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Piero della Francesca, The Old Testament Prophet Jeremiah (detail), c. 1466, fresco, 329 x 747 cm, San Francesco, Arezzo |
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Piero della Francesca |
Piero della Francesca (c. 1415 – October 12, 1492) is certainly one of the most important Italian painters of the XV century. His art was ample, monumental and rational, and represents one of the highest artistic ideals of the early Renaissance. The absolute mathematical rigour of his creations emphasises the abstract and iconic traits of his paintings and adds a powerful religious feeling to his masterpieces. |
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Piero della Francesca, Battle between Heraclius and Chosroes (detail), c. 1466, fresco, 329 x 747 cm, San Francesco, Arezzo |
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He may have learned his trade from one of several Sienese artists working in San Sepolcro during his youth. We hear of him also at various times in Ferrara, Rimini, Arezzo, Rome, and Urbino. But he found the origins of his style in Florence, and he probably lived there as a young man for some time during the 1430s, although he is documented there only once, in 1439 (the first known reference to him), when he was assisting Domenico Veneziano on frescoes (now lost) in S. Egidio. The polyptych of the Madonna della Misericordia was his first documented work, and shows that he had studied and absorbed the artistic discoveries of his great Florentine predecessors and contemporaries — Masaccio, Donatello, Domenico Veneziano, Filippo Lippi, Uccello, and even Masolino, who anticipated something of Piero's use of broad masses of colour. His cycle of frescoes depicting the Legend of the True Cross is generally considered among his masterworks and those of Renaissance painting in general. Much of Piero's later career was spent working at the humanist court of Federico da Montefeltro at Urbino. There he painted the famous double portrait of Federico and his wife Battista Sforza, now in the Uffizi, the Madonna of Senigallia and the Nativity, and the celebrated Flagellation (still at Urbino, in the Ducal Palace). The Flagellation is his most enigmatic work, and it has called forth varied interpretations. Gombrich has suggested that the subject is rather The Repentance of Judas and Pope-Hennessy that it is The Dream of St Jerome. To this period belongs The Flagellation (c. 1460), one of the most famous and controversial pictures of the early Renaissance. Other notable works of Piero della Francesca's maturity include the Baptism of Fire, The Resurrection and the Madonna del parto. Piero is last mentioned as a painter in 1478 (in connection with a lost work) and his two final works are probably The Madonna and Child with Federigo da Montefeltro (Brera, Milan, c. 1475) and the unfinished Nativity (National Gallery, London). Thereafter he seems to have devoted himself to mathematics and perspective, writing treatises on both subjects. His deep interest in the theoretical study of perspective and his contemplative approach to his paintings are apparent in all his work, including the panels of the S. Agostino altarpiece. Three treatises written by Piero are known to modern mathematicians. The subjects covered in these writings include arithmetic, algebra, geometry and innovative work in both solid geometry and perspective. |
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| Selected works
Polyptych of the Misericordia (1445-1462) - Oil and tempera on panel, base 330 cm, height 273 cm, Pinacoteca Comunale, Sansepolcro The last record we have of him painting was in 1478 but he lived on until 1492 - tragically, blindness seems to have blighted his last years. |
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| Polyptych of the Misericordia 1445-1462 The Resurrection, Museo Civico, Sansepolcro The Flagellation Arezzo | Fresco Cycle in the Cappella Maggiore of San Francesco |
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Sansepolcro |
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Sansepolcro (former Borgo Santo Sepolcro), is a town and comune in Tuscany, Italy, in the province of Arezzo. Situated on the Tiber river, it was the birthplace of the painters Piero della Francesca, Raffaellino del Colle (a pupil of Raphael) and Angiolo Tricca. According to the tradition, the town was founded around 1000 AD by two pilgrims (Arcanus and Aegidius), who founded here an oratory (where now is the Cathedral) during their homecoming from the Holy Land. The historical centre Sansepolcro reached its current size around 1400, and in 1500 received its walls by Giuliano da Sangallo. |
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Polyptych of the Misericordia 1445-1462 |
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| Piero was commissioned the Polyptych by Sansepolcro’s Confraternity of Mercy in 1445. The commission entailed extensive negotiations, which led to a contract with particularly precise and engaging clauses for the painter. The contract did not refer to the subject to be painted, though required the painter to reproduce the model of the existing painting (to be replaced); moreover, the artist was obliged to perform any necessary upkeep and restoration works for ten years after completion of the work. As known, the contractual term (1448) was completely ignored due to Piero’s constant engagements in Arezzo and throughout Italy, where he worked for wealthier, more learned and refined Courts. Hence, the Polyptich took more than fifteen years to complete. The iconography follows a traditional scheme: the Virgin Mary protects a group of believers, among whom also the artist (the first on her right). Despite the conventional golden background, Piero’s figures are given a significant plastic relief. The Virgin Mary’s pose, amplified by the wide drapery of her black cloak, is counterpointed by the precise representation of anatomic details. One of the first paintings to be made was, quite likely, the one on the left, with San Sebastiano and San Giovanni Battista, formed by two joined axes: San Sebastiano probably reflects Piero’s first approach to Roman sculpture, while San Giovanni Battista is the most Masaccio-inspired figure ever painted by Piero. In any event, the most evident result of Piero’s direct and meditated study of Masaccio is the beautiful and touching Crucifixion, which may be compared with that currently held at Museum of Capodimonte. The paintings originally composing the Polyptych, now kept at the Museum, are Our Lady of Mercy, San Sebastiano, San Giovanni Battista, Sant’Andrea, San Bernardino da Siena. Crucifixion, San Benedetto da Norcia, Announcing Angel, Our Lady of the Annunciation, and San Francesco da Assisi. The foot-paces were clearly made by a modest painter, though a good miniaturist, possibly Giuliano Amedei. The two pilaster strips with the three Santi are of higher quality, and must thus have been made by a collaborator of Piero della Francesca. [read more] |
