 The politics of the commissioning and recommissioning of the fresco have been analyzed and debated by historians . The fresco is often cited as a form of " Florentine propaganda " for its appropriation of a foreign soldier of fortune as a Florentine hero and for its implied promise to other condottieri of the potential rewards of serving Florence . The fresco has also been interpreted as a product of internal political competition between the Albizzi and Medici factions in Renaissance Florence , due to the latter 's modification of the work 's symbolism and iconography during its recommissioning . 
