Della Francesca, P

Name: Piero Della Francesca

Achievements: A painter whose application of perspective had a formative effect on the Italian Renaissance.

Born: c. 1420; Sansepolcro, Tuscany, Italy

Died: October 12, 1492; Sansepolcro,  Tuscany, Italy (Aged around 72)

Field & Discipline: Art; Science; Technology; Mathematics; Painter; Mathematician

Language: Italian and Latin.

Father: Benedetto dei Franceschi (apothecary)

Mother: Romana di Perino (from Monterchi)

Siblings: Unknown

Spouse: None

Children: None

Education: Humanist

Major Work:

“The Legend of the True Cross” (1452-66)

“Federigo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, with his consort” (1465).

The Baptism of Christ (c. 1440-45; National Gallery, London)

Polyptych of the Misericordia (Madonna della Misericordia; 1445-62

Palazzo Comunale, Sansepolcro, Italy)

St. Jerome Penitent (1450

Staatliche Museen Preussischer  Kulturbesitz, Berlin)

Sigismondo Malatesta Before St. Sigismund (fresco, 1451; Tempio Malatestiano, Rimini, Italy)

S. Francesco,  Arezzo, Italy)

Panels from the altarpiece of S. Agostino in Sansepolcro (commissioned 1454, finished 1469)

St. Augustine (Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon)

St. Michael (National Gallery, London)

St. Simon (Frick Collection, New York City)

St. Nicholas of Tolentino (Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan)

Flagellation of Christ (late 1450s; Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino, Italy)

Hercules (c. 1460-66; Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston)

Resurrection (fresco, c. 1463; Palazzo Comunale, Sansepolcro)

Portraits of Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino and of his wife, Battista Sforza (1465; Uffizi, Florence)

The Madonna with Child, Angels, Saints and Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino (1470s; Brera, Milan)

Senigallia Madonna (1470s; Galleria Nazionale delle Marche)

Madonna with Child and Saints (c. 1472-74; Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia, Italy)

The Nativity (c. 1480; National Gallery, London).

Life & Times:

Born in Sansepolcro, Republic of Florence in 1420, it is believed that Piero della Francesca was well educated in his youth with the help of his prosperous father, Bendetto dei Franceschi, who is known to have been a tanner and shoemaker. 

His training in art is assumed to have originated with local, little-known masters until at least until 1436, when at the age of 16, Piero was studying painting with Antonio d’Anghiari, a provincial master, and learning from the artistic influences in Assisi, Sienna and Florence.

Three years later, in 1439, the early Renaissance style was beginning to flourish, and at this time Piero was working as an associate of Domenico Veneziano who was painting frescoes for the hospital of Santa. Maria Nuovo in Florence.  It was this,  and the study of work such as the statuary of [influenced by]  Donatello* and Luca della Robbia, the paintings of [influenced by]  Masaccio* and Fra Angelico, and the buildings of  [influenced by] Brunelleschi* that influenced Della Francesca’s earlier works.  During this time, he might also have studied a theoretical treatise on painting by the architect [maybe studied] Alberti*.

Turning his back on many of his contemporaries, who stayed in Florence, Piero went back to the provinces and the familiarity of Sansepolcro.  Between 1440-1445 he completed “The Baptism of Christ.”  During this period, in 1442, he was elected to the Sansepolcro Town Council.  In 1445, he was commissioned by the Confraternita della Misericordia and began working on an altarpiece, the “Madonna della Misericordia.” 

Piero also displayed literacy in Latin and a full understanding of the classics and the work of Euclid,  which he understood well enough to rewrite two Euclidean theorems

During this period of his life, it is believed that he worked for the [worked for] Marquis Leonello d’Este* in Ferrara and became influenced by northern Italian art.  He completed additional work during this period, including the heraldic fresco of  “Sigismondo Malatesta appearing before St. Sigismund,” in the Tempio Malatestiano, Rimini,  and dated 1451.

In 1452, following the death of Bicci di Lorenzo, Piero continued his mater’s work on a  cycle of frescoes: “The Legend of the True Cross,” in the church of S. Francesco at Arezzo, said to be completed around 1466.  Of all of his works, these frescoes show  Piero at his best, with their simplicity,  and using the perspective typical of his unique style. 

During the late 1450’s he painted the “Flagellation of Christ” for the sacristy of the cathedral of Urbino.  This work controversially depicted three strangers in the foreground, with Christ relegated to the background.

Throughout the 1470’s Piero enjoyed a long and prosperous relationship with the court of Urbino and he completed a diptych portrait of [painted] Federigo da Montefeltro*, Duke of Urbino and his wife Battista Sforza.   The painting depicts them with the Madonna and child among a procession of angels and saints,  and is considered to be a prime example of monumental devotional art of the Renaissance.

During the late 1470’s Piero began writing, producing his first treatise on painting titled “De Prospectiva Pingendi” (On Perspective in Painting) highlighting his link with [inspired by] Euclid* and Alberti.  Now housed in the Biblioteca Palatina in Parma, the manuscript was handwritten by Piero ,  illustrated by him with many geometric and perspectival diagrams,  and dedicated to Federigo.  This work influenced his colleague, [influenced] Pacioli* and later [influenced] Da Vinci* and [influenced] Durer*.

He went on to write a second treatise, now kept in the Vatican library, on solid geometry, dedicated to Federigo’s son and titled “Libellus de Quinque Corporibus Regularibus” (On the Five Regular Bodies), arguing the idea of Platonic perfection in proportions.

It appears that throughout the 1480’s, now in his old age, he produced little in the way of paintings, concentrating more on his writing.  He wrote a third treatise, now in the Laurentian library in Florence,  titled “Trattato del Abaco” (On The Abacus).  It is for this work that Piero is remembered, rather than for his artistic talent.

Extra Connections: Signorelli*?

[his apprentice was] Bramante* was his apprentice.

[a fan was] Isabella d’Este* was a fan

He influenced the work of [influenced] Giovanni Bellini* and [influenced] Perugio*

He knew the work of [knew work of] Raphael*

Assessment: Although a great artist, Piero had little influence on his contemporaries, enjoying greater fame for his mathematical science rather than his art.

Oneliner: Piero della Francesca, pioneer in perspective painting

Bibliography:

• Lavin, Marilyn Aronberg,  Piero della Francesca, Thames and Hudson: London, 1992.