The Battle of San Romano
- Artist: Paolo Uccello
- Date: probably about 1438-40
- Medium: egg tempera with some oil on wood
- Museum: The National Gallery
- Collection record: The National Gallery website
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About this artwork
The Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccello. This is one of three battle scenes showing the Florentine victory at San Romano in 1432, painted in the Italian north. The main character here is Niccolò da Tolentino, riding a white charger at the head of a frenzied mass of horsemen, crests and lances. His personal emblem, the ‘Solomon’s knot’, appears on the banner held by his standard bearer.
Uccello was intensely interested in linear perspective – using lines to create an impression of three-dimensional space within a painting – which was a relatively recent discovery. He mixed traditional and modern techniques, using real silver and gold leaf for armour and fabrics, but experimenting with the laws of perspective to impose order on a chaotic scene.
The broken lances in the foreground are arranged in a grid-like pattern, but the receding lines are blocked by the hedge rather than vanishing at a single point in the distance. The armour scattered on the ground is shown at various angles, and Uccello’s foreshortening of the fallen knight’s body is reversed – his shoulders are larger than his feet.
The thick hedge and the rising fields behind could be an attempt to show the battle’s location, which was described as taking place in a long hollow overgrown with vine and brambles. The whole impression, with the milling crowds, the clumsy perspective and rather doll-like horses, is almost more like that of a contemporary tapestry than a painting.
Unfortunately, the painting's appearance has altered enormously over time due to changes in materials and repeated cleanings. It’s lost its original arched top, removing the hilltops and sky which must have given it a less claustrophobic feel.
See it in person
The Battle of San Romano hangs in The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
