The Battle of San Romano, Paolo Uccello, 1455

Paolo Uccello, an Italian painter and mathmetician, made it his goal to dabble with linear perspective and vanishing point. This painting is one out of three of the paintings he did of the battle of San Romano. The battle took place in Florence in 1432. The Florentines battled the Sienese and came out victors. The man represented in the middle of the painting with a mushroom like red hat is Niccolo da Tolentino. Known for his courageousness and carelessness, he is depicted wearing a hat and not a helmet. The battle portrayed in the painting seems neat and clean rather than a bloody encounter between two armies.

Uccello tried hard to create linear perspective and vanishing point. While he made a painting with a foreground and a middleground and background, his figures all lack shadows which make them all quite flat. The horses and people look like cardboard cut-outs due to the lack of shadows and highlights. The depth in the painting is also poorly done. The soldier lying on the ground does not look realistic. Uccello tried to master these aspects in painting but never fully understood the concepts as other artists like Masaccio.