The artwork

The shield, convex in shape and intended to function as a parade shield, is lined on the inside with leather engraved with geometric and floral decorative motifs and still retains its handle straps, while the exterior, covered in gessoed canvas, is entirely painted. A 7.5 cm high border decorated with geometric motifs and faux opals surrounds the depiction of the battle, fought in 1554 at Scannagallo near Marciano in Val di Chiana, shown here from the perspective of the Medici and imperial troops. In the lower left is the artist's signature followed by a date that is no longer fully legible today but was interpreted in the past as 1574.

In the foreground, Gian Giacomo de’ Medici, Marquess of Marignano, is depicted controlling the assault from above, recognizable by the banner with the imperial eagle and the Medici coat of arms; further down, characterized by the white banner with the Cross of Saint Andrew, are the troops of Emperor Charles V, who supported the Florentines in the final phase of the war against Siena. The Sienese army, led by Pietro Strozzi and supported by the French, identified by their red flags with a white cross, is caught by surprise near its camp, not far from Marciano Castle, and put to flight beyond the hill.

Stradano (1523-1605) constructs the narrative starting from a detail-rich foreground that gradually opens up toward the background, with a bird's-eye view of the battlefield that expands the limited space of the pictorial surface. This is the only known surviving example of a parade weapon decorated by Stradano, a specialist in the representation of battle scenes.

This same military episode, celebrating the hegemony achieved by Florence under the dukedom of Cosimo, had been represented in a very similar way in one of the octagons on the ceiling of Salone dei Cinquecento in Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, an undertaking in which Stradano collaborated with Giorgio Vasari. The execution of this scene and some of the preparatory drawings have been attributed to his hand.

For this combination of reasons, it has been hypothesized that the round shield was commissioned for Grand Duke Francesco de' Medici in the year (1574) he succeeded his father Cosimo, to commemorate the battle of Marciano, or that it was created by Stradano to accompany the funeral procession of Cosimo I.