War broke out in 1432 between two rival Italian city-states. Yes, it was Florence versus Siena, once again. It seems they were fighting over trade routes through Pisa. Now when I tell you that these paintings (yes, there are three panels) commemorating the battle were commissioned by Leonardo Bartolini-Salimbeni of Florence, you will guess which side won the battle. Florence, right! The other battle that was going on in Florence at that time was the rendering of perspective. Yes, we take it for granted that we somewhere in junior high art class learn to use our rulers to do one-point perspective. However, in the early 15th century, this was a big issue. Even a book was published in 1435 called De Pictura by Leon Battista Alberti, in which Alberti explained mathematically how to do perspective. The artist who did the paintings of The Battle of San Romano, Paolo di Dono, known better to us as Paolo Uccello (1397-1475), supposedly stayed up nights, losing sleep over trying to perfect this concept in his painting.
When we look at the painting above, we see an image that relates to the confusion of events that can happen on a battlefield. The man in the red headdress is Niccolo da Tolentino, a type of general known as a condottiere, who was basically the leader of a private mercenary army. He is bravely leading a charge so sure of winning that he is not wearing a helmet (note that his young blond page is not wearing one either). Admittedly, some art historians say since the painting was commissioned a few years after the battle, the red hat was just a way of celebrating Tolentino’s victory. The action seems to all happen across the front of the panel with very little depth, as though it were set on a stage. The immediate background is rather flat and full of soldiers and shrubs, which bear oranges and roses, a lovely decorative touch. In the far distance, the upper part of the panel, we see soldiers riding away and others who are archers with their large white crossbows. It is said that this part of the battle happened in the morning hence the lightness of the upper panel; however, there is no indication of the shadows that these men and horses would have cast. Instead the action, while furious, is rendered in a somewhat flat way. But this is the Renaissance, so why does this painting not look like what you see in Michelangelo or Leonardo’s work? Well, that is where the other battle was going on in this painting.
Uccello, called so because he loved painting birds (uccelli), was one of the last of the late Gothic painters who was transitioning to the Renaissance. Thus we can see in this painting the struggles that kept him up at night. The late Gothic was a period in which the decorative was very important. The flat stylized appearance of the objects was not as important as the beauty of the decorative appeal of the objects, which were sometimes covered in precious metals or in paints made from crushed stone like lapis lazuli. The coming of perspective required a more realistic approach as opposed to just being a decorative hanging. In the painting above, these two elements, decoration versus perspective reality, fight it out just like the combatants in the image of this famous battle. As the warriors parade across the front of the panel, their fallen comrades and their lances lie on the ground pointing into the painting to suggest a vanishing point just beyond the battlefield.
In this the middle panel of the three, we see once again the action taking place across the front of the panel. There are no horses in this panel with golden decorations on their livery though we do see a few gleaming oranges. However, just behind the scene of the unseating of the opposition’s condottiere, Bernardino della Carda, what appear to be soldiers in gray armor were originally in armor covered in silver to approximate the gleam of the real thing. The way the horses prance, rear, and kick or lie fallen on the battlefield tell the story of a fierce battle but in an almost purely decorative way, like the flat rendering found in a tapestry. The main emphasis here is on the decorative aspect as would have been seen in Gothic miniatures.
Here we have the other Sienese general for hire, Michelotto da Cotignola, also wearing a more ceremonial headdress, known as a mazzocchio, as he leads his men into a charge. Once again we see the horses wearing golden ornaments and the original armor in silver, now tarnished or missing, would have made this painting bright and dazzling. However, Uccello’s struggle with perspective continues here as we have the action across the front of the panel with a rather dark solid background, almost like a curtain on a stage. None of this means that it or the other two are not beautiful paintings, but they just do not show the depth of field that was beginning to become the hallmark of Florentine painting as it explored and developed the idea of perspective.
Working with dimension in this way was Uccello’s obsession. To produce this drawing, he mathematically calculated the angles of the different parts of this headdress. While he captured the fury of the battle and even got the mazzocchio to look correct, he remained well within the traditions of the painting of the previous era, with lots of decorative elements, gold, silver, precious colors, and a design that befits an earlier period.
Uccello did a number of things in his life as an artist, some of them in Venice where he did mosaics (now lost) for San Marco Basilica, and in Florence, the beautiful paintings in the courtyard of Santa Maria della Novella, but mastering perspective was his focus always. Here is his self-portrait on a panel bearing the faces of other great Italian painters (1450)in which he positioned himself between Giotto and Donatello.
