The violence of spring: Paolo Uccello's The Battle of San Romano

Spring fruits and flowers add to the gaiety of this battle scene. War is a chivalric pageant: colourful lances and banners, feathers on helmets, trumpet blasts. Knights and archers are seen in the ploughed fields beyond the clash of metal at the heart of the fight. The colourful floral display and big round fruits recall Botticelli’s Primavera and, with its celebration of male energy, this too is a depiction of spring – here seen as a season of violence
Illustration: The National Gallery