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Piero della Francesca, The Baptism of Christ, detail (c. 1448-1450) - Tempera on panel, 168 x 116 cm, National Gallery, London |
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| The Baptism of Christ is a good introduction to Piero della Francesca's style. Within an arched frame the baptism is taking place in a landscape strikingly similar to the countryside around San Sepolcro. In 1442 Piero della Francesca was recorded as town councillor in Borgo San Sepolcro. The Baptism of Christ portrays Christ being baptised by John, his head surmounted by a doverepresenting the Holy Spirit. Christ, John's hand, the bird and the bowl form an axis which divides the painting in two symmetrical parts. A second division is created by the tree on the left, which instead divides it according to the golden ratio. The three angels wear different clothes and, different from the traditional iconography, are not supporting Christ's garments, but are holding each other's hands. This would be an allusion to the contemporary council of Florence (1439), whose goal was the unification of the Western and Eastern Churches. [read more] |
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Piero della Francesca | St. Jerome in Penitence (detail), (c. 1449-1451) - Oil on panel, 51 x 38 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin |
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| In 1451 Piero was in Rimini. Before that he painted two small panels, St Jerome and a Donor (in Venice) and Penance in St Jerome (in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin). We do not know exactly for whom these were painted, but they are probably to be included amongst the "many of small figures" mentioned by Vasari as being commissioned by several rulers during the artist's journeys in the Marches and Emilia-Romagna. St. Jerome in Penitence is one of the two paintings by Piero that is dated. Recently it has been restored, and all the later additions have been removed from the background and the sky. We can now see, in the crystal-clear lighting, behind the hermit saint, a receding background with the perfectly straight tree trunks reflected in the winding river. The clear sky is barely dotted with little white pointed clouds. [read more] |
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Piero della Francesca, St Jerome and a Donor, 1451, Panel, 49 x 42 cm; Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice |
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In this small panel we can see for the first time Piero's signature, on the tree trunk that forms the base of the Crucifix in the left-hand corner. On the ground, in the foreground, there is also an inscription indicating that the panel was commissioned by Gerolamo Amadi "veneziano" who is shown kneeling in prayer before the saint. The donor and his protecting saint appear to be conversing as equals, for it was obviously Piero's intention to exalt the human dignity of his patron, as he was to do again in the case of Sigismondo Malatesta in Rimini. The bright hues of colour are similar to the clear sunlit atmosphere of the London Baptism of Christ, and even the background, with its rolling hills and steep country paths, confirms a vision of landscape that was first anticipated in the London painting. Compared to Paolo Uccelo's nighttime, rather abstract and fairytale landscapes, or Fra Angelico's gentle and precious ones, Piero's are closer to Veneziano's, or even Masaccio's, with bare hills, partially covered with vegetation. And Piero makes his landscapes even more real and alive, for the vegetation is burnt out by a Mediterranean sun, the city walls are made of white lime and the water of the river is transparent. |
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Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta Praying in Front of St. Sigismund (1451), fresco, Tempio Malatestiano, Rimini |
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| Piero was favoured by some of the smaller city-states like Urbino and Rimini in central Italy. In 1449 Piero della Francesca executed several frescoes in the Castello Estense and the church of Sant’Andrea of Ferrara, also lost. |
 Portrait of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (c. 1451), Musée du Louvre, Paris |
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| In 1452, Piero della Francesca was called to Arezzo to replace Bicci di Lorenzo in painting the frescoes of the basilica of San Francesco. | |||
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Piero della Francesca, Burial of the Wood, c. 1466, fresco 390 x 747 cm, (detail) San Francesco, Arezzo |
