Paolo Uccello
c. 1397 - 1475
Uccello combined an International Gothic figure style and love of decorative effects with a profound interest in linear perspective, characteristic of the Early Renaissance. Both these features of his art are shown particularly clearly in 'The Battle of San Romano'.
Uccello was trained under the sculptor Ghiberti from about 1407 to 1414 and worked in Venice as a designer of mosaics (1425-30). A pioneer of studies in linear perspective, he executed major fresco commissions utilising the technique to different ends. The equestrian 'Sir John Hawkwood' in Florence Cathedral, (1436), manipulates perspective for the sake of illusionism; 'The Flood' in the cloister of Santa Maria Novella, (1447) uses it to enhance expression, probably under the influence of Donatello. His domestic decorations, however, devalue these effects by stressing colour and surface pattern.
Text © The National Gallery, London, 2025
