Paolo
di Dono is best known to us by his nickname, Uccello – “the bird”, the
origin of which is unclear. Uccello was one of the most versatile founders
of the Italian Early Renaissance, although his later reputation did not
reflect his true significance, he went out of fashion during his lifetime
and was only rediscovered in the XX century.
He was originally apprenticed to Ghiberti, whom he assisted in the
decoration of the paradise doors of the Florence baptistry. Nothing survives
of his contribution to the mosaics of San Marco in Venice, but his frescoes
of the Genesis in the Chiostro Verde of Santa Maria Novella in Florence
(c. 1430) show that he was a follower of Ghiberti and that he was firmly
rooted in the International Gothic style.
It comes therefore as a great surprise to note his change of direction
in the 1430s. Developing an intense interest in perspective under the influence
of Masaccio’s and Donatello’s
works, he became engrossed with developing the new science of perspective
in painting. His first great achievement was the Equestrian
Portrait of John Hawkwood. Proof of Uccello’s obsession with
perspective are his drawings in the Uffizzi of objects which he made look
transparent in order to be able to show them in their stereometric complexity.
Unfortunately he outlived his own time: after painting his three battle
pieces of Battle of San Romano
commissions dwindled away as general taste changed and demanded courtly
refinement.
Battle of San Romano took place on
June 1, 1432. The left-hand scene (in London) shows the heroic resistance
of the Florentine commander, Niccolò da Tolentino, to the Sienese
attack. In the middle scene (Uffizzi Gallery) the Sienese commander is
unhorsed. The right-hand scene (in the Louvre) shows the Florentines relieved
and the Sienese routed by a counterattack across the river Arno. The Battle
of San Romano paintings were commissioned by the Medici and originally
hung in their palazzo in Florence.
See: Paolo Uccello. Battle of San Romano.
Battle
of San Romano. Battle of San Romano.
Bibliography:
Monumental Painting of Italian Renaissance by I. Smirnova. Moscow.
1987.
Painting of Europe. XIII-XX centuries. Encyclopedic Dictionary.
Moscow. Iskusstvo. 1999.
The Art of the Italian Renaissance. Architecture. Sculpture. Painting.
Drawing. Könemann. 1995.
Paolo
Uccello by Franco Borsi, Stepfano Borsi, Elfreda Powell, Stefano
Borsi. Harry N Abrams, 1994.
The
Hunt in the Forest by Paolo Uccello by Catherine Whistler.
Ashmolean Museum Publications, 2001.
Paolo
Uccello, Domenico Veniziano, Andrea Del Castagno by Annarita
Paolieri, Paolo Uccello, Domenico Veneziano, Andrea Del Castagno. Riverside
Book Company, 1991.