Delphi Complete Works of Piero della Francesca (Illustrated) E-Book

Piero della Francesca

• Herausgeber: Delphi Publishing Ltd
• Serie: Delphi Masters of Art
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Seitenzahl: 97

Beschreibung

The fifteenth century artist Piero della Francesca produced works that are characterised by their serene, disciplined exploration, providing a major, though largely unrecognised contribution to the development of the Italian Renaissance. His fervent interest in the theoretical study of perspective and his contemplative approach are apparent in all of his extant paintings. Highlights of Piero’s work include his masterful depiction of light and atmospheric effects, his attention to naturalistic detail and his pioneering approach to portraiture. Delphi’s Masters of Art Series presents the world’s first digital e-Art books, allowing readers to explore the works of great artists in comprehensive detail. This volume presents Piero’s complete works in beautiful detail, with concise introductions, hundreds of high quality images and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1)

* The complete paintings of Piero della Francesca – over 200 images, fully indexed and arranged in chronological and alphabetical order
* Includes reproductions of rare and disputed paintings
* Features a special ‘Highlights’ section, with concise introductions to the masterpieces, giving valuable contextual information
* Enlarged ‘Detail’ images, allowing you to explore Piero’s works in detail, as featured in traditional art books
* Hundreds of images in colour – highly recommended for viewing on tablets and smartphones or as a valuable reference tool on more conventional eReaders
* Special chronological and alphabetical contents tables for the paintings
* Easily locate the artworks you wish to view
* Features two biographies, including Vasari’s seminal ‘Life’ – discover Piero’s world

CONTENTS:

The Highlights
Polyptych of the Misericordia (1445-62)
Baptism of Christ (c. 1448-50)
Saint Jerome in Penitence (c. 1449-51)
Portrait of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (c. 1451)
The History of the True Cross (c. 1455-64)
Flagellation of Christ (c. 1460)
Polyptych of Saint Augustine (1460-70)
Madonna of Parturition (c. 1460)
Resurrection (c. 1463)
Hercules (c. 1465)
Polyptych of Perugia (c. 1470)
Brera Madonna (1474)
The Duke and Duchess of Urbino (c. 1472)
Madonna di Senigallia (c. 1474)
Nativity (c. 1475)

The Paintings
The Complete Paintings
Alphabetical List of Paintings

The Biographies
Life of Piero della Francesca (1550) by Giorgio Vasari
Piero da San Sepolcro (1913) by George Kriehn

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Leseprobe

Piero della Francesca

(c. 1415-1492)

Contents

The Highlights

Polyptych of the Misericordia (1445-62)

Baptism of Christ (c. 1448-50)

Saint Jerome in Penitence (c. 1449-51)

Portrait of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (c. 1451)

The History of the True Cross (c. 1455-64)

Flagellation of Christ (c. 1460)

Polyptych of Saint Augustine (1460-70)

Madonna of Parturition (c. 1460)

Resurrection (c. 1463)

Hercules (c. 1465)

Polyptych of Perugia (c. 1470)

Brera Madonna (1474)

The Duke and Duchess of Urbino (c. 1472)

Madonna di Senigallia (c. 1474)

Nativity (c. 1475)

The Paintings

The Complete Paintings

Alphabetical List of Paintings

The Biographies

Life of Piero Della Francesca (1550) by Giorgio Vasari

Piero da San Sepolcro (1913) by George Kriehn

The Delphi Classics Catalogue

© Delphi Classics 2021

Version 1

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Masters of Art Series

Piero della Francesca

By Delphi Classics, 2021

COPYRIGHT

Masters of Art - Piero della Francesca

First published in the United Kingdom in 2021 by Delphi Classics.

© Delphi Classics, 2021.

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

ISBN: 978 1 80170 007 8

Delphi Classics

is an imprint of

Delphi Publishing Ltd

Hastings, East Sussex

United Kingdom

Contact: [email protected]

www.delphiclassics.com

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The Highlights

Sansepolcro, a town 70 miles east of Florence, Tuscany — Piero’s birthplace

Central Sansepolcro

A seventeenth century engraving of Piero

The Highlights

In this section, a sample of Piero della Francesca’s most celebrated works is provided, with concise introductions, special ‘detail’ reproductions and additional biographical images.

