The Battle of Anghiari: History of the Lost Mural
A gigantic political command, a remote duel with Michelangelo, a risky mural technique and an image of horsemen so powerful that it still survives in drawings and copies.
La Battle of Anghiari is an unfinished and now lost mural, commissioned from Leonardo da Vinci by the Florentine Republic for the large hall of Palazzo Vecchio. Leonardo worked on the project from 1503 and began painting around 1505. The most famous part, the Struggle for the standard, showed four horsemen and their horses swept away in a knot of violence. The original disappeared in the 16th century, but autograph studies, old copies and engravings make it possible to reconstruct part of it.
A Florentine victory transformed into a civic image
The fresco was to recall an ancient military victory at a time when Florence sought to assert the power of her Republic. The subject was therefore not neutral: it linked history, government and artistic prestige.
The battle of June 29, 1440
Near Anghiari, the Milanese Visconti troops try to surprise the coalition led by Florence. The attack fails and the victory becomes an episode commemorated by the Republic. Leonardo does not paint a topographical account: he concentrates the conflict in an emblematic melee around a standard.
The Salone dei Cinquecento
The Grand Council room was an immense political space, designed to accommodate representatives of the Republic. Placing two battles there amounted to placing Florence's military memory at the very heart of power. The planned scale exceeded that of an easel painting: Leonardo's cardboard would have reached approximately eighteen meters wide by seven meters high.
Leonardo facing Michelangelo
The commission quickly becomes a face-to-face meeting between two artists with opposing conceptions of body, movement and narration.
Both cartoons were admired and copied by a generation of artists. Benvenuto Cellini later referred to them as "the school of the world": even when they disappeared, they continued to train painters.
Florentine coalition victory near Anghiari.
Order from Leonardo for the Grand Council room.
Michelangelo receives the rival project of the Battle of Cascina.
Transfer of the box and test of wall painting, soon interrupted.
The image disappears during room transformations.
An experimental technique on a huge wall
Leonardo was wary of the traditional fresco, which requires working quickly on a still damp coating. To preserve the slowness, the repetitions and the transparencies of the oil painting, he prepared the wall with a different process, the details of which remain debated.
- The surface was to allow for more subtle modeling effects than an ordinary fresco.
- Ancient sources tell of the use of heat to speed up drying.
- The lower part would have held better, while the upper area would have sunk or dried poorly.
- Leonardo's departure and his Milanese commitments made the project impossible.
To remember: to speak of a simple "failed fresco" is reductive. Rather, it is an interrupted experimental project, known from documents, studies and testimonies which do not always agree in detail.
The Struggle for the Standard
The central scene does not show a deployed army: it condenses the battle into a knot that is almost impossible to untangle. It is precisely this compression that gives the image its strength.
A restless center
The standard poles, swords and arms cross. Instead of a stable axis, Leonardo makes a pivot under tension.
The horses participate in the fight
Their heads collide, their teeth appear and their eyes widen. Human violence contaminates the animal world.
Faces distorted by effort
Jaws clenched, eyebrows contracted and mouths open transform physiognomy into the language of anger.
A battle seen up close
The framing almost removes the landscape. The viewer does not observe the war from a distance: he is sucked into the fray.
The drawings prepare the fury
Around ten sheets are brought closer to the project. They show that the expression is not improvised: Leonardo studies heads, cries, muscles, riders and relationships between man and horse separately.
Two warriors
The proximity of the profiles makes it possible to compare two intensities: hard concentration and open cry. Contrast becomes a narrative tool.
The face as a battlefield
Wrinkles, shadows and the mouth do not decorate the character: they make visible the effort that passes through the body.
The cry studied from nature
This sanguine head, brought closer to the battle by the Metropolitan Museum, shows how Leonardo observes the mechanics of a screaming mouth.
How do we know the composition?
No copies should be taken for the mural itself. Each transmits a different state, detail or interpretation.
| Witness | Nature | What he brings | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drawings by Leonardo | Autograph studies | Gestures, heads, anatomy and search for movement. | No complete view certain. |
| Louvre sheet | Italian copy from the 16th century, enlarged and extensively retouched by Rubens | The most famous version of central wrestling. | Rubens didn't see the mural gone. |
| Tavola Doria | Painting on panel according to composition | An old colorful transmission from the central group. | Attribution and exact relationship to the model have long been discussed. |
| Edelinck engraving | Print after Rubens and Leonardo | Clear and reproducible diffusion of the pattern. | Later interpretation, already publicized by a copy. |
Is the painting hidden behind Vasari?
Hypothesis not demonstratedIn the 16th century, Giorgio Vasari profoundly transformed the Salone dei Cinquecento for Cosimo I de' Medici. The walls are modified and covered with new cycles of battles. The part painted by Leonardo then disappears from view.
A modern theory assumes that Vasari would have protected the vestige behind a second wall. The tiny inscription Cerca trova - "search, find" - on a Vasarian fresco fueled the enigma. Research conducted in 2012 spotted a cavity and took materials, but it did not provide conclusive evidence to identify a Leonardo.
The rigorous formulation is therefore as follows: the work is lost; its presence behind Vasari's set remains a controversial possibility, not a treasure located with certainty.
From Leonardo to the battles of the Renaissance
La Battle of Anghiari not offered as a preserved original work: it no longer exists. To explore the world of Leonardo and the great Italian military compositions, here are exact redirections to the store.
The Battle of Anghiari in eight answers
The essential facts to distinguish Leonardo's work, his copies and modern theories.
Does the Battle of Anghiari still exist?
The original is no longer visible and is considered lost. Preparatory drawings and several copies mainly convey the scene of the fight for the standard.
Where should Leonardo paint it?
In the large Council Hall of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, today called Salone dei Cinquecento.
When did the project start?
The order dates from 1503. Leonardo worked on cardboard then mural painting in the mid-1500s, before abandoning the site.
Why did the technique fail?
He attempted a wall-mounted process allowing effects close to oil. Drying and adhesion posed a problem, particularly in the upper parts. Precise accounts vary depending on sources.
Did Rubens copy Leonardo directly?
No. The Louvre explains that Rubens did not see the mural or the cardboard, already destroyed. He acquired, enlarged and extensively retouched an earlier Italian copy.
What does the Struggle for the Standard represent?
Four horsemen compete for a banner, while horses and soldiers form a compact group where violence flows from one body to another.
Is the fresco behind a wall by Vasari?
This hypothesis has motivated several research campaigns, but there is currently no conclusive evidence to support this.
Can we see Leonardo's studies?
Yes, several museums keep sheets associated with the project, notably in Budapest, Windsor, Venice and Paris. The Louvre sheet linked to Rubens can be consulted by appointment at the Graphic Arts department.
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