An Essay on Art in 'A Room with a View'
Paolo Uccello was an Italian painter whose work showcases a turning point between the flat, heightened elements of the International Gothic of the late Middle Ages and the progressive perspective of the early Renaissance.
One of his works, 'Battaglia di San Romano, Niccolò da Tolentino alla testa dei fiorentini' is shown in the background of a scene in director James Ivory's film 'A Room with a View', adapted from the novel by E. M. Forster.
In the scene, the characters Mr. Emerson and his son George Emerson visit the National Gallery in London, after having met the young Lucy Honeychurch in Italy, the protagonist of the story. In London they happen upon Cecil Vyse, a 'gentleman' who, unbeknownst to them, has been engaged to Lucy. Mr. Vyse informs them of a house that is for sale in the area where Lucy lives, as they are looking for a 'cottage' in the countryside.
This scene takes place about halfway through the film, and in it the director illustrates the main obstacle of the story: Lucy Honeychurch's struggle. Lucy is a naive upper-middle-class young woman who makes a visit to Florence with a chaperone. There she meets the English George Emerson, a working-class young man. On a walk through the Italian countryside circumstances bring them together and they embrace in a kiss. The 'indecent' act having been seen by her chaperone, Lucy is hurried back to England to avoid a scandal.
Back in her home country, she decides to accept an engagement of the intellectual, upper-middle-class Cecil Vyse. She abruptly falls back into the norms of her country and the expectations of her family, seeming to find herself in safety from scandal until the Emersons move into her area because of Cecil's recommendation.
This setup of events is used as a background for Lucy's decision between her true love for lower-class George, who she met in Italy, but would not fit into the expectations of Lucy's upper-middle-class family, and the socially acceptable engagement to Mr. Vyse. Because her thoughts are so clouded by the norms and expectations of civilisation, Lucy herself is not aware of her choice, and Ivory illustrates the differences between true love, represented by Forster's motifs of the working class, Italy, the Renaissance and nature, and the performative, socially acceptable engagement, represented by Forster's motifs of the upper middle class, London and England, the medieval and the city.
This contrast of options is reflected in the subtle presence of Uccello's work in the background of the scene in the National Gallery. It showcases elements of both the medieval (flat figures, exaggerated colours), and the upcoming Renaissance (a grid-like perspective, foreshortening in the foreground). The painting is part of a series of three, the others being exhibited in Florence and Paris. The presence of this Italian painting in London reflects Lucy's emotional connection to George, who she met in Florence and will now meet again in England. This connection forms a conflict in relation to her connection to Mr. Vyse. This is reflected in the event that is depicted in the painting: a battle.
Class difference plays a big role in Lucy's dilemma, and this aspect is represented in the scene with Uccello's painting. Besides an actual battle being depicted in the artwork, societal differences are also shown in various other ways. Cecil wears a sleek black top hat, while father and son have taken off their hats and wear dark gray rather than jet black suits. Because Cecil is taller, he quite literally looks down his nose at the others in the horizontal positioning of the characters against the background.
In their conversation, when he mentions that they are looking for a new place, Mr. Emerson expresses that he prefers the countryside and nature to the bustling city of London. Later, Vyse asks them for a card so that he may reach them about the house, but being working class, the Emersons don't have one. Instead they write down the address of the house. All in all, these details characterise the Emersons as being more grounded and connected to the natural world. Mr. Vyse, on the other hand, finds society and relations more important, illustrated by the fact that he keeps glancing at passers-by during the conversation. The characters of both 'love interests' are aptly expressed in this one scene, illustrating Lucy's options.
The scene preceding the National Gallery scene reveals a lot about Lucy's emotional position, and the personality of the two men, and the two scenes are closely linked.
Before Cecil recounts how he met a father and son in London (and the gallery scene is shown as a flashback), he sees Lucy approaching, and compares her to a 'Leonardo', praising her because of her beauty, like he would a painting.
In the Gallery scene, George also interacts with art, but in a completely different way. While his father is talking to Mr. Vyse, George looks into the Uccello painting behind them on the wall. This difference between Cecil and George shows how the one looks at the beauty of art on a surface level, while the other looks into it, wanting to understand and explore. This contrast forms a direct parallel to the way both characters want to love Lucy: in a surface-level way, and in an in-depth way respectively. This link to their emotional relation to Lucy is confirmed when George later on says to Lucy that Cecil 'wants to own [her] like a painting.'
The act of Cecil recommending the house to the Emersons (mostly as a joke on the lower class) is also a main turning point for Lucy to reconsider Cecil as a partner. Lucy had previously put in great effort to recommend the house to others, this effort being undone by Cecil's crude sense of humour. The Emersons moving into Lucy's neighbourhood also brings George close to her again.
Thus the Gallery scene illustrates the emotional turning point for Lucy: it distances her from Cecil while it draws her closer to George.
James Ivory uses the detail of Uccello's painting as a background in his scene to illustrate both 'love interests' personalities, class differences and interests, all of which influence Lucy's most pivotal choice of the story, although she herself is not present in the scene. The distinction between the two men is made clear by the differing ways they both interact with art and other people, the juxtaposition between Italy and England, the countryside and the city, and the last elements of the medieval present on Uccello's painting, which are joined by a new application of perspective, foretelling the upcoming Renaissance.
In this one scene, the director manages to reflect the struggle of man between civilisation and nature, which forms the core struggle of the novel 'A Room with a View', and is the main theme that is explored in Forster's entire body of work.
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