Polyptych of the Misericordia (1445-62)

The early Renaissance master Piero della Francesca was born in the town of Borgo Santo Sepolcro, modern-day Sansepolcro, Tuscany, to Benedetto de’ Franceschi, a tanner and shoemaker, and Romana di Perino da Monterchi, who were members of the Florentine Franceschi noble family. He was a posthumous child and was called Piero della Francesca after his mother, who was referred to as “la Francesca” due to her marriage into the Franceschi family. The surviving documented facts regarding his life are few, providing only a broad outline of his career and interests. We are not even certain of the chronology of his extant paintings. He was well educated and literate in Latin, though we know nothing of his early training as a painter. It is assumed that he was instructed by local masters influenced by the Sienese school of art.

We do know that in 1439 Piero was employed as an associate of Domenico Veneziano, who was working on a series of frescoes for the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence, as the early Renaissance style was beginning to take hold. In Florence Piero was likely to have studied the pioneering statuary of Donatello and Luca della Robbia, the buildings of Filippo Brunelleschi and the paintings of Masaccio and Fra Angelico. It is also believed that he read a theoretical treatise on painting by the humanist and architect Leon Battista Alberti. His associate Domenico Veneziano, whose own works reveal an emphasis on colour and light as elements of pictorial construction, would have encouraged the young Piero to assimilate these new ideas. It was the influence of the early Renaissance art of Florence that would provide the foundation of Piero’s own style.

One document reveals that in Sansepolcro in 1442 Piero was elected to the town council. Three years later the Confraternita della Misericordia commissioned him to produce a large polyptych, now known as the Misericordia Altarpiece, his first surviving major work. It reveals his indebtedness to the Florentine masters Donatello and Masaccio, a fondness for geometric form and a calm deliberation with which he habitually worked throughout his career. The commission would not be completed until 1462, seventeen years later, in spite of the three-year time limit given in the contract. Today, the polyptych is conserved in the Museo Civico di Sansepolcro.

In keeping with the taste of the time, the polyptych was painted with precious colours and supplied with a gilded background. The oldest two panels, to the left of the central panel, depict Saint Sebastian and Saint John the Baptist. They show a close connection with Masaccio’s nudes, which Piero would have seen in a visit to Florence. Piero painted the outlying panels of the tympanum (the semi-circular decorative panels above the main sections) later, including the Crucifixion at the upper centre, Saint Benedict, the Angel, the Madonna of the Annunciation, and Saint Francis to the sides. In c. 1450 Piero finished the figures of Saint Andrew and Saint Bernardino. The predellas (the narrow painting scenes along the frame at the bottom of a polyptych) represent five scenes of Christ’s life, now believed to have been mostly executed by assistants.

The final section to be painted was the central panel, illustrating the Madonna della Misericordia — a traditional subject of Christian art, showing a group of figures sheltering for protection under the outspread cloak of the Virgin Mary. This subject was especially popular in Italy from the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries, often used as a specialised form of votive portrait. The Virgin stands with her arms dramatically stretched out — hinting at the Crucifixion — her mantle spreading wide, protecting a cluster of worshippers. The hierarchal scale of Mary dominates the panel and her facial features are surprisingly cold and disgruntled, in spite of her act of charity. The blue mantel — a common symbol of the Virgin, representing the colour of the heavens — covers eight crowded figures kneeling in reverence. Each face is depicted with the precision of a portrait, manifesting the artist’s interest in fine detail and individual representation. Among the figures, there kneels a member of the Misericordia, whose identity is concealed by the black-hooded uniform of the confraternity, adding an element of mystery.

Although the commission is a traditional choice, with limited options for Piero to showcase his skills, he still produces impressive effects. He resolves the difficulty of dealing with a flat solid gilded background, as requested in the commission, by placing the kneeling members of the confraternity in a realistic three-dimensional space, conveyed by the mushrooming mantle, resembling an apse in a church. The modelling of the Virgin’s figure, inspired by Masaccio, and the attention to perspective elements, derived by Brunelleschi, indicate how receptive Piero was to the innovative changes taking place at that most pivotal time of art history.

