Battle in a Wood (c. 1515): Art, History and Details

Battle in a Wood (c. 1515) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Master of the Year 1515 (Italian); Agostino Busti (Italian, 1483–1548).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The engraver known as Master of the Year 1515, from the Lombardy region of northern Italy, probably studied Antonio del Pollaiuolo’s Battle of the Nudes to make this scene. Most engravings are cleanly cut and wiped, but here, shadowy qualities similar to smudged chalk appear throughout the composition. This effect results from burr, the ridge of metal raised by the burin that is normally scraped away. When left on the plate, burr holds ink and creates a blurred, velvety appearance. The irregular lines and unusual technique suggest that the artist was trained in drawing rather than metalwork.

Object facts

• Title: Battle in a Wood
• Date: c. 1515
• Creator attribution: Master of the Year 1515 (Italian); Agostino Busti (Italian, 1483–1548)
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving and drypoint
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1949.34

Collection credit

Dudley P. Allen Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.