piero della francesca, featured paintings in detail (2)

PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA

Featured Paintings in Detail

(2)

(Featured religious paintings)

PIERO DELLA FRANCESCAMadonna and Child with Saints (Montefeltro Altarpiece)1472-74Oil and tempera on panel, 248 x 170 cmPinacoteca di Brera, Milan

PIERO DELLA FRANCESCAMontefeltro Altarpiece (detail)1472-74Oil on panelPinacoteca di Brera, Milan

The blue mantle of the Virgin is decorated with pearls that are painted with almost Flemish detail.


The Child wears a necklace of deep red coral beads, a color which alludes to blood, a symbol of life and death, but also to the redemption brought by Christ. Coral was also used for teething, and often worn by babies. The saints at the left of the Madonna are generally identified as John the Baptist, Bernardino of Siena and Jerome; on the right would be Francis, Peter Martyr and Andrew.


In the mid 15th century, Piero della Francesca was one of the most innovative painters, and he even wrote a treatise on perspective. His influence extended mainly to Umbria, the Marche and Tuscany. Based in Borgo San Sepolcro, where he also held public office, he executed numerous commissions in the service of princes and monasteries. One of these clients was Federico da Montefeltro, who was one of those successful upstarts, as unscrupulous as they were cunning, who as mercenary leaders exploited every opportunity to obtain power and ruthlessly hold on to it.Piero excelled in terms of the traditional altarpiece. Originally made for a church in Urbino, this picture was commissioned by Duke Federico, who appears as a donor kneeling in the lower right. He wears military garb and holds his helmet, properly removed as a sign of respect.


The apse ends with a shell semi-dome from which an ostrich egg is hanging. The shell was a symbol of the new Venus, Mary (in fact it is perpendicular to her head) and of eternal beauty. According to another hypothesis[who?], the egg would be a pearl, and the shell would refer to the miracle of the virginal conception (the shell generates the pearl without any male intervention). The egg is generally considered a symbol of the Creation and, in particular, to Guidobaldo's birth; the ostrich was also one of the heraldic symbols of the Montefeltro family.

PIERO DELLA FRANCESCANativity1470-75Oil on poplar panel, 124 x 123 cmNational Gallery, London

PIERO DELLA FRANCESCANativity (detail)1470-75Oil on poplar panelNational Gallery, London


The five wingless angels in Renaissance imitations of ancient dress, playing stringed instruments and singing in harmony, are reminiscent of the marble musicians carved by Luca della Robbia for a famous singing gallery (cantoria) in Florence Cathedral and installed in 1438, a year before Piero is known to have been working in the city.


The Child lies on the ground, on a corner of Mary's cloak, following traditional Northern iconography which is reflected also in the features of the Child.


Other elements of Northern culture can be found in a few naturalistic details, interpreted in a highly original fashion by Piero, such as the strange figure of St Joseph, nonchalantly sitting on a saddle, or the two animals in the background, depicted with great realism.


No landscape view of Piero's is as miniaturistic as the city depicted in the background at the right: even the streets and the windows of the buildings are visible, just like in a landscape by Petrus Christus.

PIERO DELLA FRANCESCABaptism of Christ1448-50Egg tempera on poplar panel, 167 x 116 cmNational Gallery, London

PIERO DELLA FRANCESCABaptism of Christ (detail)1448-50Egg tempera on poplar panelNational Gallery, London


The three angels on the left, with their pale but round faces, are reminiscent of the groups of children sculpted by Luca della Robbia for the Cantoria in Florence Cathedral: and even their blonde hair, decorated with garlands, is clearly inspired by Luca's models. The face of the angel in the centre, with his fixed gaze, brings to mind Domenico Veneziano paintings in the mid-1430s.


At the centre, the figure of Christ is portrayed as a simple man, but his stance is so solemn as to make him look as majestic as a Greek god. His torso and his legs are circular and solid, like the tree on the left; the holy dove, like a little cloud, fits into a patch of sky amidst the foliage of the tree, rendered with almost Impressionistic strokes.

PIERO DELLA FRANCESCAThe Flagellationc. 1455Oil and tempera on panel, 59 x 82 cmGalleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino

PIERO DELLA FRANCESCAThe Flagellation (detail)c. 1455Oil and tempera on panelGalleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino


The setting is the portico of Pontius Pilate's palace in Jerusalem, and scholarship suggests that Piero based details of the setting on descriptions of the palace and surrounding structures in Jerusalem. What has perplexed many observers is the placing of small figures of Christ and his tormentors at a distance at the left of the picture, while in the right foreground stand three large figures who seem to have no involvement with what is going on in the other half of the picture. Pilate, who observes the torture from a throne, is thought to be a portrait of Mahomet II, who conquered Constantinople.The painting is signed on the lowest step of Pilate's throne.


The figures at the right are probably portraits and there are many attempts by scholars to identify them. The youthful, barefoot figure in the group, clothed only in a plain red garment is traditionally identified as Duke Oddantonio, Federico de Montefeltro's half-brother who was murdered in his nightshirt. More recently, the figure has been identified as a wingless angel, like those in Piero's later Nativity.


