The Battle of San Romano

Paolo UCCELLO
After 1432
Full title "Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino at the Battle of San Romano"
Wood, originally arched top,
181.6 x 320 cm. No. 583,
Purchased, 1857.

This brilliantly coloured and structured painting depicts part of the battle of San Romano, fought between Florence and Siena in 1432. The central figure is Niccolò da Tolentino, the leader of the victorious Florentine forces.

The panel is one of a set of three. The other two are in Florence and Paris. They were painted for the *Medici family, sometime between 1435 and 1460.

The pictures reflect both courtly decoration, such as tapestry, and *Renaissance scientific picture- making, notably in the use of single vanishing-point *perspective.