{
"data": {
"id": 143142,
"accession_number": "1967.127",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Battle of the Nudes, 1470s\u201380s. Antonio del Pollaiuolo (Italian, 1431/32\u20131498). Engraving; 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.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1967.127",
"current_location": "101B Prints & Drawings",
"title": "Battle of the Nudes",
"creation_date": "1470s\u201380s",
"creation_date_earliest": 1470,
"creation_date_latest": 1489,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"Italy"
],
"technique": "engraving",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Prints",
"collection": "PR - Engraving",
"type": "Print",
"measurements": "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.)",
"dimensions": {
"sheet": {
"height": 0.424,
"height_inch": 16,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.6875,
"width": 0.609,
"width_inch": 24,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0
},
"platemark": {
"height": 0.42,
"height_inch": 16,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.5625,
"width": 0.604,
"width_inch": 23,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.75
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 351103,
"title": "Italian Prints and Drawings",
"description": "Italian Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 30-March 26, 1968).",
"opening_date": "1968-01-30T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 301400,
"title": "Albrecht D\u00fcrer - 500th Anniversary",
"description": "Albrecht D\u00fcrer - 500th Anniversary. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 19-March 28, 1971).",
"opening_date": "1971-02-19T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 301412,
"title": "Florence and the Arts: Five Centuries of Patronage",
"description": "Florence and the Arts: Five Centuries of Patronage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 13-September 19, 1971).",
"opening_date": "1971-07-13T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 304546,
"title": "Connoisseurship in Italian Figural Compositions",
"description": "Connoisseurship in Italian Figural Compositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 1980-February 15, 1981).",
"opening_date": "1980-10-21T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 311444,
"title": "Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum",
"description": "Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).",
"opening_date": "1991-06-07T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 177030,
"title": "CASVA (Curatorial/Conservation Colloquy in conjunction with the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts)",
"description": "CASVA (Curatorial/Conservation Colloquy in conjunction with the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts). National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (organizer) (June 19-21, 2000).",
"opening_date": "2000-06-19T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 185724,
"title": "Battle of the Nudes: Pollaiuolo's Renaissance Masterpiece",
"description": "Battle of the Nudes: Pollaiuolo's Renaissance Masterpiece. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 25-October 27, 2002).",
"opening_date": "2002-08-25T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 204986,
"title": "Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"description": "Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).",
"opening_date": "2014-03-09T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 288386,
"title": "Gods and Heroes: Ancient Legends in Renaissance Art",
"description": "Gods and Heroes: Ancient Legends in Renaissance Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-December 31, 2017).",
"opening_date": "2017-08-26T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 443698,
"title": "Botticelli: The Drawings",
"description": "Botticelli: The Drawings. Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA (November 18, 2023-February 11, 2024) https://www.famsf.org/exhibitions/botticelli-drawings.",
"opening_date": "2023-11-18T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 699500,
"title": "The Renaissance Engraver at Work",
"description": "The Renaissance Engraver at Work. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 5-November 1, 2026).",
"opening_date": "2026-07-05T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "Considered a groundbreaking work in the history of the Italian Renaissance, the CMA holds the only known impression of the print's first state.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "This engraving is one of the earliest Renaissance prints to portray the nude male body in action. Antonio del Pollaiuolo\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2984746"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1967.127-battle-of-the-nudes"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Langdale, Shelley R., and Antonio Pollaiolo. Battle of the Nudes: Pollaiuolo's Renaissance Masterpiece. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2002.",
"page_number": "exh. cat. number 1, p. 2",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/41826494?seq=1"
},
{
"citation": "\u201cYear in Review.\u201d The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 54, no. 10 (December 1967): 302\u2013346.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 308; Mentioned: p. 344, no. 94",
"url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25152183"
},
{
"citation": "Richards, Louise S. \u201cAntonio Pollaiuolo: Battle of Naked Men.\u201d The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 55, no. 3 (March 1968): 63\u201370.",
"page_number": "",
