1475
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
The battle of the sea gods is a 1475 by Andrea Mantegna, a Renaissance work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This engraving shows muscular sea gods locked in a wild battle. Waves crash around them. Tritons and Nereids twist through the spray, their bodies tangled in struggle. Mantegna carved this after his Bacchanal prints. It copies the left side of his big frieze. Experts think a close assistant made it—the lines match so well. If this grabs you, check out the right side of the original.
Andrea Mantegna’s engraving *The Battle of the Sea Gods* depicts three main figures engaged in combat atop a dragon and horses within a marine setting. Created shortly after his Bacchanalian scenes, the work closely mirrors the left section of a larger frieze-like composition. Its technical precision and stylistic alignment suggest it may have been produced by an assistant or close collaborator within Mantegna’s workshop. The scene captures dynamic movement and mythological conflict against a fluid, sea-bound backdrop.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Andrea Mantegna (UK: , US: ; Italian: ; c. 1431 – September 13, 1506) was an Italian Renaissance painter, a student of Roman archaeology, and the son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna…
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![Battle of the Sea Gods [left half]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/084dd803fb0016b2/thumb.webp)
![Battle of the Sea Gods [left half]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/2510247af42f8c24/thumb.webp)
![Battle of the Sea Gods [right half]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/7515c85934d3d1e9/thumb.webp)
