This book features the stunning fresques of Piero Della Francesca and is a rare variant cover art edition with 14 planches. It is a must-have for any collector of antiquarian and collectible books. The artwork within the book is truly remarkable and will make a beautiful addition to any collection. Don't miss out on the chance to own this piece of art history.

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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.

Early years

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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

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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.

Two years later he was in Rimini, working for the condottiero Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta. In 1451, during that sojourn, he executed the famous fresco of St. Sigismund and Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta[9] in the Tempio Malatestiano, as well as a portrait of Sigismondo. In Rimini, Piero may have met the famous Renaissance mathematician and architect Leon Battista Alberti, who had redesigned the Tempio Malatestiano, although it is known that Alberti directed the execution of his designs for the church by correspondence with his building supervisor. Thereafter Piero was active in Ancona, Pesaro and Bologna.

In 1454, he signed a contract for the Polyptych of Saint Augustine in the church of Sant'Agostino in Sansepolcro. The central panel of this polyptych is lost, and the four panels of the wings, with representations of saints, are now scattered around the world.[10] A few years later, summoned by Pope Nicholas V, he moved to Rome, where 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, painting frescoes in the Vatican Palace, which have since been destroyed.

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.

Works;

Polyptych of the Misericordia (1445–62) – Tempera and oil on panel, 273 x 330 cm, Museo Civico Sansepolcro

The Baptism of Christ (c. 1448–50) – Tempera on panel, 168 × 116 cm, National Gallery, London

St. Jerome in Penitence (c. 1449–51) – Tempera on panel, 51 × 38 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin

St. Jerome and a Donor (Girolamo Amadi) (1451) – Tempera and oil on panel, 49 × 42 cm, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice

Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta Praying in Front of St. Sigismund (1451) – Fresco (transferred to canvas), 257 x 345 cm, Tempio Malatestiano, Rimini

Portrait of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (c. 1451) – Tempera and oil on panel, 44.5 × 34.5 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris

The History of the True Cross (c. 1455–66) – Fresco cycle, Basilica of San Francesco, Arezzo

The Flagellation of Christ (c. 1460) – Tempera on panel, 58.4 x 81.5 cm, Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino

Polyptych of Saint Augustine (1460–70) – Tempera and oil on panels, dispersed in several museums

Resurrection (c. 1463) –Fresco, 225 × 200 cm, Museo Civico Sansepolcro

Hercules (c. 1465) –Fresco (detached), 151 × 126 cm, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

St. Mary Magdalene (c. 1466, 1458–70s) – Fresco, 190 × 180 cm, Cathedral, Arezzo

Madonna del Parto (1459–67) – Detached fresco, 260 × 203 cm, Chapel of the cemetery, Monterchi

The Nativity (c. 1470) – Oil on panel, 124.5 × 123 cm, National Gallery, London

Polyptych of Saint Anthony (c. 1470) – Oil on panel, 338 × 230 cm, Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia

Brera Madonna, i.e. Montefeltro Altarpiece, (1472–74) – Oil on panel, 248 × 170 cm, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Diptych of the Count and Countess of Urbino, Federico da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza – Oil on panel, each 47,4 × 33,6 cm, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

Madonna di Senigallia (c. 1474) – Oil on panel, 67 × 53.5 cm, Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino