of dense vegetation. While the reason for their fighting is unknown, this unusually large engraving was the most influential Italian print of the 15th century, engendering numerous copies and emulations. Antonio Pollaiuolo, a goldsmith and sculptor, probably executed it to advertise his skills in metalworking as well as his ability to convincingly depict the nude male body in motion, a central concern of Italian Renaissance artists.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
