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1932 Innsbruck/Tyrol – 2011 Vienna
- Title
- „Battaglia di San Romano – London grey“
- Time
- 2010
- signed
- verso titled and dated
- Technique
- acrylic on canvas
- Measurements
- 39 ⅓ × 55 ¼ in
Markus Prachensky’s 2010 series “La Battaglia di San Romano” is a homage to the Renaissance painter PaolonUccello’s triptych of the same title. In the 1440s, Uccello depicted the Battle of San Romano (1432) in three panel paintings. Today, the individual parts of the triptych are divided between the Louvre in Paris, the Uffizi in Florence, and the National Gallery in London.
Markus Prachensky first saw the painting at the Uffizi at the age of 20 and was deeply impressed by its precision of execution and vivid colors. Shortly thereafter, he was able to view the second panel in the Louvre. Fifteen years later, he stood before the third work in London, but it was not until 2010 that Prachensky decided to create a cycle dedicated to it. This series would also become the final chapter in his remarkable artistic oeuvre.
The present painting, “La Battaglia di San Romano – London grey”, is inspired by the panel by Uccello now housed in the National Gallery. It depicts Niccolò da Tolentino as the leader of the Florentines. It is one of Prachensky’s rare interpretations of the London theme executed on a grey ground, as opposed to the more common “London red” versions. The numerous lances, which structure Uccello’s composition in a geometric, almost grid-like pattern, particularly fascinated Prachensky and became the central motif of his reinterpretation. With rapid, forceful brushstrokes, he reduced Uccello’s detailed composition to its essence, translating it into distinctive gestural visual language.