The Battle around the Shield and Lance

Description

Amidst the chaos of battle, a shield and lance rest quietly in the foreground. These icons of military prowess are surrounded by bucking horses, falling soldiers, and spears. It is ironic that Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio chose to depict the Romans as skilled cavalrymen, since the cavalry was the weakest part of the Roman army until the late Imperial Period (A.D. 3rd/4th century). The inscription at the bottom of the engraving attributes the design for this print to Raphael; it may preserve a rejected idea for his Battle for the Milvian Bridge in the Sala di Costantino in the Vatican, Rome.

The Battle around the Shield and Lance

Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio

c. 1527

Accession Number

30

Medium

Engraving in black on ivory laid paper

Dimensions

34.1 × 48.5 cm (13 7/16 × 19 1/8 in.)

Classification

engraving

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Elizabeth Hammond Stickney Collection