Paolo Uccello, 'The Battle of San Romano' | Talks for all | National Gallery

Dr Caroline Campbell, Director of Collections and Research, uncovers the good, the bad and the ugly in Paolo Uccello's 'The Battle of San Romano', as part of our 'Talks for all' series.
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[@paperpalacequeen]

So pleased the NG continues to make these lectures accessible to all.

[@teresanferreira]

I,also,have been quite enhanced by this painting. Very grateful to the NG for posting these wonderful lectures!

[@smgonyoapache]

Enjoy these videos so much. Thank you for making them available to everyone.

[@jmforment237]

It is always great to listen to Mrs. Campbell. It is obvious she knows a lot, but the best is the way she makes you love the work she is talking about. Many thanks!

[@qthelost]

Please keep up the great work National Gallery! Because of your channel I get to sit in on lectures and talks from Louisiana. And I always enjoy hearing Dr. Campbell talk. Please keep broadcasting as many full lectures and talks as you can. Thank you!

[@mercelloveras7453]

Thank you National Gallery to share with us your very interesting conferences!

[@georgefrench1907]

Brilliant. Thank you.

[@samuel_mpontes]

Really enjoy all of these talks, thanks for posting them

[@janetisell]

Thank you so much! Those Medici 🙀.

[@darlamcfarland1826]

Very exciting picture! Surprisingly abstract. Thanks for this wonderful talk.

[@magicknight13]

The level and amount of her insight and knowledge is astonishing. Bravo!

[@vlisdero]

Thank you so much for sharing.

[@blastofo]

I admired this painting, in a virtual reality art gallery app. Allows you to see the painting in full 1:1 scale, which is a different experience than seeing it on a smartphone screen or monitor. It's amazing that it has survived almost 600 years of wars, fires, and earthquakes. A huge work on wood panel, it couldn't be rolled up and easily moved for safekeeping.

[@LockportDan]

Wonderful. Thank you. This picture has always taken my breath away.

[@tianx9275]

Love these talks. Keep them coming.

[@michaelwhite8031]

Another Great lecture, thank you !

[@MariaVosa]

Really talented presenter, Dr Campbell's knowledge and enthusiasm is inspiring

[@soffritticinzia7778]

Thank you for making them available to everyone.

[@simonaparri474]

What a wonderful presentation. Thank YOU

[@suebailey4846]

Such a help understanding the painting.

[@nelsaf365]

I have never counted this painting as a favorite of mine as it appears flat, yet made in a time when depth had already been achieved (ignoring that armored figure lying in the foreground). However, Dr. Campbell set me straight; Uccello's background with Ghiberti gives me fresh eyes to see this masterpiece. I had hoped to find links to the music and contemporary artist in the description. Please make this a practice going forward. I cannot wait to lay eyes on this after hearing its magnificent history. Thank You.

[@h.sinclair]

wonderful talk thank you

[@geajones]

very good talk ,..thankyou

[@stickshifter8]

Excellent talk. I was fortunate to see its sister painting (which is my favorite of the three) at the Uffizzi, and my wife and children also saw the one at the Louvre (our least favorite). We have the perfect excuse to visit the NG next!

[@brodbobot]

Remarkable story!!!

[@winnietheshrew2957]

What an amazing picture. As if it had been painted by a modern artist.

[@paulkatz]

Also there is a poem by Gregory Corso that Ms. Campbell might enjoy reading. Great talk- thanks!

[@valentinafernandez5530]

espectacular exposición

[@JohnSmith-il6kk]

If the colours changed from what it originally looks like, is there a reconstructed version, say via computer, to show what it would have looked like?

[@RubenMalayan]

Please, more of these! Especially on classical art!

[@nationalgallery]

You're in luck! kzbin.info/aero/PLvb2y26xK6Y7xVyzAyuw7RWJsU0xmtx1I

[@dawnmaloney190]

Would love to see some ideas of what the missing arched tops of these paintings might have looked like.

