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Fontana created the large-format drawing 'Battaglia' (Battle) around 1939/40. Apart from its large format, what makes it special is that Fontana used a technique that was particularly widespread in Italian Renaissance art. Here he worked on cardboard covered with a thin layer of plaster. Using pen, ink and tempera, Fontana drew a battle scene on this delicate plaster surface, the outlines of which are more suggested than realised.

The 15th-century Italian Renaissance artist Titian, for example, prepared his canvases in a similar way, using plaster before underdrawing and then painting his subject in oil. For this reason, Fontana's battle resembles a painting in preparation, or even a preparatory drawing for a mural, in which the ground is not flat either. Fontana used this particular technique only a few times in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

This large drawing of a battle is one of Fontana's best examples of his dynamic drawing style. The composition is complex: a classical battle scene unfolds across the elongated format, with rearing horses and riders in a variety of movements and postures. Swords and lances stand out clearly with long, pointed lines. The outlines of the warriors appear to be linked. The strokes of the pen are partially carved into the plaster base. The battle takes place against a scenic background: trees border the scene on the right and left, and a mountain range is indicated in the background. With just a few strokes, Fontana alternates between figuration and abstraction. The bodies and movements are figuratively concise and powerful. The abstraction of the scene, the detachment from the individual motif, creates a timeless moment. The way the fight is drawn makes it look like pure action: fast, dynamic, vibrant.

The motif was modelled on the 'Studies for the Battle of Anghiari', executed by Leonardo da Vinci at the beginning of the 16th century, which are included for comparison. The studies on paper for the lost painting are in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice.