Battle of the Nudes

More documents

Recommendations

Info

attributed to Perugino's most famous student, Raphael (1483-1520), noting the modification of Pollaiuolo's vigorous approach (evident not only in the pose, but also in the grimaces and open-mouthed expressions of some figures) through the more delicate sensibilities of the Perugino workshop. 67 Francis Ames-Lewis and Elizabeth Clegg have suggested that incised lines present in the contours of some of the figures, such as the helmeted lunging man at right, indicate that they were transferred from a Pollaiuolesque source, while other figures, such as those behind the archers at left, were added to fill out the composition. 68 The fallen front-facing warrior at center, and his counterpart seen from the back, as well as the lunging figure at right recall figures in Pollaiuolo's Hercules and the Giants battle [7, 8] as well as antique prototypes. The sharply bent back of the man with the shield at far right and, behind him, the open-mouthed man with pike raised over his head loosely relate to the poses of the right man holding the chain and the man fending off the ax behind him in the Battle of the Nudes. Because neither engraving presents a precise match, the hypothesis of Ames-Lewis and Clegg of another Pollaiuolesque source seems probable, or like Durer and Breu, the artist freely adapted forms based on Pollaiuolo's figural ideas. Pollaiuolo's inventions are also reflected in two prints by Cristofano Robetta (1462-1535 or after): Hercules and the Hydra [10] shows Pollaiuolo's favored lunging figure motif (in reverse); 69 Hercules and Antaeus [11] recalls the exaggerated bend of Hercules' back, the front-to-front arrangement of the figures, and the gaping mouth, thrown-back head, and balletic extension of the leg of Antaeus of Pollaiuolo's small bronze. Both Robetta compositions are generally associated with Pollaiuolo's famous lost Hercules paintings. 70 Since Pollaiuolo repeated favorite motifs in the other media in which he worked, his conceptions also circulated through works produced in a variety of media. It has recently been suggested that a terracotta relief, Battle of Nude Men [21], 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 49
Pollaiuolo that, according to Vasari, was sent to Spain, but of which "every crafts- man in Florence has a plaster cast." 71 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 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 classiciz- ing 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. The lunging figure with the dagger facing right and the figure with dagger raised about to strike a seated man with a shield near the center background also recall the turbaned lunging figure with the sword at right and the man with the dagger in the central background of the Hercules battle engraving. The figure being tied to a tree may relate to antique examples of Marsyas prepared for punishment with his hands tied above his head. 72 Examples such as these would seem to confirm the supposition that Pollaiuolo's Battle of the Nudes engraving was intended as a means of disseminating artistic ideas. It has been suggested that both Pollaiuolo and Mantegna, the two ear- liest Italian artists to conceive of prints on a large pictorial scale, used prints to dem- onstrate to a wide audience that they understood the Albertian principle of what constitutes a good historia, while further addressing popular intellectual tastes for all'antica designs. 73 The visual manifestation of the two artists' endeavors, however, reveals ultimately different artistic concerns. Pollaiuolo's success in conveying the vitality of the active male figure is achieved at times at the expense of anatomical accuracy and three-dimensionality. His circumscription of the figure with a lively contour line, use of flickering patches of highlight, and varied engraving technique infuse the bodies with energy, suggesting the behavior of muscles under the strain of vigorous activity in a highly convincing, if not precisely naturalistic manner. While Mantegna's heavier, static figures, though portrayed perhaps more convinc- ingly as weighty three-dimensional forms, recall more literally their antique sources, the lines that surround modeled sections within a figure, defining planes or pockets of flesh and the crisp curls of hair, give the appearance of a form carved from marble or stone (see [12], for example). The line in the Mantegna engravings has long been lauded for its marvelous variety and drawing-like character. 74 Pollaiuolo's creative use of line, evident not only in his unusual delicate zigzag technique manipulated at different angles to articulate the musculature of his figures, but also in tiny nuanced shading strokes in background foliage, combined with broad parallel shading and selective crosshatching, has been underappreciated in comparison to Mantegna both in its contribution to the overall energy of his composition and in its departure from similar techniques used by engravers of lesser skill. Given Pollaiuolo's sensibility for sculptural media, the allusion to classical im- agery in the composition, and the connections to Alberti's theories about two- and three-dimensional media, it would seem perfectly plausible that Pollaiuolo himself, or an assistant under his direction, could have been responsible for the reworking of 50
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 18 and 19: interior modeling that suggests a s
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 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

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?