- Museum number
- Pp,1.75
- Description
-
Two nude men advancing to the right, over the body of a third
Pen and brown ink, over black chalk
Verso: A nude man advancing to the right, looking back over his right shoulder, and a hand
Pen and brown ink, white highlighting on the hand
- Production date
- 1498-1520
- Dimensions
-
Height: 267 millimetres
-
Width: 170 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- This drawing comes from a period when Raphael was continuing to copy and to synthesize Florentine art into his own work. The nudes on the recto are related to two sheets in the Ashmolean, Oxford, Parker 537 and the double-sided 538 (see K.T. Parker, Catalogue of the Collection of Drawing in the Ashmolean Museum', vol. II, Italian Schools, Oxford, 1956, nos. 537, 538; Joannides, nos. 185, 186). The entwined, battling nudes of the Ashmolean sheets are reminiscent of Michelangelo's 'Battle of Cascina' and its companion piece, Leonardo's 'Battle of Anghiari' (especially in the screaming expression of the nude seen in profile on the right of Parker 538 recto). These frescoes, commissioned in 1504 and intended for the Sala di Gran Consiglio in the Palazzo Vecchio, were never completed, but preparatory drawings including cartoons by the artists and, in Leonardo's case, a partly completed painting, were seminal points of study for Florentine artists of the period. In addition to the Palazzo Vecchio frescoes, many scholars note that Antonio Pollaiuolo's engravings of nudes, especially the 'Battle of Hercules and the Twelve Giants' (B.xiii, 203, 3) influenced Raphael's shield-bearing, nude soldiers. As is often the case in Raphael's studies of other artists' works, his drawings are not direct copies, but new interpretations of the originals.
The present sheet is a variation on the Ashmolean drawings. The lunging figure on the right is close to the figure tying the hands of a kneeling nude at the centre of Parker 538 recto. The second figure holds a shield above his head. These nudes were quickly sketched and, in passages such as the torso of the lunging body, not fully formed. Raphael began the sheet with guidelines in black chalk before picking up the pen. The strokes of the pen are sure and sweep swiftly across the page. Hatching is cursory, just enough to show the general shading of the figure while the bulk of the body is expressed mostly in contour lines defining the musculature.
On the recto is a drawing of a single nude, striding forward and apparently yelling over his shoulder, which is close to the standing figure with outstretched arm at the top left Parker 538 recto. To the right of the figure is a detailed drawing of a right hand, apparently unrelated to the nude as it is viewed from a different angle. Interestingly, the hand has been studied very carefully and has even been highlighted with white.
Despite the number of sheets relating to this battle project, no completed painting of a similar subject is known to have been made. The drawings in this group are generally dated to the middle of Raphael's Florentine period, c. 1506.
Lit.: J.D. Passavant, 'Tour of a German Artist in England', London, 1836, (translation from the original German ed. published in Frankfurt, 1833), II, p. 101; P. Pouncey and J.A. Gere, 'Italian Drawings in the BM: Raphael and his Circle', London, 1962, no. 17 (with previous literature); J.A. Gere and N. Turner in exh. cat. BM, 'Drawings by Raphael', 1983, no. 49; P. Joannides, 'The Drawings of Raphael', Oxford, 1983, no. 187; E. Knab, E. Mitsch and K. Oberhuber, 'Raphael Die Zeichnungen', Stuttgart, 1983, no. 238; F. Ames-Lewis, 'The Draftsman Raphael', New Haven and London, 1986, fig. 46, pp. 43-44, 46; N. Turner in exh. cat. BM, 'Florentine Drawings of the Sixteenth Century', London, 1986, no. 17.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1962/3 Nov-Sep, BM, Raphael and his Circle (P+G)
1986, BM, Florentine Drawings 16thC, no.17
1983, BM, 'Drawings by Raphael', no.49
- Acquisition date
- 1824
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- Pp,1.75