Markus Prachensky “La Battaglia di San Romano – London Red” 2010

The title “Battaglia di San Romano” refers to a three-part painting by the Florentine Renaissance painter Paolo Uccello. The battle scenes capture the historic event of 1432, when the city-states of Florence and Siena fought for supremacy. The panels of the triptych are now scattered in three European museums.
“London Red” refers to the work now to be seen at the National Gallery in London. A prominent feature of this painting are the raised lances of the charging cavalry troops, seen on the left side. Prachensky used the historic painting merely as a source of inspiration, in order to depict his impressions artistically stringent in his own pictorial language. Thus, he translates the battle turmoil with powerful, garish strokes, as of crossed spears. Bold bars of red color could symbolize the slaughter on the battlefield, and even the splashes of red paint, owed to the artist’s dynamic painting, appear as intended stylistics to express the martial bloodshed. This work from Prachensky’s late career impressively demonstrates his painterly and compositorial aplomb. Despite the gestural dynamics, the painting appears very balanced.