The Battle of San Romano: The Counterattack of Micheletto Attendolo da Cotignola
Paolo Uccello (Paolo di Dono) (c. 1397-1475) · c. 1435-1455
A wall of armoured horsemen surges from the right as the Florentine condottiere Micheletto Attendolo da Cotignola leads a cavalry counterattack against Sienese forces. The subject is the battle of San Romano, fought in the Arno valley in 1432 and treated in Florence as a famous victory, though in reality it was a modest skirmish. Uccello painted three panels on the theme; the other two are now in the National Gallery in London and the Uffizi in Florence, so the set that once ran along a single wall of a Florentine palace is today split between three countries. Look for the crossed lances, the rearing white horse, the fallen figures and the hedge of orange and pomegranate that closes off the background like a tapestry.
Uccello was obsessed with perspective, and this is a laboratory for it. Lances and broken weapons lie on the ground at carefully calculated angles, forming a grid that measures the recession of the field. Horses are foreshortened with a geometer's determination rather than a naturalist's eye, which is why they can look like carved rocking horses. Armour and harness were originally covered with silver leaf that would have glittered in candlelight; it has oxidised to a dull grey, so the dazzle you are meant to see is largely gone. The panel was originally cut with a shaped top for an architectural setting and was squared off around 1484.
The series was commissioned by the Florentine Lionardo Bartolini Salimbeni and later acquired, essentially by force of fashion and politics, by Lorenzo de' Medici. The Louvre panel came to Paris with the Campana collection, bought by Napoleon III in 1861, which is why it carries an MI rather than an INV number.
Did You Know? The knights' armour was once covered in silver leaf that has tarnished to grey, so the painting has lost the metallic glitter Uccello designed it to have.
Unlock the Full Guide
Read every room and listen to every work in all museums with premium.