Piero Della Francesca
(1415 - 1492) |
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frescoes, religious scenes Art Work
| Name: |
Piero Della Francesca |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
Sansepolcro, Italy |
| Nationality: |
Italian |
| Birth: |
1415 |
| Death: |
1492 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
frescoes, religious scenes |
| Medium: |
fresco |
| Method: |
fresco, chiaroscure |
| Style: |
Italian Renaissance |
| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painter
Mathematician
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Biography
Piero della Francesca was apprenticed as a painter at the age of fifteen but was also a gifted mathematician. He studied art in Florence, and he was there in 1439 working with Domenico Veneziano. The influences of Florentine painters Masaccio and Paolo Uccello are evident in his works.
Piero led a peripatetic life, working in Rome, Ferrara, Rimini, and Arezzo. Much of his work has been lost, but fortunately some of his mature work survives. His portrait of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malotesta in 1451, echoes the Netherlandish style with its fine, naturalistic detail. The artist did not follow any particular school or influence. The large frescoes depicting the Legend of the True Cross 1452-1465 that adorn the walls of the Church of San Francesco in Arezzo demonstrate his originality. Large pale spaces, accurate use of perspective, and a subtle color palette are typical of his work. One of the frescoes, The Dream of Constantine, uses chiaroscuro to create one of the first night scenes in western art.
Piero was a Renaissance humanist who painted religious scenes for a living. His work is infused with the rediscovery of classical antiquity that revolutionized the thinking of the intelligentsia of the day. Whether these ideas changed his religious beliefs cannot be determined, but they certainly influenced his painting. In his mysterious work The Flagellation of Christ, the prominent figures are three men who seem to be unaware of Christ's flagellation taking place in a classical setting behind them. Academics continue to speculate about their connection to the subject of the painting. Piero often returned to his hometown, and painted The Resurrection of Christ, his most celebrated work, for the Palazzo Communale. He died in Sansepolcro, and his reputation faded and languished in obscurity until the nineteenth century.
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Samples of Work
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