Uccello was obsessed with perspective.
According to Vasari, his wife complained that he stayed up all night working.
When she begged him to come to bed he would say: 'Oh, what a sweet thing this perspective is!'
This painting is his laboratory.
It depicts the Florentine mercenary victory over the Sienese at the Battle of San Romano in 1432.
In theory.
In practice, reality is entirely subordinated to the problem of depicting three-dimensional space on a flat surface.
The broken lances on the ground all converge to a single vanishing point.
The horses are almost geometrical.
The hedgerow in the background is flat decorative pattern.
It is a painting about painting, not about battle.
This is one panel from a triptych commissioned for a Medici bedroom.
The other two panels are in the National Gallery in London and the Louvre in Paris — separated during the 19th century when the Uffizi sold them.
Fun fact: the Uffizi has been trying to reunite all three panels for decades.
Both London and Paris have declined.
