Three Incidents from the Battle of San Romano
by Paolo UCCELLO
The three panels, listed in the Medici Inventory of 1492 and now in the National Gallery, London, Musée du Louvre, Paris, and Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, commemorate the celebrated Battle of San Romano in which the Florentines, under the leadership of Niccolò da Tolentino, defeated the Sienese led by Bernardino della Ciarda. They were intended as decoration for the large hall on the ground floor of the Medici Palace, called Lorenzo's room. According to the reconstruction, the London and the Florence paintings were placed on the end wall, with the Paris one on the righthand wall, at right angles to the Florence panel. The date of the panels is disputed.
Niccolò da Tolentino Leads the Florentine Troops
1450s
Tempera on wood, 182 x 320 cm
National Gallery, London [699x398]