Piero della Francesca
Piero della Francesca (/ˌpjɛəroʊ ˌdɛlə frænˈtʃɛskə/,[2] US also /- frɑːnˈ-/,[3][4] Italian: [ˈpjɛːro della franˈtʃeska] ; né Piero di Benedetto; c. 1415[1] – 12 October 1492) was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. To contemporaries he was also known as a mathematician and geometer.[5] Nowadays Piero della Francesca is chiefly appreciated for his art. His painting is characterized by its serene humanism, its use of geometric forms and perspective. His most famous work is the cycle of frescoes The History of the True Cross in the church of San Francesco in the Tuscan town of Arezzo.
Piero della Francesca
12 October 1492 (aged 76–77)
Biography[edit]
Early years[edit]
Piero was born Piero di Benedetto in the town of Borgo Santo Sepolcro,[1][6] modern-day Tuscany, to Benedetto de' Franceschi, a tradesman, and Romana di Perino da Monterchi, members of the Florentine and Tuscan Franceschi noble family. His father died before his birth, and he was called Piero della Francesca after his mother, who was referred to as "la Francesca" due to her marriage into the Franceschi family (similar to Lisa Gherardini who was known as "la Gioconda" through her marriage into the Giocondo family). Romana supported his education in mathematics and art.[6]
He was most probably apprenticed to the local painter Antonio di Giovanni d'Anghiari, because in documents about payments it is noted that he was working with Antonio in 1432 and May 1438.[7][8] He certainly took notice of the work of some of the Sienese artists active in San Sepolcro during his youth; e.g. Sassetta. In 1439 Piero received, together with Domenico Veneziano, payments for his work on frescoes for the church of Sant'Egidio in Florence, now lost. In Florence he must have met leading masters like Fra Angelico, Luca della Robbia, Donatello, and Brunelleschi. The classicism of Masaccio's frescoes and his majestic figures in the Santa Maria del Carmine were for him an important source of inspiration. Dating of Piero's undocumented work is difficult because his style does not seem to have developed over the years.
Mature work[edit]
Piero returned to his hometown in 1442 and was elected to the City Council of Sansepolcro.[9] Three years later, he received his first commission, to paint the Madonna della Misericordia altarpiece for the church of the Misericordia in Sansepolcro,[9] which was completed in the early 1460s. In 1449 he executed several frescoes in the Castello Estense and the church of Sant'Andrea of Ferrara, now also lost. His influence was particularly strong in the later Ferrarese allegorical works of Cosimo Tura.
The Baptism of Christ, now in the National Gallery in London, was completed in about 1450 for the high altar of the church of the Priory of S. Giovanni Battista at Sansepolcro. Other notable works are the frescoes of The Resurrection in Sansepolcro, and the Madonna del parto in Monterchi, near Sansepolcro.
Inspirations[edit]
Bohuslav Martinů wrote a three movement work for orchestra entitled Les Fresques de Piero della Francesca. Dedicated to Rafael Kubelik, it was premiered by Kubelik and the Vienna Philharmonic at the 1956 Salzburg Festival.
Piero's geometrical perfection and the almost magic atmosphere of the light in his painting inspired modern painters like Giorgio de Chirico, Massimo Campigli, Felice Casorati, and Balthus.
