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The Battle of San Romano
Paolo Uccello · Renaissance & Mannerism
- Artist
- Paolo Uccello (1397–1475)
- Date
- c. 1435–1440
- Dimensions
- 182 x 323 cm
- Medium
- Tempera on panel
- Location
- National Gallery, London; Uffizi, Florence; Louvre, Paris (three panels)
The Battle of San Romano commemorates a skirmish of 1432 in which Florentine troops fought the army of Siena. Uccello painted it as a set of three large panels, now divided between London, Florence and Paris.
A closer look
The panels look more like a tournament or a pageant than a real battle: knights in gleaming armour and fantastic plumed helmets ride stiff, toy-like horses, and long lances are arranged in criss-crossing patterns. Uccello was obsessed with perspective, and broken lances and fallen soldiers lie on the ground in carefully foreshortened lines leading into the distance. Behind, tiny figures chase hares across orange hills. Once silver leaf made the armour shine; it has darkened over time. The panels decorated a room in the Medici palace.
