''The Battle of San Romano'' is a set of three paintings by the Florentine painter Paolo Uccello depicting events that took place at the

Battle of San Romano The Battle of San Romano was fought on 1 June 1432, in San Romano, some 30 miles outside Florence,Private Life of a Masterpiece, BBC TV between the troops of Florence, commanded by Niccolò da Tolentino, and Siena, under Francesco Piccinino. ...

between Florentine and Sienese forces in 1432. They are significant as revealing the development of

linear perspective Linear or point-projection perspective (from la, perspicere 'to see through') is one of two types of graphical projection perspective in the graphic arts; the other is parallel projection. Linear perspective is an approximate representation, ...

in early

Italian Renaissance painting Italian Renaissance painting is the painting of the period beginning in the late 13th century and flourishing from the early 15th to late 16th centuries, occurring in the Italian Peninsula, which was at that time divided into many political stat ...

, and are unusual as a major secular commission. The paintings are in

egg tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. Tempera also refers to the paintings done ...

on wooden panels, each over 3 metres long. According to the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

,Paolo Uccello ''The Battle of San Romano'' NG583
/ref> the panels were commissioned by a member of the Bartolini Salimbeni family in Florence sometime between 1435 and 1460. The paintings were much admired in the 15th century;

Lorenzo de' Medici Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (; 1 January 1449 – 8 April 1492) was an Italian statesman, banker, ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic and the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Also known as Lorenzo ...

so coveted them that he purchased one and had the remaining two forcibly removed to the Palazzo Medici. They are now divided between three collections, the National Gallery, London, the

Galleria degli Uffizi The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...

, Florence, and the

Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

, Paris.

Subject

The three paintings are: File:San Romano Battle (Paolo Uccello, London) 01.jpg, '' Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino at the Battle of San Romano'' (probably ), egg tempera with walnut oil and linseed oil on poplar, 182 × 320 cm,

, London.National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Italian Paintings, Volume 1, by

Dillian Gordon Dillian Rosalind Gordon OBE is a British art historian who worked as a curator at the National Gallery, London from 1978 to 2010, latterly as Curator of Italian Paintings before 1460. She lives in Oxford. She was appointed OBE in 2011 for services ...

, 2003, pp. 378–397 File:La batalla de San Romano, por Paolo Uccello.jpg, ''Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino unseats Bernardino della Carda at the Battle of San Romano'' (dating uncertain, ), tempera on wood, 182 × 320 cm,

, Florence File:Paolo Uccello 016.jpg, ''The Counterattack of Michelotto da Cotignola at the Battle of San Romano'' (), wood panel, 182 × 317 cm,

, Paris The Uffizi panel was probably designed to be the central painting of the

triptych A triptych ( ; from the Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided ...

and is the only one signed by the artist. The sequence most widely agreed among art historians is: London, Uffizi, Louvre, although others have been proposed. They may represent different times of day: dawn (London), mid-day (Florence) and dusk (Paris) – the battle lasted eight hours. In the London painting, Niccolò da Tolentino, with his large gold and red patterned hat, is seen leading the Florentine cavalry. He had a reputation for recklessness, and doesn't even wear a helmet, though he sent two messengers (the departure of the two messengers, depicted centre, top) to tell his allied army of Attendolo to hurry to his aid as he is facing a superior force. In the foreground, broken lances and a dead soldier are carefully aligned into orthogonals, so as to create an impression of perspective. Similar to that of a

tapestry Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads ma ...

, the landscape rises up in a picture plane as opposed to receding deeply into space. This illusion of a backdrop and a perspective theme resembling a stage, depicts the war as a theatrical ceremony. The three paintings were designed to be hung high on three different walls of a room, and the perspective designed with that height in mind, which accounts for many apparent anomalies in the perspective when seen in photos or at normal gallery height. Many areas of the paintings were covered with gold and silver leaf. While the gold leaf, such as that found on the decorations of the bridles, has remained bright, the silver leaf, found particularly on the armour of the soldiers, has oxidized to a dull grey or black. The original impression of the burnished silver would have been dazzling. All of the paintings, especially that in the Louvre, have suffered from time and early restoration, and many areas have lost their modelling. The panels were a subject in the BBC series ''

The Private Life of a Masterpiece ''The Private Life of a Masterpiece'' is a BBC arts documentary series which tells the stories behind great works of art; 29 episodes of the series were broadcast on BBC Two, commencing on 8 December 2001 and ending on 25 December 2010. It initia ...

'' (2005).

References in popular culture

The dark horse in the Louvre panel, mounted by Micheletto Attendolo (''da Cotignola''), can be seen painted in a tapestry, in the first segment ("Metzengerstein") of the 1968 omnibus film '' Spirits of the Dead''. In the 4th Episode (Lucrezia's Wedding) of the 2011 TV Series '' The Borgias'', the London and Louvre panel is shown adorning the dining hall walls of the Florentine Prince when cardinal Della Rovere visits him in Florence.

Subject

References in popular culture

See also

References

External links

Further reading