The Battle of Ravenna, 1512

This sixteenth-century depiction, held at the Austrian National Library in Vienna, portrays the Battle of Ravenna, fought on 11 April 1512 between the French army commanded by Gaston de Foix and the forces of the Holy League, uniting Spain and the papacy. This exceptionally bloody battle, which claimed more than ten thousand lives in a single day, marked a turning point in the art of war through the decisive role played for the first time by field artillery, capable of breaking an entrenched position rather than being confined to sieges. Produced by an anonymous artist shortly after the events, the work attests to the immediate impact this confrontation had on the European imagination, where the French victory, tarnished by the death of its young general, was at once perceived as an event of exceptional magnitude.