Paolo Uccello

Painter

• Born: c. 1396
• Place of Birth: Pratovecchio, Italy
• Died: December 10, 1475
• Place of Death: Florence, Italy

Significance: Paolo Uccello was an Italian painter primarily known for the expansive and imaginative frescoes he painted inside many historic structures across Italy. Although he adhered to the late Gothic style of art common among his peers, Uccello's attention to perspective set him apart from many Renaissance painters of his time. His most famous work is arguably his three-panel fresco titled The Battle of San Romano.

Background

Paolo Uccello was born Paolo di Dono around 1396 in the Pratovecchio Stia region of Italy near Florence. His parents were Dono di Paolo, a barber-surgeon, and Antonia di Giovanni del Beccuto. Few records exist of Uccello's early life. At age ten, he was named an apprentice to famed Italian sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti. Ghiberti's workshop was the epicenter of Florence's art scene at the time, and Uccello's apprenticeship greatly influenced his development as an artist. Ghiberti's Gothic and narrative approach made a lasting impression on the young Uccello. He also assisted with the preparation of Ghiberti's bronze gates made for the Florence Baptistery. During this period, Uccello became acquainted with Italian sculptor Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, better known as Donatello. The two became lifelong friends.

Apart from his involvement in Ghiberti's workshop, where many prominent Renaissance artists were trained, no definitive evidence exists indicating Uccello was trained as a painter. Uccello was admitted into the Compagnia di San Luca painters' guild in 1414. The following year, he was welcomed into the Arte dei Medici e degli Speziali (Guild of Physicians and Apothecaries), which acted as Florence's official painters' guild. Although it is likely Uccello was a recognized painter by this time, none of his early paintings have survived. Many of his earliest works were badly damaged throughout history.

According to Uccello's biographer, Giorgio Vasari, who wrote of the artist's life seventy-five years after his death, the artist's first painting was a fresco commissioned by the Lelmo hospital in Florence. The work depicted Saint Anthony situated between Saints Cosmas and Damian. Many of Uccello's early works were done in Florence, including his figure paintings at the convent in Annalena and the narrative frescoes of Saint Francis over the north door of the Santa Trinita church. He also worked in Rome, creating one of his most popular frescoes inside the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. This work honored the biblical Annunciation, in which the Virgin Mary is chosen to be the mother of Jesus.

Life's Work

Uccello's next fresco venue was the cloisters of the church of San Miniato al Monte outside of Florence. He painted the lives of the Church Fathers, a group of ancient and esteemed Christian theologians. His progress at the San Miniato al Monte was briefly interrupted when Uccello stopped showing up because all the church's abbot fed him was cheese. According to Vasari's biography, Uccello playfully stated that if he continued to be fed nothing but cheese, he would turn into cheese. When the abbot heard of Uccello's complaint, he promised to feed him more than just cheese.

Uccello was commissioned to paint several pictures of animals on canvas for the House of Medici, one of Italy's most prominent families. He painted a variety of creatures for the Medicis, such as cats, dogs, lions, snakes, and birds. Uccello was said to have loved animals; being too poor to own any, he kept many portraits of animals in his house. His affinity for painting birds is supposedly how he came to be called Uccello (the Italian word for "bird") rather than his true name.

Following his work for the Medicis, Uccello lived in Venice from 1425 to 1431, working as a master mosaicist. All of his work produced during this period was lost, however. He returned to Florence, where he was hired to create a series of historical frescoes on the Chiostro Verde (Green Cloisters) of the Santa Maria Novella church. These frescoes were completed over a number of years beginning in 1432. Many of the frescoes feature biblical stories. A portion of the frescoes depicts the creation of animals, notable for its careful attention to detail. Other frescoes portray the creation of man and the story of Noah's Ark. Uccello's preference for the Gothic style is evident in these landscape frescoes, which exhibit the traditionally refined and formal patterning favored among Gothic artists. The details included in the images are also characteristically Gothic and do not shy away from the horrible and morbid. His depiction of Noah's Ark features images of corpses.

In 1436, Uccello was commissioned to create a fresco of Sir John Hawkwood for the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral. This fresco was one of his most celebrated works and the first work Uccello signed and dated. Sometime between 1436 and 1460, Uccello began a series of three frescoes commemorating the victory at the Battle of San Romano. Many experts consider these frescoes Uccello's best work. Lorenzo de' Medici liked the panels so much he had them moved to his palace. Uccello later returned to the Santa Maria Novella church in 1446 to create more frescoes. He also painted another fresco for the San Miniato al Monte church in 1447. Little is known about Uccello's life from 1450 on, other than he worked for the Confraternity of Corpus Domini in Urbino and painted Saint George and the Dragon and The Hunt in the Forest in 1470. Uccello is believed to have lived a reclusive existence in his later years, and he died in Florence in 1475.

Impact

Uccello took great interest in the study of perspective throughout his career, even working with a mathematician to analyze three-dimensional objects so he could produce more accurate representations of these forms. His technique put him ahead of his time. Uccello's attention to detail influenced other artists of Europe's Renaissance period, including Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Dürer, and Piero della Francesca.

Personal Life

Uccello was married to a woman named Tomassa di Benedetto Malifici. The pair had two children: a son, Donato, born in 1453, and a daughter, Antonia, born in 1456.

Bibliography

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Bussagli, Marco, et al. Italian Art, edited by Gloria Fossi, Giunti, 2004.

Chilvers, Ian. The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. Oxford UP, 2009.

Corsini, Diletta. Paolo Uccello: The Battle of San Romano. Giunti Gruppo Editoriale, 1998.

Jones, Barry. Dictionary of World Biography. Australian National UP, 2017.

Morello, Sebastian. "Paolo Uccello as Mystical Teacher." European Conservative, 23 Apr. 2023, europeanconservative.com/articles/essay/paolo-uccello-as-mystical-teacher/. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.

"Paolo Uccello." The Art Story, 29 Jan. 2022, www.theartstory.org/artist/uccello-paolo/. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.

"Paolo Uccello." National Gallery, www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/paolo-uccello. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.

"Uccello." Catholic Encyclopedia, www.newadvent.org/cathen/15117c.htm. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.

Vasari, Giorgio. The Lives of the Artists. Translated by Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella, Oxford UP, 1998.