Four Little Combats: Hannibal and Scipio

Engraving, part of a set of four small, rectangular prints with black backgrounds, depicting combat scenes, likely influenced by German masters, particularly the Beham brothers. This print, third of the series, depicts a combat between Hannibal, on the center, and Scipio, on the right, fighting on horseback, surrounded by several other fighting men on foot. On the left are two men riding Carthagininan elephants. The virtuous role of Hannibal is highlighted in the scene, since he is given the main place in the center of the scene, while Scipio is depicted on the right, slightly towards the back, with his head hidden behind his shield. Like in the first print, the men fighting on foot are depicted as barbarians, using second-class arms, like animal skulls. Delaune might have been aiming to exalt the role of Hannibal and Carthage in detriment of that of Rome, a theme that he repeats in his design for an armory for Henri II, in which he likely was linking the king himself to Hannibal, while the Romans would be equated with the Holy Empire. The scene in the print is closely related to a print of the same subject, of similar dimentsions, by Hans Sebald Beham.