Italian
Early Renaissance masterpieces form one of the foundations of Western art. In his ramblings through art museums, Witten became smitten by Italian artists of the 14th and 15th centuries, especially Paolo Ucello (mid-1400s) and some of the Sienese artists. Witten made pilgrimages to see all three huge panels of Ucello’s Battle of San Romano – one at the Uffizi in Florence, one at the Louvre in Paris, and one at the National Gallery in London. The startlingly dramatic and stylized painting and its rich earth tones fascinated Witten. Several of his paintings mimic the quiver-like pattern of vertical lances in Ucello’s masterpiece. He also studied and emulated other Sienese scenes of princes with their entourages progressing through patterned landscapes.
