Battle of Anghiari

painting by Leonardo da Vinci

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June 22, 2026

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The Battle of Anghiari was a monumental mural commissioned for Florence's Palazzo Vecchio, intended to be twice the size of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper. Leonardo worked on this historical scene for three years, but like Michelangelo's Battle of Cascina, it remained unfinished. Preliminary drawings showcase Leonardo's advanced understanding of painting as a science, incorporating principles of mechanics and anatomy to depict intense movement and emotion in both humans and horses. Although the mural itself is lost, copies and cartoons influenced artists for centuries, becoming a significant study piece for painters like Peter Paul Rubens and Eugène Delacroix.1

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Leonardo da Vinci
Battle of Anghiari
…years Leonardo worked on the Battle of Anghiari; like its intended complementary painting, Michelangelo’s Battle of Cascina, it ultimately remained unfinished. The preliminary drawings—many of which have been preserved—reveal Leonardo’s lofty conception of the “science of painting”; he put to artistic use the laws of equilibrium that he had probed…
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…years Leonardo worked on the Battle of Anghiari; like its intended complementary painting, Michelangelo’s Battle of Cascina, it ultimately remained unfinished. The preliminary drawings—many of which have been preserved—reveal Leonardo’s lofty conception of the “science of painting”; he put to artistic use the laws of equilibrium that he had probed…
Read More