Dave Yoder

Looking for a Fight: The Received Story

The received account of Leonardo da Vinci's Battle of Anghiari, told straight before the series tests it: the 1503 commission for the Sala del Gran Consiglio, the rivalry with Michelangelo's never-painted Battle of Cascina, the experimental technique that is said to have failed o...

Looking for a Fight: Patrons in the Know

Painting the most important ceremonial room in the Vatican in oil was not a painter's private decision. Someone approved it, and someone paid for it. This installment follows the money and the men: the Medici court that had retaken Florence and with it Leonardo's unfinished battl...

Looking for a Fight: The Outer Limits of Coincidence

The sixth installment counts coincidences. Raphael's battle scene descends from Leonardo's design; beneath it lie the same two materials the Battle of Anghiari purchase records carry; and in the winter of 1518 to 1519 Raphael prepared for his cavalry battle exactly as Leonardo ha...