Photo credit: The National Gallery, London

Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino at the Battle of San Romano probably about 1438-40

Paolo Uccello (1397–1475)

The National Gallery, London

About this resource

This is the third Superpower of Looking History category lesson which focuses on Paulo Uccello's Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino at the Battle of San Romano, painted around 1438–1440.

The following resources complete this category:

Lesson 1 – The Adoration of the Kings
Lesson 2 – The Lady of Shalott
Lesson 4 – Whaam!

You can find out more about The Superpower of Looking including introductory films, teacher guidance and SEND/ASN approach on the Superpower homepage.

This resource is an innovative prototype developed from a successful schools' pilot. Help us develop it further by taking part in our final schools' pilot in early 2022, or get in touch with your feedback via learning@artuk.org

Curriculum links

National Curriculum for England

Art and design
- Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design
- Know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms
- Produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
- Become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques

Northern Ireland Curriculum

Art and design
- Look at and talk about the work of artists, designers and craftsworkers from their own and other cultures; appreciate methods used in the resource materials and use their appreciation to stimulate personal ideas and engage with informed art making
- Develop their understanding of the visual elements of colour, tone, line, shape, form, space, texture and pattern to communicate their ideas
- Evaluate their own and others’ work and how it was made, explain and share their ideas, discuss difficulties and review and modify work to find solutions

Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence

Art and design
- I can create and present work that shows developing skill in using the visual elements and concepts (EXA 2-03a)
- Through observing and recording from my experiences across the curriculum, I can create images and objects which show my awareness and recognition of detail (EXA 2-04a)
- Inspired by a range of stimuli, I can express and communicate my ideas, thoughts and feelings through activities within art and design (EXA 2-05a)
- I can respond to the work of artists and designers by discussing my thoughts and feelings. I can give and accept constructive comment on my own and others' work (EXA 2-07a)

National Curriculum for Wales

Art and design
- Describe and make comparisons between their own work and that of others
- Experiment with and examine the methods used by other artists from different periods, places and cultures
- Evaluate the methods and results of their own work and that of their fellow pupils
- Pupils should be stimulated and inspired by: other artists; methods and processes; media; styles; ideas
- Explore, experiment with and apply the elements of the visual, tactile and sensory language of art, craft and design which include: line, tone, colour, pattern, texture, shape and form

Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino at the Battle of San Romano (probably about 1438–1440)

by Paulo Uccello (1397-1475)

Medium: egg tempera with walnut oil and linseed oil on poplar
Dimensions: H 182 x W 320 cm

One of three panels that comprised the whole scene, this large-scale History painting recalls a Florentine victory over the neighbouring Sienese. The Italian artist is described by his biographer Giorgio Vasari as becoming quite obsessed with perspective – he recounts the story of how Uccello's wife complained that the artist stayed up all night wrestling with vanishing points and exclaiming, 'Oh, what a lovely thing perspective is!'

Do you think he was successful in creating a real, three-dimensional space that you could walk into? Or, do you think that the real conflict was between two and three dimensions for this artist? In one sense it appears flat and in another modelled in space. Where are these much-celebrated lines of perspective (linear perspective) most evident? Can you spot the use of foreshortening? What, in contrast, makes this painting feel flat and decorative?

Stage 1: look, describe and discuss

Show your students this painting and ask them: Are they interested or not interested? Why?

Ask them to describe the figures and what's going on in the background and around them.

Don't tell them too much about what the picture represents at this stage. Once you have interpreted an image, or been told what to see, it is difficult to look freshly and critically at it or appreciate each other's views.

Tip: use the zoom feature on the image below to look closer at details. You can open a full-screen version on The National Gallery's website.

Stage 2: nudge questions

Now when looking at the painting, ask more specific ('nudge') questions:

Who or what does the artist want us to look at first? Is there a focal point?
How is action expressed? Does this battle scene appear realistic?
Does it feel safe to walk into this scene? Would it be peaceful or noisy, ordered or chaotic? Explain your answer.
Is it a true-to-life realistic painting? Why or why not? (Tip: ask your students to consider scale and proportion, shadows and shading)

Suggested activity: 'I spy...' sketches

This activity will encourage your students to keep looking. They will need a pen or pencil and small squares of white paper (or sticky note pads).

Split your students into pairs. Ask them to take turns looking at the picture and saying 'I spy something beginning with the letter...'. The other student should then do a quick sketch of what they think their partner is looking at.

After a few rounds of the game, come together again as a class and make a circle around a clear space in the room. Ask your students to take turns laying down one of their sketches on the ground, placing it in relation to the other sketches and where the figure or object is located in The Battle of San Romano.

Stage 3: Superpower Kit questions

Now we can start to explore the 'elements' of the painting. Use the Superpower Kit to ask questions about the work and spark a discussion.

We'd suggest focusing on the following areas to help your students 'read' the image (click to open the relevant Superpower Kit section):

Figures – Expression & Gesture

Space

Colour (e.g is colour used expressively or decoratively?)

Ask your students to evidence their points, e.g. where exactly are they looking when they make a statement? Can everybody see what they see?

Final stage: review

Ask your students: how interested are they in the image now? Why?

At this point, you may also want to give your students some time to record and review their observations in a sketchbook on their own or in pairs.

Comparison activity

Compare The Battle of San Romano with Elizabeth Southerden Thompson Butler's 1881 painting Scotland for Ever!

In order to support the discussion, you may wish to focus on the following areas of the Superpower Kit: Composition (e.g. movement), Space and Scale.

Cross-curricular activity: Dance and Movement

Move into a gym hall or outdoor space, or clear space in the classroom, for a Dance and Movement lesson.

Task your students with reinterpreting The Battle of San Romano as a dance piece. Without making physical contact with other students, what movements can two opposing teams make to express the drama of conflict? How will their battle conclude? Throughout, ask your students to reflect on their use of expression, gesture and pose like the figures in the painting.

Detail from 'Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino at the Battle of San Romano'

If you don't feel confident to run a class focused on dance, you can find support for creating a dance for ages 7–11 on BBC Teach; the guidance and CPD film related to a dance exploring 'The Blitz' may be particularly useful for supporting your students to create a piece inspired by Battle of San Romano.

Find out more

The National Gallery: 'The Battle of San Romano'

Video: Paolo Uccello, 'The Battle of San Romano' | The National Gallery

Video: Paolo Uccello | Art with Mati & Dada

The Guardian: Elizabeth Thompson's 'Scotland for Ever!'

Stories

Animals in Renaissance art 18 March 2019, Catherine Jamieson
Tricks of the trade: some aspects of illusion and reality in paintings 7 July 2016, Andrew Greg
Elizabeth Butler: painter of battle scenes from Waterloo to the First World War 9 April 2014, Felicity Herring
The beauty and the terror: an alternative history of the Italian Renaissance 18 March 2020, Catherine Fletcher
Giorgio Vasari, the father of art history 18 June 2017, Andrew Greg
Giorgio Vasari: the man, the stories and the 'Lives' 22 July 2019, Sarah Dunant
Ferren Gipson's 'Ultimate Art Museum' 31 August 2021, Ferren Gipson