Pollaiuolo, << `poh` ly WOH loh, >> Antonio del (about 1432-1498), was an Italian sculptor and painter. The ways in which he portrayed the human body influenced the Renaissance artists Andrea del Verrocchio, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo.
Pollaiuolo was born in Florence. About 1460, he completed three large paintings of the deeds of Hercules. These paintings have not survived. But two small versions still exist. They show figures struggling furiously. He reworked the subject of Hercules and Antaeus in a small bronze group. Its expressive use of anatomy is so powerful that viewers feel they are participating in the action. Pollaiuolo lived in Rome from about 1483 until his death on Feb. 4, 1498. In Rome, he designed and cast the bronze tombs of Popes Sixtus IV and Innocent VIII.
