page_title: Battle of Cascina
section_title: Michelangelo painting of the battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Cascina / Michelangelo painting of the battle
caption_attribution_description: MICHELANGELO Buonarroti Study for the Battle of Cascina Chalk and silver rod on paper, 235 x 356 mm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
context_page_description: The Battle of Cascina was an engagement between Pisan and Florentine troops on 28 July 1364 near Cascina, Italy. Florence's victory followed a recent defeat to Pisan forces that had enabled mercenary John Hawkwood, who was in command of the Pisan army, to occupy the Valdinievole, Prato en route to Florence. Hawkwood and his army looted the lucrative Mugello region and Pistoia before proceeding towards Florence. Hawkwood fought alongside Hanneken von Baumgarten and had 3,000 men-at-arms at his disposal.
  Florence's defenses were organized by Enrico di Monforte. In addition to the city's garrison, Florence hired 11,000 infantrymen and 4,000 knights and placed them under the command of Galeotto Malatesta, as Pandolfo II Malatesta had recently been relieved of his command. Malatesta's forces engaged the Pisan contingent in the commune of San Savino to the southeast of Cascina, and gained a clear victory in the engagement.
  Pisan forces incurred thousands of casualties in the battle and at least 2,000 Pisan soldiers were captured. Malatesta's victory is credited to his flexible tactics and efficacious deployment of forces, including 400 crossbowmen under the command of Ricceri Grimaldi.
context_section_description: In 1504 Michelangelo Buonarroti was commissioned by Pier Soderini to complete a celebrative fresco depicting the Battle of Cascina, to be placed in the Florentine Room of the Great Council (or Salone dei Cinquecento) of Palazzo Vecchio while Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned to complete another painting on the opposite wall to celebrate the equally important Florentine victory at the 1440 Battle of Anghiari.
  Neither picture now exists. Michelangelo never executed his, and Leonardo's was irretrievably ruined soon after being completed because of the innovative, but disastrous, painting method adopted by the artist. However, a number of studies for Michelangelo's work do exist, and he completed a full-size cartoon of the intended composition. 
  Michelangelo prepared his cartoon in a hospital room of the Sant'Onofrio Dyers after payment of a monthly salary. The subject is the beginning of the battle, when the overheated Florentine soldiers, having divested themselves of their armor, are swimming in the Arno river. The soldiers are depicted leaping from the river and buckling on their armor on hearing the trumpet warning them of the imminent Pisan attack. This subject allowed Michelangelo to depict a group of naked bodies in contrapposto. 
  Though the original cartoon is lost, having allegedly been cut up by Michelangelo's rival Baccio Bandinelli, a number of copies exist, along with an engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi.
caption: One of the surviving study drawings for the Battle of Cascina
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