Battle of the Sea Gods - right portion (c. 1485–88): Art, History and Details

Battle of the Sea Gods - right portion (c. 1485–88) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Andrea Mantegna (Italian, about 1431–1506).

The work and its context

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

Albrecht Dürer traveled from Nuremberg, his hometown, to Italy in 1494–95. Evidence suggests that he stopped in Mantua to meet painter Andrea Mantegna, then about 64 years old. The nature of their exchange—if it occurred—is unknown, yet each artist’s engravings profoundly influenced the other. Mantegna’s work introduced Dürer to complex mythological subjects and stories featuring the nude body; Dürer later incorporated one of Mantegna’s nymphs from Battle of the Sea Gods into his print Hercules at the Crossroad. He was less drawn to Mantegna’s engraving style, which relied on strong, sculptural contours and soft hatching.

Object facts

• Title: Battle of the Sea Gods - right portion
• Date: c. 1485–88
• Creator attribution: Andrea Mantegna (Italian, about 1431–1506)
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Dimensions: Mat Size: 47.6 x 63.5 cm (18 3/4 x 25 in.); Sheet: 26.8 x 39.3 cm (10 9/16 x 15 1/2 in.)
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1924.221

Collection credit

Gift of Ralph King

Further reading listed by the museum

• Prasse, Leona. "The Engraving of Andrea Mantegna." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 43, no. 4 (April 1956): 59-62.

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.