We see a face rendered as it would have been done in the early Renaissance in the time of Massacio (1400-1428) when the realistic was returning to European art. Yet it does not have the look that we associate with Leonardo, Raphael, or Michelangelo. Uccello was a painter in a transitional period, along with Fra Angelico, whose work is highly decorative and also reminiscent of those illuminated manuscripts. However, Uccello continued with his quest for perspective, leaving us with one of his last paintings, The Hunt in the Night Forest (c. 1470)
Here we see some of the familiar aspects of Uccello’s painting with lots of action at the front of the panel. The trees are done in decorative format, each perfectly shaped with little variation to create a lush canopy over the darkened land into which the animals run. However, at this point we clearly get the idea of depth in that forest. It is not just another area as backdrop in the upper end of the panel, like the fields in Panel 1 of The Battle of San Romano, nor is it just a dark backdrop as in Panel 3 of The Battle of San Romano. Here every line we can draw from any of the creatures, man or beast, that appear in this painting will go to one point somewhere deep in that forest. Ultimately if all this crowd of characters runs from the light in the front of the panel toward where the animals are, they will all disappear from view in the forest of the night where they meet the vanishing point.
However, we must not think of The Battle of San Romano paintings as lessened in importance because of their transitional nature. In fact, Lorenzo de Medici (yes, Lorenzo, the Magnificent, himself) actually used force to take the three paintings from the Bartolini-Salimbeni to bring them to the Medici Palazzo. So the paintings themselves seem to have been fought over. On a completely speculative note, I wonder if the Bartolini (of Florence) had those paintings commissioned to prove just how fiercely proud (and loyal) they were as Florentines, even though the Salimbeni part of their name comes from a well known important family in Siena. Everything was political in Florence, so art history’s mysteries abound.
Painting by Uccello and the drawing of the mazzocchio are in public domain.
Marjorie Vernelle is an artist, writer, college professor, and traveler. For more see the Pages at ofartandwine.com or her author page at amazon.com and her art at Vernelle Art Boutique vernellestudio.com.
Brunello, Another Tuscan Red.
We know of the rivalry in the Middle Ages between Florence and Siena. In fact in Of Art and Wine’s discussion of Chianti (see “The Hand as a Work of Art, and Chianti, a Tuscan Red.”), the story of the gallo nero or black rooster label was told, in which Florence was able to claim most of the land between Florence and Siena because its rider covered more territory than the Sienese rider. However, Siena has not suffered unduly. Yes, the area known as Chianti went to Florence and produces the various types of Chianti well known throughout the world. However, the greatest wine of Tuscany grows at altitudes of up to 600 meters (around 1900 feet) near the town of Montalcino. It is called Brunello or “little dark one” and comes often with the place name, Brunello di Montalcino.
Now, what is it that makes Brunello so special? Well, a number of things. It has a DOCG appellation, meaning that how it is made and what it is made from are strictly controlled. The grapes are a type of Sangiovese, a clone known as Sangiovese Grosso, and the wine is made 100% from these grapes. The grapes cannot be grown at an altitude higher than 600 meters as the soil in the area, a mixture of clay and dark rock which contains lots of minerals, is considered a major element in the taste of the wine. That taste is described as fruity, ripe and tart like sour cherries combined with savory herbs and iron. The wine must be aged for four years, with at least two in oak barrels, and stored for at least four months before being allowed onto the market. Two versions of the aging process exist. One uses French oak barrels which produce a concentrated, rich, toasty flavor, while the second version uses traditional large old oak barrels that produce a less fruity more earthy flavor.
The word most commonly used to describe Brunello is “elegant.” Of course it has a price to match, with $50 being a good starting price. However, all hope is not lost. The wine-making rules of the region require that 30% of those Sangiovese Grosso grapes be declassified and allowed to mature for less time, producing a Rosso di Montalcino. It has no barrel-aging requirement and only has to be one year old before being released to the market. It has more body than Chianti and less tannin, and here is the good part. You can get this one for about $20.
And now for the food!
Yes, Brunello goes very well with solid desserts like the blueberry and vanilla custard tartelette above. According to Roberta Schira in her article, “Brunello di Montalcino’s Pairings: Do’s and Dont’s,” there are a range of items from wild game, to hard cheeses, to rich desserts like the one above that all go well with Brunello di Montalcino. She warns, though, against grilled meats, pizza, fish, and piquant foods, and she explains why for each. So I shall turn you over to her so that you can soak up her wisdom finedininglovers.com
As our Tuscan adventure into the past lives of Florence and Siena draws to a close, there is a way to enjoy international travel through wine. Join a wine club like Cellars Wine Club. Cellars has an International Wine Club along with free shipping, and a “no bad bottle” return policy. Click here to go directly to the International Wine Club cellarswineclub.com or go to Of Art and Wine Pages on the right and click to see all of the different wine clubs offered.
Of Art and Wine affiliates with Bluehost.com and CellarsWineClub.com and may earn from qualifying purchases.
©marjorie vernelle 2020
Coming Soon: Japanese Influences on Western Art and Sake, a Rice Wine.
Japanese wood block prints had a remarkable influence on the painting of the French Impressionists like Claude Monet and Post-Impressionists like Vincent Van Gogh. That influence continues into our era, inspiring painters to look with new eyes at a Japanese aesthetic that praises shadows and finds beauty in imperfection. The Japanese also produce a very fine drink, a wine made of rice. Yes, saké.