"url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25152201"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 79",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n101/"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 91",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n109/"
},
{
"citation": "Driscoll, Ann. \"The Pig Painter: Parties, Poets, and Pollaiuolo.\" The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 3 (1993): 83-111.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 99; Mentioned: p. 97-111",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161392"
},
{
"citation": "May, Sally Ruth. Knockouts: a pocket guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: no. 115, p. 102 - 103",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Langdale, Shelley R., \"Mastering the Human Form\", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 42 no. 06, Summer 2002",
"page_number": "Mentioned & reproduced: p. 6-7",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2002-06/page/n5"
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: P. 347-348",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Lemonedes, Heather. \u201cA Walking Tour: The entire new museum wing by wing, with curators calling out a few favorite works in the collection.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 54, no. 1 (January/February 2014): 8-33.",
"page_number": "Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 14",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2014-01"
},
{
"citation": "Glaubinger, Jane and Lemonedes, Heather. \u201cTreasures on Paper: The Cr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me of the museum\u2019s prints and drawings collection is now on view.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 54, no. 2 (March/April 2014): 6.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 7",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2014-02"
},
{
"citation": "Berti, Luciano, Federica Chezzi, Antonio Natali, and Mario Sperenzi. Botticelli: approccio nel nuovo millennio. Firenze: Centro Di, 2015.",
"page_number": "Mentioned; p. 62; Reproduced: p. 64",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Olszewski, Edward J. \"Michelangelo's David: Full Frontal Nudity in the Age of Savonarola.\" Source: Notes in the History of Art. v. 35 no. 1/2 (2015/2016): 118-125",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 120-121",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: P. 16",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Schulz, Anne Markham. The History of Venetian Renaissance Sculpture, Ca. 1400-1530. London : Harvey Miller Publishers, 2017.",
"page_number": "Mentioned p. 162; Reproduced fig. 53",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Nethersole, Scott. Art and Violence in Early Renaissance Florence.
New Haven, Connecticut : Yale University Press, 2018",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 20, 34, 116-117, 176-182, 179. figs. 6, 79,144,147",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Rubin, Patricia Lee. Seen from Behind: Perspectives on the Male Body and Renaissance Art. New Haven : Yale University Press, 2018.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 40-41, 122-123, 213, pl. 1.41, 4.14, 6.33",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Heisterberg, Marion. Zwischen exemplum und opus absolutum: Studien zum Abzeichnen im italienischen Tre- und Quattrocento zwischen Mustertransfer und Kopie. 2020.",
"page_number": "Reproduced and mentioned; pp. 421-422, fig. 265",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Raphael, and Francesco Federico Mancini. Fortuna e mito di Raffaello in Umbria. 2021.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 146-148, fig. 5",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Olszewski, Edward J. The Agency of Female Typology in Italian Renaissance Paintings. Newcastle-upon-Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2023.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 87; reproduced: p. 89, fig. 4.4.",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Armendola, Adriano, and Blanche Bauchau. L\u2019ornement Pre\u0301Cieux. Edited by Francesco Solinas, Marie-Laure Cassius-Duranton, Guillaume Glorieux, Cle\u0301mence de Gasperi, and Federica Piantoni. [Rome]: De Luca editori d\u2019arte, 2023.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 78-79, fig. 16",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Gasparotto, Davide. \"Artisti e Anatomia fra Quattro e Cinquecento: Dall\"Esperienza alla Rappresentazione.\" In Corpi Moderni: La Costruzione Del Corpo Nella Venezia Del Rinasciemento: Leonardo, Michelangelo, D\u00fcrer, Giorgione, Gallerie dell\u2019Accademia di Venezia, 64-64-69. Venezia: Marsilio Arte, 2025.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 66; Reproduced: p. 68, fig. 3",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Moseley-Christian, Michelle. \u201cEve as Glutton: Consumption, Knowledge, and the Sensory Body in Fifteenth-Century Netherlandish Fall of Man Images.\u201d Renaissance Quarterly 79, n. 2 (Summer 2026): 385-427.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 416; Reproduced: p. 417",
"url": ""
}
],
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"creditline": "Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
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"gallery_donor_text": "These Galleries are the Gift of James and Hanna Bartlett",
"athena_id": 143142,
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{
"id": 24324,
"description": "Antonio del Pollaiuolo (Italian, 1431/32\u20131498)",
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"alternate_titles": [
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],
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"updated_at": "2026-08-20 18:30:58.388000"
}
}