Combats and Triumphs

Etienne Delaune (French, 1518/19-1583) Combats and Triumphs, probably 1560s Engravings Gift of Leonard C. Hanna 1924.671-.674 The Triumph of Bacchus Battle of Men and Animals Combat of the Naked Men Battle of the Centaurs and the Lapiths The four prints shown here come from a series of twelve known as the Combats and Triumphs. The friezelike composition reflects the artist's study of marble relief carvings on Greek and Roman sarcophagi (coffins), here reduced to a preciously small setting. Against a flat, stagelike background, Delaune's balletic warriors engage in a Mannerist version of artificial war. Etienne Delaune was inspired by the art created at Fontainebleau, but he worked in Paris and then Strasbourg during the late 1500s. His small, exquisitely executed engravings reflect his training as a goldsmith and his work as a medallist.