Triumphal Entry into Rome of Titus and Vespasian

Triumphal Entry into Rome of Titus and Vespasian, executed in the year 1430 CE by Paolo Uccello, is a tempera-on-panel painting that depicts the Roman legions returning home from Judea after the Sack of Jerusalem that concluded the First Roman-Jewish War.

The painting, on display at the University of Yale Art Gallery and measuring 42 cm by 127.5 cm, shows the returning veterans making their way towards a citadel that occupies the central ground at the top of the panel. The citadel, it's walls and towers covered in mortar and white paint, represents Rome while Emperor Vespasian and his general Titus are visible at the bottom left and right-hand corners of the panel. Vespasian, thankful to Titus for helping him to defeat his political rivals, shared the glory of Rome’s victory over the Zealots in a show of gratitude.

Uccello, a pioneer of visual perspective in art, studied contemporary accounts of the Jewish Revolt and was inspired to execute this painting. The painting, although demonstrating an understanding of visual perspective that was a central feature of Renaissance art, belongs to the Late Gothic period of art history. The display of pageantry, seen in panoramic view, and the use of tempera are typical of Late Medieval paintings while the artwork's secular theme foreshadows the shift from religious subjects towards the more worldly themes that were characteristic of Early Modern art. The plate armour that the Roman soldiers are wearing, the steel from which it is made being darkened by a blue-black protective coating, is more typical of that worn by fifteenth-century men-at-arms than of first-century Roman soldiers.

The painting is divided by a vertical line of white rock, such as chalk or limestone, and a row of soldiers are marching towards the citadel along a path that is positioned right-of-centre of the rocky formation. Vespasian and Titus, each sat upon a raised and gilded dais, appear as equals and one of them is holding a downward-pointing broadsword by the blade and underneath the crosspiece. The broadsword, unknown to first-century legionaries, was a status-symbol among fifteenth-century mercenaries who had amassed enough wealth to buy such a weapon. The figure with the broadsword, possessing an emblem of martial glory that would have been recognisable to the Late Medieval viewer, may represent Titus due to his recent victory in Judea.