Paolo Uccello (1397–1475) pushed perspective to extremes that fascinated and puzzled his contemporaries. His surviving works are concentrated in Florence, with key panels in London and Paris. This page maps every location where you can see his paintings and frescoes, from the Battle of San Romano triptych (split across three museums on two continents) to the Chiostro Verde frescoes in Santa Maria Novella and the monumental Sir John Hawkwood fresco inside Florence Cathedral.
Use the interactive map below to plan a walking route through his Florentine works, or explore the museum-by-museum guide to find specific paintings, rooms, and booking information.
ⓘ Opening hours and admission prices listed on this page are indicative and subject to change. Always verify current information on the official website of each venue before your visit.
The Uffizi holds one of the three panels of the Battle of San Romano (c. 1438–1440): the scene showing Niccolò da Tolentino leading the Florentine troops. The painting hangs in Room 8 alongside other early Florentine Renaissance works by Filippo Lippi and Fra Angelico. The foreshortened lances and fallen soldiers demonstrate Uccello's obsessive geometry applied to a war scene. The room also contains Uccello's two small predella panels with scenes of monastic life. Allow at least 2–3 hours for the Uffizi overall.
The Chiostro Verde contains Uccello's fresco cycle of Genesis scenes, painted in terre verdi (green earth pigment). The most celebrated panels are The Flood and the Recession of the Waters and The Drunkenness of Noah (c. 1447). The Flood scene, with its dual-vanishing-point composition and compressed panic, is among the most radical perspective experiments of the 15th century. The frescoes are in fragile condition but visible. Enter through the main Santa Maria Novella complex entrance on Piazza Santa Maria Novella. The church is a 5-minute walk from the train station.
On the left wall of the nave, Uccello painted the monumental fresco of Sir John Hawkwood (1436), an equestrian portrait of the English condottiero (mercenary captain) Giovanni Acuto. The fresco simulates a bronze equestrian statue using painted perspective, with the horse and rider viewed from below while the base follows a different angle. This deliberate contradiction became a famous case study in Renaissance spatial theory. The fresco is easy to miss in the vast interior: look for it on the north wall, about halfway down the nave.
The museum preserves Uccello's Clock Face with Four Prophets (1443), originally painted for the interior counter-facade of the cathedral. The four heads in the corners represent prophets, oriented so that each faces a different direction of the clock. The museum is directly behind the Duomo apse, a 2-minute walk from the Hawkwood fresco.
The National Gallery holds the second panel of the Battle of San Romano: Niccolò da Tolentino Unseats Bernardino della Ciarda (c. 1438–1440). The painting shows the rearing horse and the fallen enemy in a tightly composed perspective grid. It also holds Saint George and the Dragon (c. 1470), a late work where the geometric grass patches and the spiraling dragon reveal Uccello's late-career shift toward flatter, more decorative compositions. Both works are in Room 54, in the Sainsbury Wing area dedicated to early Italian painting.
The Louvre holds the third panel of the Battle of San Romano: The Counterattack of Micheletto da Cotignola (c. 1438–1440). This is arguably the most spatially complex of the three, with ranks of knights fanning out in a calculated pattern. The panel is displayed in the Italian Primitives section of the Denon Wing. Seeing all three panels requires visiting Florence, London, and Paris, making this one of the most geographically dispersed triptychs in art history.
The Galleria Nazionale delle Marche holds Uccello's Profanation of the Host (1467–1469), a six-scene predella originally painted for the Confraternity of the Corpus Domini. The panels narrate an anti-Semitic legend in Uccello's characteristic compressed perspective style, with sharply receding tiled floors. The predella is displayed in the same rooms as Piero della Francesca's Flagellation and the Ideal City panel, making Urbino an essential stop for anyone interested in 15th-century perspective painting.
The Ashmolean holds Uccello's The Hunt in the Forest (c. 1470), one of his last known paintings and a tour de force of perspective applied to a nocturnal woodland scene. Horsemen, dogs, and deer converge toward a single vanishing point in the dark center of the forest. The painting's combination of decorative surface and strict spatial construction makes it a summary of Uccello's career-long preoccupations. It is among the most popular works in the museum's collection.
All three Florentine sites with Uccello works are within a 15-minute walking radius: start at the Duomo (Hawkwood fresco, free), walk west to Santa Maria Novella for the Chiostro Verde frescoes, then south to the Uffizi for the Battle of San Romano panel. One morning covers all three.
The three panels of Uccello's most famous work are in the Uffizi (Florence), the National Gallery (London), and the Louvre (Paris). Seeing all three requires visiting three cities, but each panel can be appreciated on its own. The London and Paris panels have free or low-cost entry; the Uffizi requires advance booking.
Visitors fascinated by Uccello's perspective experiments can extend the trip: Urbino holds both Uccello's predella and Piero della Francesca's Flagellation. Padua's Ovetari Chapel (Eremitani) and Mantua's Palazzo Ducale complete a northern Italy circuit of 15th-century spatial innovation.
Three sites with Uccello works within walking distance: the Duomo, Santa Maria Novella, and the Uffizi. Florence is also where Uccello trained under Ghiberti and worked alongside Donatello, Masaccio, and Brunelleschi.
See all geolocated Uccello works at once, including locations in Florence, London, Paris, Urbino, and Oxford. Filter by city or combine with other early Renaissance artists.
Masaccio and Uccello were near-exact contemporaries in Florence. Where Uccello turned perspective into a decorative and intellectual game, Masaccio used it to create weight and gravity. Compare them at the Brancacci Chapel and the Uffizi.
The three panels are in the Uffizi in Florence (Room 8), the National Gallery in London (Room 54, free), and the Louvre in Paris (Denon Wing, Room 708). Each panel depicts a different moment of the 1432 battle. Seeing all three requires visiting three cities.
Yes. The Uffizi requires advance tickets, especially from March through October. Book at least 2–3 weeks ahead for peak season. Uccello's Battle of San Romano panel is in Room 8, second floor. Early morning slots (8:15 AM) are least crowded.
Two key locations: the Chiostro Verde at Santa Maria Novella (The Flood and the Drunkenness of Noah, c. 1447) and the Duomo interior (Sir John Hawkwood equestrian fresco, 1436, on the left nave wall). The Duomo is free; Santa Maria Novella requires a ticket (about €7.50).
One day is enough. All three sites (Duomo, Santa Maria Novella, Uffizi) are within a 15-minute walking radius in central Florence. Start at the Duomo in the morning, walk to Santa Maria Novella, then finish at the Uffizi with a pre-booked afternoon slot.
No. The Hunt in the Forest (c. 1470) is in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England. Admission is free. It is one of Uccello's last works and arguably his most visually striking painting, with horsemen and dogs converging into a dark forest along strict perspective lines.
If Masaccio makes space feel heavy and real, Uccello makes it strange and hypnotic. Lances align like diagrams, horses become geometric solids, and the forest floor becomes a perspective grid. That peculiar logic is best understood in the places where it was made: the churches, cloisters, and museums that still hold these paintings.