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| Piero della Francesca’s major work is a series of frescos on the Legend of the True Cross in the choir of San Francesco at Arezzo (c. l452-c. l465). The subject was a medieval legend of great complexity, but Piero made from its fanciful details some of the most solemn and serene images in western art — even the two battle scenes have a feeling of grim deliberation rather than violent movement. The Basilica of San Francesco is a late Medieval church in Arezzo, dedicated to St Francis of Assisi. The Cappella Maggiore houses the fresco cycle by Piero della Francesca depicting the Legend of the True Cross. This cycle of frescoes is in the Basilica di San Francesco, in Arezzo, and is the highest expression of the Renaissance art. The 13th century Crucifix with Saint Francis was already in the church when Piero della Francesca frescoed the chapel; it has been recently placed above the main altar. The painting of the chancel began with a commission by the Aretine family Bicci, who called the painter Bicci di Lorenzo to paint the large cross-vault. In 1452, at Bicci's death, only the four Evangelists had been painted in the vault, as well as the triumphal arch with the Last Judgement and two Doctors of the Church. Piero della Francesca was called in to complete the work. According to a document, he did so in two stages, the works halted during 1458-1459, and completed in 1466.[1] Piero della Francesca’s fresco cycle of the Story of the True Cross is considered to be Piero della Francesca’s greatest masterpiece and narrates a medieval story about the cross on which Jesus was crucified. The theme of the fresco cycle derived from the popular 13th century book on the lives of saints by Jacopo da Varagine, the Golden Legend, is the triumph of the True Cross – the wood from the Garden of Eden that became the Cross on which Christ was crucified. The frescoes occupy three levels on the side walls and the eastern wall, surrounding a large window. Piero della Francesca did not follow a chronological order, preferring to concentrate himself in the creation of symmetrical correspondences between the various scenes. [read more] |
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Piero della Francesca, Battle between Heraclius and Chosroes, c. 1466, fresco, 329 x 747 cm, San Francesco, Arezzo |
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| In 1455, Piero was in Rome, painting frescoes in the Vatican for Nicholas V and continued to work in the Vatican Palace also under Pius II. Piero della Francesca worked under Pope Pius II (Aeneus Sylvius Piccolomini) from 1458 to 1459, leaving some lost frescoes in the Apostolic Palace, probably destroyed to make room for the Raphael's Rooms. . In 1467, Piero della Francesca returned to Sansepolcro where he held new public offices. He was commissioned to paint a Resurrection which is now one of his most famous works. | |||
St. Julian (1455-60) |
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Piero della Francesca, St. Julian, fresco, 1455-60, 130 x 105 cm Pinacoteca Comunale, Sansepolcro |
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| In 1453, Piero della Francesca returned to Sansepolcro where, the following year, he signed a contract for the polyptych in the church of Sant'Agostino. St. Julian is the only fragment that has survived of Piero's fresco decoration of the church of Sant'Agostino in Borgo San Sepolcro. | |||
| A few years later, summoned by Pope Nicholas V, he moved to Rome: here he executed frescoes in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, of which only fragments remain. Two years later he was again in the Papal capital, for frescoes in Vatican Palace which have also been destroyed. To this period belongs The Flagellation (c. 1460), one of the most famous and controversial pictures of the early Renaissance. | |||
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Piero della Francesca, The Flagellation, c. 1455, Oil and tempera on panel, 59 x 82 cm, Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino |
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The Flagellation was executed by Piero during his first visit to Urbino. rom the point of view of composition and perspective the painting is very rigorously planned. The composition appears to be divided into two scenes, separated by the column supporting the temple in which the Flagellation of Christ is taking place. Even though he is working in a unitary space, Piero does not give up his interest in detail, such as the ceiling of the temple or the bronze sculpture on the column with its splendid reflection of the light. |
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| Polyptych of Saint Augustine (1460-1470) - Oil and tempera on panel | |||
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Piero della Francesca, The Resurrection of Christ (detail) (c.1420 - 1492), mural in fresco and tempera, 225 x 200 cm, Museo Civico, Sansepolcro. |
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The fresco was probably painted in 1467-68, in the Meeting Hall of Palazzo dei Conservatori di Sansepolcro (the current Civic Museum). |
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| Madonna del parto (1459-1467) |
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Piero della Francesca, Madonna del parto (1459-1467) - Detached fresco, 260 x 203 cm, Chapel of the cemetery, Monterchi |
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| Nativity (c. 1470) | |||
Piero della Francesca, Nativity (c. 1470) - 124.5 x 123 cm, National Gallery, London |
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Polyptych of Perugia, also known as Polyptych of Saint Anthony (1460-1470) |
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Piero della Francesca, Polyptych of St. Anthony, Oil and tempera on panel, 338 cm × 230 cm, Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia |
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Among the many works that, according to Vasari, Piero painted in Perugia, the historian describes with great admiration the polyptych commissioned by the nuns of the convent of Sant'Antonio da Padova. This complex painting, today in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Perugia, was begun shortly after Piero's return from Rome, but was not completed for several years. |
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| Madonna and Child with Saints (Montefeltro Altarpiece, 1472-1474) | |||
Madonna and Child with Saints (Montefeltro Altarpiece, 1472-1474) - Oil on panel, 248 x 170 cm, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan |
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| Federico da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza (c. 1472) | |||
| Paired portraits (c. 1472) of Federico da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza, respectively the Duke and Duchess of Urbino |
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| Madonna di Senigallia (c. 1474) | |||
Madonna di Senigallia (c. 1474) - Oil on panel, 67 x 53.5 cm, Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino |
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