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Piero della Francesca Biography

(1420 - 1492)

Related Works

1440–5 Baptism of Christ (National Gallery, London)
1445–62 Madonna della Misericordia (Palazza Comunale, Sansepolcro, Italy)
1450 St Jerome (Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin)

1452–66 The Legend of the True Cross (S Francesco, Arezzo)
1454–69 St Simon the Apostle (?) (Frick Collection, New York City)
1460–6 Hercules (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston)
c.1465 The Duke and Duchess of Urbino (Uffizi, Florence)
Flagellation of Christ (Ducal Palace, Urbino)
c.1475 The Madonna and Child with Frederico da Montefeltro (Brera, Milan)
c.1480 Nativity (National Gallery, London)

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(born 1420, Sansepolcro?, Republic of Florence—died Oct. 12, 1492, Sansepolcro) Italian painter. Son of a prosperous tanner and wool merchant, he became known for his serene, disciplined exploration of perspective. His fresco cycle for San Francesco at Arezzo, The Legend of the True Cross (1450s), exemplifies his simplicity and clarity of structure, controlled use of perspective, and aura of serenity. His famous diptych portrait of his patrons, Count Federico da Montefeltro and his wife ( 1470), is known for its unidealized depiction of their features and the use of landscape in the background. Though he had little influence on his contemporaries, Piero's important scientific and poetic contributions to Renaissance painting are now well recognized. Also a writer, he produced theoretical treatises on geometry and perspective.