Pollaiuolo brothers

Pollaiuolo brothers

Italian sculptors, painters, engravers, and goldsmiths. Antonio del Pollaiuolo (orig. Antonio di Jacopo d'Antonio Benci; b. Jan. 17, 1431/32, Florence, Italy—d. Feb. 4, 1498, Rome) probably trained in goldsmithing and metalworking with Lorenzo Ghiberti, while his brother Piero del Pollaiuolo (orig. Piero di Jacopo d'Antonio Benci; b. 1443, Florence, Italy—d. 1496, Rome) may have studied painting with Andrea del Castagno. The brothers collaborated consistently after 1460, producing their works under a combined signature, and their individual contributions are hard to determine. Antonio is recognized as a superb draftsman and was among the first to practice anatomical dissection in the study of the human form; Piero's individual work is less artistically significant. In Florence they created an altarpiece in San Miniato al Monte and The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian (1475) in the Pucci Chapel of the Church of the Santissima Annunziata. In Rome their works included the tombs of Popes Sixtus IV and Innocent VIII. Antonio's famous Battle of Nudes is one of the largest and most important Italian engravings of the 15th century.