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Battle of the Nudes

Artist Antonio Pollaiuolo (Italian, 1431 - 1498)
Dateca. 1470-1475
MediumEngraving
DimensionsPlate: 15 5/16 x 23 inches (38.89 x 58.42 cm)
Mat: 21 1/4 x 32 inches (53.98 x 81.28 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number34-188
Signed(on cartellino): .OPVS./.ANTONII.POLLA/ IOLI.FLORENT/ TINI
Edition/State/ProofII/II
On View
Not on view
Collections
Exhibition History

Art and Anatomy, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, May 8-June 5, 1960, no. 82.

Graphic Masterworks from the Permanent Collection, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, May 23-July 25, 1993.

Inked in Time: Six Centuries of Printed Masterpieces, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, February 22-May 31, 1998.

Mythological Subjects, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, October 9, 2007-April 13, 2008.

Mythological Subjects, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, June 12-December 15, 2013.

Gallery Label
The exact meaning of this engraving has not been identified, but the subject of nudes is typical of the Renaissance interest in human anatomy. The respective merits of painting and sculpture were hotly debated at this time, and the two central figures, whose poses mirror each other, may allude to the inability of the painter as opposed to the sculptor to show all sides of a figure in the same image. The shading in this engraving is made by parallel or zigzag lines, similar to the technique of Florentine drawings of the period.
Provenance

With M. Knoedler & Co., New York, by April 3, 1934 [1];

Purchased from M. Knoedler & Co., through Alden Galleries, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1934.

NOTES:

[1] Paul Gardner, Director, first mentions this print is available for purchase from Knoedler in a letter to J. C. Nichols, Nelson-Atkins Trustee, April 3, 1934, Nelson-Atkins Archives, RG01-01, Director’s Office Records, box 1, folder 3, Alden Galleries.

Published References

The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 2nd ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1941), 95, (repro.), as Battle of Naked Men.

 The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 3rd ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1949), 120, (repro.), as Battle of the Nudes.

Ralph T. Coe, “Art and Anatomy,” Bulletin (The Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum) 3, no. 1 (May 8-June 5, 1960).

 Ross E. Taggart and George L. McKenna, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. 1, Art of the Occident, 5th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 190.  

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 128, 146, (repro.), as Battle of Male Nudes.

George L. McKenna, Prints, 1460-1995 (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1996), 6-8, 306, (repro.), as Battle of the Nudes.

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 46, (repro.), as Battle of the Nudes.

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.


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