Room 62

A long, low painting may once have belonged to a chest or a panelled room. Such objects were part of the life of a Florentine palace, where business, family and the display of wealth shared a building. Uccello’s Saint George and the Dragon gives a legendary encounter a sharply constructed setting. Other pictures in the room were made for domestic furnishings, with stories from the Bible, mythology or ancient history. These could mark a marriage or offer examples of conduct. Circular paintings of Mary and Christ also grew in scale and complexity for wealthy homes. Look at the shape of a picture before its subject, and consider where that shape might have fitted.