[@TymstoneArt]

Thank you National Gallery for these excellent talks on painting, artists and culture. Thank you Dr. Campbell for your excitement and joy in sharing what you find interesting and these paintings and these artists, but I must say Americans of African decent haven't been known as "Afro Americans" for some time. This is not a dig but a correction. Otherwise carry on with your fine works for all to enjoy. 👍🏾🎨🖼️

[@uffa00001]

Thank you Mrs. Campbell for talking like any cultivated person should be able to do, i.e. without long utterances of "uhhhh" "uhmmm" everywhere, without remaining with the mouth opened without saying anything, without recommencing the phrase three times before completing it, without uselessly repeating group of words in the phrase. It's a rarer and rarer quality in the way of talking of "English intellectuals" nowadays and it is sobering to see that there is still somebody left who is actually capable of normal talking. Cato censor says words that are still valid, if your ideas are clear, if you know what you want to say, then your talk or writing will flow clearly and naturally: rem tene, verba sequentur. That said, thanks for the lesson on the work, which was very interesting. The listener remains puzzled about the modification in the upper parts, though, that should have benefitted from an explanation. Personally I see this work as still very much "International gothic" in his general appearance. The perspective is a bit more cared for than in international gothic (but, yet, it's not a real, "Leonbattistaalbertian" perspective, there still are many elements which are out of proportion, in a medieval aesthetics) but overall I see this work as still very much "gothic": the use of precious metals, the figurative and "innatural" rendition of flowers, fruits, plants, the plain ground without details. It's a paint that to me that represents a "transition" between Gothic and Renaissance style. Not by chance, for what I gather, Ghiberti himself was considered by his contemporaries (and by our contemporaries) "old school gothic" even though he inserted elements of studied (but not "scientific") perspective in his works.

[@omg9261]

Intro 2:29 Ucello 14:44 history behind its acquisition

[@willek1335]

23:30 "Richard Reed", I assume she meant to say "Robert Reed"?

[@Divertedflight]

I've seen the Louvre painting and the armour seems less tarnished (or at least less matt grey, as the painting appeared to be quite dirty). Apparently with the Louvre picture, the metal is done with tin leaf not silver leaf.

[@dnarrt]

I love these talks. I would prefer to look at the painting while the lecturer speaks.

[@satvrnino6916]

Great interpretation! Just a question: what is the correct order of the three paintings? This is the first part, which is the second and the third?

[@The_Butler_Did_It]

The order most commonly accepted is the London one was placed first followed by the Uffizi and finally the one at Louvre. It is believed that they represent the course of the battle at different times of the day as it lasted for eight hours with the London one being early morning, the Uffizi about mid-day and the Louvre's version taking place at dusk

[@satvrnino6916]

@@The_Butler_Did_It Thank you for the information!

[@BIZEB]

What I don't get is why won't these artists, who specifically worked in a very geometrical fashion and were keenly interested in mathematics, get a specialized discussion, when people talk about their paintings, on their use of geometry in composition. Even the hat she mentions, which is an obvious geometrical solid based hat, like the mazzochio he commonly portrayed, was completely ignored as a mathematical object. These stories are all fascinating, but isn't it time to get closer to what the painters themselves were actually thinking about, by really looking at the painting itself, and not just what it might represent?

[@darlamcfarland1826]

BIZEB It 's a talk for a general audience, and it was outstanding.

[@hughmac13]

I like this Uccello well enough, but I like the one at the Ashmolean better.

[@Eris123451]

She never really got round to explaining the stylistic differences that indicated the painting may have been modified or amended at a later date to it's completion; presumably by a different artist or did I miss that ?

[@evamaria6720]

Yes, i didn't get that either

[@ilksenteksoy4008]

🇹🇷😍🤗

[@johannbrandstatter7419]

You could be a bit more specific, like : The National Gallery, London. Other countries have national galleries too.

[@jonathanhemming]

The talk is in the National Gallery in London about a painting in the National Gallery in London. Is it not obvious which one she's referring to? Or do you also expect Theresa May to say "London, England" every time she mentions London so we know she is not talking about London, Ontario?

[@trueamnisias]

So how come you know it's the one in London???

[@chrisfinlay3274]

@@trueamnisias because it clearly says so in the information given on this page

[@Eudaimonia88]

23:28 Uccello would have been mystified by Robert Reed's interpretation of the Battle of Romano and Lorenzo de' Medici would not have sent any carpenters out to steal it.

[@coscinaippogrifo]

It's fascinating how foreigners believe that Italians' tax returns are actually saying the truth :D :D :D

[@gabsie7224]

She is very good, but the painting does nothing for me.

[@johntuffin3262]

Keep your hands still! They are a dreadful distraction. There is no point in beating time with your words.