The Battle of the Nude Men

Reference: 2623
Author Domenico CAMPAGNOLA
Year: 1517
Measures: 235 x 225 mm
Not Available

Reference: 2623
Author Domenico CAMPAGNOLA
Year: 1517
Measures: 235 x 225 mm
Not Available

Description

Engraving, 1517, signed and dated on plate at lower left. Example in the only state known.

Magnificent work, printed on contemporary laid paper without watermark, trimmed to the platemark and with complete borderline, tiny restoration on the lower central part, in good conditions. On verso, a sanguigna drawing, copy of the same subject.


In the Renaissance, it was widespread the habit to decorate the most important rooms of the main palaces with scenes of battles and tournaments, quite a demanding task for any artist, for they had to portray men and horses in motion. At the beginning of the XVI century, the most famous battle pieces were the Battle of Cascina by Michelangelo and the Battle of Anghiari by Leonardo, both prepared for a fresco (neither ever realized) in the Sala dei Cinquecento, of the Palazzo della Signoria in Florence. The cartoons and the preparatory drawings of both artists have influenced the whole artistic production of the Renaissance.

In 1513 Titian was offered to paint a battle scene for the Palazzo Ducale in Venice; the artist began his work in 1537 and finished the following year; the painting was unfortunately destroyed in the fire of 1577. Although it can’t be proved, this engraving of Campagnola represents one of the first ideas for the battle scene. For sure, the influence of Titian is evident in this composition; we can also find stylistic similarities with the famous woodcut Drowning of Pharaoh’s Army in the Red Sea, which Titian executed around 1514.

A rare work.

Literature

Early Italian Engraving from the National Gallery of Art pp. 428/429 n° 156, Hind p.211 n° 4.

Domenico CAMPAGNOLA (Venezia 1500 – Padova 1564)

Adopted son of Giulio Campagnola. He was of German extraction and was apprenticed to Giulio in Venice c. 1507. A group of drawings of pastoral subjects, indebted to Giorgione and to Dürer, includes the slightly tentative Landscape with Two Youths (London, BM) and Landscape with Boy Fishing (Washington, DC, N.G.A.) and may be dated to his earliest years, perhaps before 1517. His independent career began in 1517–18 with a group of engravings and woodcuts that are largely independent of Giulio Campagnola but clearly indebted to the work of Titian. Indeed, the close correspondence between Domenico’s work and Titian’s has led to suggestions that Domenico was responsible for the forged Titian drawings taken from counterproofs of the master’s woodcuts. Domenico’s own prints are executed in an unusually flowing and sketchy technique and include enigmatic, pastoral themes, such as the Shepherd and Old Warrior (1517), which recalls the moody poetry of Giorgione, and religious subjects, such as the Assumption of the Virgin (1517). This latter depends on Titian’s painting of that subject (Venice, Frari), completed the following year, which suggests that Domenico had access to Titian’s workshop. Domenico’s main innovation was in the technique of the woodcut, and it is evident that he cut the blocks himself rather than relying on a professional cutter. The energy of the unusually bold Vision of St Augustine is indebted to such works as Titian’s woodcut of St Jerome, cut by Ugo da Carpi.

Literature

Early Italian Engraving from the National Gallery of Art pp. 428/429 n° 156, Hind p.211 n° 4.

Domenico CAMPAGNOLA (Venezia 1500 – Padova 1564)

Adopted son of Giulio Campagnola. He was of German extraction and was apprenticed to Giulio in Venice c. 1507. A group of drawings of pastoral subjects, indebted to Giorgione and to Dürer, includes the slightly tentative Landscape with Two Youths (London, BM) and Landscape with Boy Fishing (Washington, DC, N.G.A.) and may be dated to his earliest years, perhaps before 1517. His independent career began in 1517–18 with a group of engravings and woodcuts that are largely independent of Giulio Campagnola but clearly indebted to the work of Titian. Indeed, the close correspondence between Domenico’s work and Titian’s has led to suggestions that Domenico was responsible for the forged Titian drawings taken from counterproofs of the master’s woodcuts. Domenico’s own prints are executed in an unusually flowing and sketchy technique and include enigmatic, pastoral themes, such as the Shepherd and Old Warrior (1517), which recalls the moody poetry of Giorgione, and religious subjects, such as the Assumption of the Virgin (1517). This latter depends on Titian’s painting of that subject (Venice, Frari), completed the following year, which suggests that Domenico had access to Titian’s workshop. Domenico’s main innovation was in the technique of the woodcut, and it is evident that he cut the blocks himself rather than relying on a professional cutter. The energy of the unusually bold Vision of St Augustine is indebted to such works as Titian’s woodcut of St Jerome, cut by Ugo da Carpi.