Battle of the Nudes

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 rela-
tively shallow relief, allow for more subtle modeling than that portrayed in the en-
graving, 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 back-
ground 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 fig-
ures, 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 com-
position 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
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