Battle of the Centaurs

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Battle of the Centaurs

Michelangelo, c. 1492

Marble

84,5 × 90,5 cm

Casa Buonarroti

Battle of the Centaurs is a relief done by the Italian High Renaissance master Michelangelo Buonarroti, around 1492. It is in the Florentine museum Casa Buonarroti.

Battle is the second known piece made by Michelangelo. It was carved in white Carrara marble for Lorenzo de' Medici and left unfinished at the prince's death. Variously identified as the Battle of the Centaurs and the Rape of Deianira or Battle of Hercules and the Centaurs, it reflects Michelangelo's study of late Roman sarcophagi, Bertoldo, the Pisani and Pollaiuolo. The subject of the piece was, if Michelangelo's biographer Ascanio Condivi is to be believed, suggested by the poet Angelo Poliziano.