Battle of the Nudes

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.