Battle of the Nudes (1470s–80s): Art, History and Details

Battle of the Nudes (1470s–80s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Antonio del Pollaiuolo (Italian, 1431/32–1498).

The work and its context

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

This engraving is one of the earliest Renaissance prints to portray the nude male body in action. Antonio del Pollaiuolo’s grimacing warriors appear like clones in different poses. The print may have functioned as a model for workshop apprentices studying human anatomy while learning to draw; however, the artist’s Latin signature suggests it also had an audience educated in literature. Art historians remain uncertain whether Pollaiuolo intended to depict a particular story or historical event. It is possible he created a deliberately ambiguous allegory that would appeal to patrons interested in interpreting symbols. For example, the continuous chain shared by the two central men could refer to an ancient idea that the body is the chain of the soul, only to be released in death.

Object facts

• Title: Battle of the Nudes
• Date: 1470s–80s
• Creator attribution: Antonio del Pollaiuolo (Italian, 1431/32–1498)
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Dimensions: Platemark: 42 x 60.4 cm (16 9/16 x 23 3/4 in.); Sheet: 42.4 x 60.9 cm (16 11/16 x 24 in.)
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1967.127

A detail from the museum

Considered a groundbreaking work in the history of the Italian Renaissance, the CMA holds the only known impression of the print's first state.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Langdale, Shelley R., and Antonio Pollaiolo. Battle of the Nudes: Pollaiuolo's Renaissance Masterpiece. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2002.
• “Year in Review.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 54, no. 10 (December 1967): 302–346.
• Richards, Louise S. “Antonio Pollaiuolo: Battle of Naked Men.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 55, no. 3 (March 1968): 63–70.

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.