[2] Battaglia married fellow student Edith Richmond after they graduated in 1932, from Corcoran School of Art.
[1] In 1934, the Public Works of Art Project commissioned Battaglia to paint murals in the children's section of the library in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of Washington where he resided.
[5] The result is a whimsical panorama of anthropomorphic animals at play, still viewable on the second floor of the Mount Pleasant Library.
He also worked briefly for Warner Brothers and made training films for the United States Navy during World War II.
There he directed the short film The Invisible Moustache of Raoul Dufy, which was nominated for a BAFTA award, and worked on "The Beanstalk Trial"[8] Battaglia was a prolific children's book illustrator, favoring bold colors and stylized pen and brush work.