Battle of the Nudes

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interior modeling that suggests a single figure is shown, pivoted 180 degrees. 37 A similar approach is found in Pollaiuolo's monumental painting The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, c. 1475 (fig. 20), in which not only do the foreground figures appear as pivoted pairs, but again the contours of the bent legs of the crossbowmen facing front and back are remarkably close, with interior modeling again used to suggest the alternate viewpoint. 38 While the correspondences between the contours are not exact, and in the drawing the figures differ slightly in size, disposition of the clenched hand, and other minor aspects, the correlation is sufficient to underscore the two-dimensional character of the image. As with his other drawings, the pen line varies to define the swell of the muscles as they fold around the figure. How- ever, minimizing his use of wash, Pollaiuolo employs parallel and some slight V- stroke/zigzag shading to articulate the placement and interrelation of the muscular structure within the contour, in a manner similar to the Battle engraving, though not as extensively. See, for instance, the use of thin light "sketch" lines combined with shaped patches of shading to describe the musculature of the figure's back at right. Vasari claimed that Pollaiuolo's knowledge of anatomy was derived from experi- ence with dissection of human cadavers. 39 Yet Pollaiuolo's occasional misunder- standings (evident in the lack of inclusion of certain muscles and tendons) 40 and the tendency to show all visible muscles flexed simultaneously (and thus inaccurately) when describing a particular movement or pose suggest that his knowledge came from the close scrutiny of a live nude model with a distinctive muscular develop- ment (perhaps an athlete or some kind of professional fighter) 41 and that he combined the flexing of muscles for different actions within one figure. 41
The use of more extensive interior modeling in the Battle engraving may have had two purposes: first, as a means to demonstrate the artist's considerable (if less than perfect) understanding of human anatomy by articulating the figures' muscular structure in considerable detail (one can even discern the suggestion of bulging veins in the raised arm of the left chain man); and second, to convey a greater sense of surface modeling through a detailed description of the fall of light across form, suggesting a sculpted three-dimensional surface, or at least the relief of a highly modeled surface—just as Alberti prescribes. Pollaiuolo used drawing to expand his understanding of the human figure and to develop a repertoire of reusable motifs, frequently based on antique sources, which appear throughout his work. The forward-facing striding figure of the Lou- vre drawing [14] could easily be seen as a warrior type if a weapon was inserted into his clenched hand. His pose, one foot in profile (or near profile), one pointing forward, is seen time and again, including the Berlin archer [16], the foreground archer in the right and left corners of the St. Sebastian altarpiece and (slightly modi- fied) in the left man holding the chain in the Battle engraving. The other key recur- ring motif is that of the lunging figure with arms raised, often positioned to shoot an arrow from a bow or wield some other weapon. This pose is found in the archer at left in the Battle engraving, in the British Museum Hercules sketch [15], the small oil painting Hercules and the Hydra in the Uffizi (fig. 21)—and thus most likely in the large Hercules and the Hydra painting made for the Medici family that is now lost, but which is generally believed to be represented in the small Uffizi oil—and (re- versed) in the figure of Hercules in the painting Hercules, Nessus, and Deianeira [19] at the Yale University Art Gallery. The high esteem in which Pollaiuolo's abilities were held and his motifs admired is evident in the inscription that appears in the upper left of the Louvre drawing [14]: "This is the work of the excellent and famous Florentine painter and outstanding sculptor Antonio di Jacopo. When he depicts man look how marvel- 42
Page 1 and 2: Battle of the Nudes POLLAIUOLO'S RE
Page 3 and 4: Pollaiuolo's print is also somethin
Page 6 and 7: 5). There also appear to be some re
Page 8 and 9: tance the image appears silvery gra
Page 10 and 11: difficult and time consuming to rec
Page 12 and 13: and eliminating the subtlety of mod
Page 14 and 15: were so enamored of them that they
Page 16 and 17: cution differs in the engraving, th
Page 20 and 21: ously he renders the limbs." 42 A c
Page 22 and 23: own inscription on the tomb of Sixt
Page 24 and 25: sponse to the crude interpretation
Page 26 and 27: attributed to Perugino's most famou
Page 28 and 29: the plate in an attempt to alter th
Page 30 and 31: visited Florence. And although wild
Page 32 and 33: plate was cut, that while the sheer
Page 34 and 35: Italian printmaker, possibly Paduan
Page 36 and 37: of the Pollaiuolo" (Ph.D. diss., Co
Page 38: 67. Martin Clayton, Raphael and His

Battle of the Nudes

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