Detail: central panel

Detail

Detail

Detail: left panel — Saint Sebastian and John the Baptist

Detail: right panel — Saints Andrew and Bernardino

Detail: top section — Crucifixion

Detail: Saint Benedict

Detail: Archangel Gabriel

Detail: Virgin

Detail: Saint Francis

Detail: lower section — Deposition scene

Assumed self portrait of Masaccio; detail of ‘Saint Peter Raising the Son of Theophilus and Saint Peter Enthroned as First Bishop of Antioch, Brancacci Chapel, S. Maria del Carmine’ — Masaccio (1401-1428) was a Florentine artist, often  regarded as the first great painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance. According to Vasari, Masaccio was the best painter of his generation because of his skill at imitating nature, recreating lifelike figures and movements, as well as a convincing sense of three-dimensionality.

‘Virgin and Child with Saint Anne’ by Masolino and Masaccio, Uffizi Gallery, c. 1424

Baptism of Christ (c. 1448-50)

The Baptism of Christ, now held in the National Gallery in London, was completed in c. 1450 for the high altar of the church of the Priory of S. Giovanni Battista at Sansepolcro. It was executed in egg tempera on two panels of poplar wood. The commission, from the Camaldolese Monastery of Sansepolcro, was received as early as 1440. Piero includes a portrait of his home town in the painting, depicted in the middle distance. Its attribution to the artist’s early career is evidenced by the strong relationship with the ‘light painting’ technique of his master, Domenico Veneziano. Baptism of Christ was initially part of a triptych, with side panels depicting Saint Peter and Saint Paul and a predella, provided by Matteo di Giovanni, dated to the early 1460’s, now held in the civic art gallery in Sansepolcro.

The figure of Christ occupies the centre of the composition, as he is being baptised in the River Jordan by John the Baptist. Behind John, a man in white briefs, his feet already wet in the water, struggles to remove his undershirt. Above Christ there is a foreshortened dove, representing the Holy Spirit, its wings resembling the clouds. The original triptych frame may have included a roundel above the dove, depicting God the Father, thus completing the Holy Trinity of the God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. The painting is noted for its strict geometric structure, with the figure of Christ, John’s hand, the bowl and the dove forming an axis, dividing it into two symmetrical parts. Another division is created by the walnut tree to the left, with the white bark echoing the tones of Christ’s skin, dividing the painting according to the concept of the golden ratio. Also known as the Golden Section or the Divine Proportion, this mathematical principle is an expression of the ratio of two sums, whereby their ratio is equal to the larger of the two quantities. Visually, it is a rectangle, which when cut into a square, results in the remaining rectangle being the same proportion as the original rectangle.

Piero was renowned in his own time as an authority on perspective and geometry — his attention to the theme is indicted by the depiction of John’s arm and leg, forming two angles of the same size. Piero was in fact the first artist to write a treatise on perspective, exploring the subject of illusion of three-dimensional space on a flat surface. In Baptism of Christ he represents objects in proportion, ensuring that they appear as we see them in the real world. This technique stresses the depth of the landscape, as well as also the harmony of the figures and the numerous natural features depicted in the scene.

The figure of John on the right is balanced by the straight tree on the other side of Christ, while John’s left leg, extending backwards, is counterbalanced by the bending spine of the bather behind, altogether conveying a graceful impression to an otherwise chaotic scene. Separated from Christ by the tree’s trunk, three angels appear to the left, dressed in colourful robes. Contrary to traditional iconography, the angels do not support Christ’s garments, but are holding each other’s hands in peaceful union — placed in a separate sphere to the main focus of the composition. This might be an allusion to the contemporary Council of Florence (1431-45), whose goal was the unification of the Western and Eastern Churches. The Camaldolese monk and theologian Saint Ambrose Traversari, who had been Prior General of the Camaladolese congregation, had been a strong supporter of the union. Some of the figures in the background to the right are dressed in Oriental garments, perhaps to be interpreted as Byzantine dignitaries, hinting at union between the East and West.