Tavola Doria

A small panel preserves the heart of a lost masterpiece, Leonardo's Battle of Anghiari. Who painted it is still debated, and its own journey reads like a thriller.

The story behind the painting

The Tavola Doria shows the central part of the Battle of Anghiari, the famous mural that Leonardo da Vinci worked on between 1503 and 1505. Wikidata catalogues the panel under Leonardo's name and dates it to 1503, but its authorship is debated. According to Wikipedia, the artist is unknown, and the work is widely believed to be a copy by a sixteenth-century Tuscan artist, perhaps Poppi. A 2013 article proposed Giovanni Francesco Rustici instead. The Doria family, who gave the panel its name, owned it from 1621. Whoever held the brush, the panel records a composition that Leonardo devised for one of the great commissions of his career.

What to look for

The panel measures 86 by 115 centimetres and is classed as a history painting. Its subject is the battle scene at the centre of Leonardo's design. Leonardo's sketches for the Battle of Anghiari, kept at the Galleria dell'Accademia in Venice, do not use daggers, knives or other small blades. They use only extremely long spears, which divide the drawings graphically and help build the composition and its background. Scholars argue that careful attention to such marks is crucial for deciding who made a work. When you look at the Tavola Doria, the long spears are one way to connect it to Leonardo's own drawings.

Meaning and intent

The value of the Tavola Doria lies in what it preserves. It is a record of the central part of Leonardo's famous battle mural, a work that otherwise survives for us through sketches and copies. The attribution debate is part of its meaning. Wikidata lists Leonardo, Wikipedia calls the painter unknown and probably a Tuscan copyist, and a 2013 study names Rustici. Each view changes how we read it, as an original idea, a faithful echo, or a bridge between them. For viewers it becomes a lesson in looking, where details like the spears turn into evidence.

Legacy

In 1939 the Doria family put the panel up for auction, and in 1940 it left Naples and disappeared. It resurfaced in Munich in the 1960s, where scholar Carlo Pedretti studied it and in 1968 published the first colour images. The panel then passed through several owners and reached the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum in 1992. Italian authorities established that it belonged to the national heritage and blocked a sale in 2009. Negotiations led to an agreement signed on 12 June 2012, and the panel returned to Italy. Wikipedia reports it held in a vault in Trastevere from 13 June 2012, while Wikidata lists the Uffizi Gallery.

Schon gewusst?

Panel, 86 × 115 cm; shows the centre of the Battle of Anghiari (Wikidata, Wikipedia).
Authorship debated: Wikidata lists Leonardo; Wikipedia calls it a probable Tuscan copy, perhaps Poppi; a 2013 article suggests Rustici.
Owned by the Doria family from 1621; returned to Italy in 2012 (Wikipedia).

Wikipedia · Wikidata