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. The magnificent damask garment worn by the character on the far right, with its contrast between blue and gold, reveals Piero's love for luxurious clothing and for the most fashionable styles, which many Florentine painters had eliminated entirely from their work.


This figure in the foreground is probably a portrait. Bearded in the Byzantine fashion, he also wears a Byzantine hat. He gazes earnestly outward, and his mouth is open in speech as he gestures to his two companions.

PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA, Featured Paintings in Detail (2)

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PIERO DELLA FRANCESCAThe Flagellation

This panel painting - one of his most famous - was executed by Piero during his first visit to Urbino. It contains subtle references to the situation of the time, which are very difficult to understand today. The theory that seems to be proposed most frequently is that the painting was commissioned as an attempt to favour the reconciliation between the two Christian churches, of the East and of the West, in view of the imminent Turkish attack on Constantinople. Both the presence of the character in the centre, dressed after Greek fashion, and an

inscription on the frame ("convenerunt in unum") would seem to support this interpretation.

From 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. On the right are three figures, arranged in a semi-circle; their identity is not certain. They are probably well-known characters of the time and, as such, they would be portrayed with their real features. The importance of the architecture in this painting, with the elegant classical temple, would suggest

that Piero was in touch with contemporary theoretical writings. The onlooker must stand directly in the centre of the painting, for the composition is strictly unitarian, and this unity is achieved by the rigorous use of a single vanishing point. The painting is an ultimate example of Quattrocento linear perspective.

PIERO DELLA FRANCESCAMadonna and Child Attended by Angels

Piero executed this painting for the Gherardi family. Members of this family were rich merchants in Sansepolcro in the fifteenth century.The Virgin's throne is placed under the open sky in a courtyard. This spatial arrangement was also used by Fra Angelico and his followers. The represented building with its

decorative ornament has unusual iconographical and formal aspects if we compare it with buildings existing in the period.

PIERO DELLA FRANCESCAMadonna and Child with Saints (Montefeltro Altarpiece)

The Brera Madonna (also known as the Pala di Brera, the Montefeltro Altarpiece or Brera Altarpiece) is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Piero della Francesca, executed in 1472-1474. It is housed in the Pinacoteca di Brera of Milan, where it was deposited by Napoleon.

The work, of a type known as a sacra conversazione, was commissioned by Federico III da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, to celebrate the birth of Federico's son, Guidobaldo.

The work represents a sacred conversation, with the Virgin enthroned and the sleeping Child in the middle, surrounded by a host of angels and saints. On the right low corner, kneeling and wearing his armor, the patron of arts, duke and condottiero Federico da Montefeltro. The background consists of the apse of a church in Renaissance classical style, which is

rendered in such meticulous perspective that the feigned depth of the coffer-vaulted apse at the rear can be calculated. At the center, hanging by a thread from the apse shell is an egg, emblem alike of Mary's fecundity and the promise of regeneration and immortality.

PIERO DELLA FRANCESCANativity

Among Piero's surviving paintings, the last one in chronological order is the Nativity in the National Gallery in London. The missing patches of colour, which might almost indicate that the painting is unfinished, are in fact probably the result of overcleaning.

The composition of the painting is quite innovative compared to Piero's previous production. The wide expanse of ground, dotted with patches of grass, and the roofing of the hut, with its shadow projecting onto the ruined brick wall, seem to indicate an attempt by the artist to fragment the space of the picture, breaking the rule that he had always rigorously abided by.

PIERO DELLA FRANCESCABaptism of Christ

In 1442 Piero was recorded as town councillor in Borgo San Sepolcro. This painting is his first important commission in this period, originally it was painted for the Chapel of San Giovanni in the Pieve.

The most striking feature of this painting is the extraordinary lighting from above, creating delicate pastel colours, with pale shadows that surround the figures and enhance their three dimensionality.

PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA

Piero della Francesca, an Italian artist, one of the greatest artists of the Early Renaissance. His painting art is characterized by its serene humanism and its use of

geometric forms, particularly in relation to perspective. He wrote books on solid geometry and on perspective, and his works reflect these interests. Francesca's solid,

rounded figures are derived from Masaccio, while from Domenico he absorbed a predilection for delicate colors and scenes bathed in cool, clear daylight. To these

influences he added an innate sense of order and clarity. He conceived of the human figure as a volume in space, and the outlines of his subjects have the grace,

abstraction, and precision of geometric drawings.

Almost all of Piero's works are religious in nature - primarily altarpieces and church frescoes in which he presents scenes of astonishing beauty, with silent, stately

figures fixed in clear, crystalline space. There are always large areas of white or near-white in his works, the skies are big, light and sunny.

The monumental quality of his figures, the perspectival construction of the pictorial space and the spiritual calm of his compositions led, throughout Italy, to the final

surmounting of the Gothic style and prepared the way for the artistic achievements of High Renaissance in Italy.

piero della francesca, featured paintings in detail (2)

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