Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574)
"Biographies are the most famous painters, sculptors and architects" (translation by A.I. Venediktov)
"Biography of Piero della Francesca, painter from Borgo a San Sepolcro"
“Truly unhappy are those who, having worked on science for the benefit of others, and for their own glory, sometimes, due to illness or death, cannot bring to perfection the work they began. And it happens very often that the work they leave unfinished or almost that which are complete are appropriated by those who, having thought of themselves, try to cover their donkey skin with the noble skin of a lion. And although time, which is called the father of truth, sooner or later reveals the truth, it still happens that for some time the one who is deprived of honors. earned them with his labors, as happened to Piero della Francesca from Borgo San Sepolcro. Considered a rare master in overcoming the difficulties of regular bodies, as well as arithmetic and geometry, he, struck in old age by bodily blindness, and then death, did not have time to graduate. the light of your valiant labors and numerous books, written by him, which are still kept in Borgo, in his homeland. And although the one who should have tried with all his might to increase his glory and fame, for he had learned everything that he knew, tried, like a villain and a wicked man, to destroy the name of Pierrot, his mentor, and to seize for himself the honors that should have belonged to Pierrot alone , releasing under his own name, namely Brother Luca of Borgo, all the works of this venerable old man, who, in addition to the above-mentioned sciences, was an excellent painter (1).
He was born in Borgo San Sepolcro (which has now become a city, but was not yet one then) and was named after his mother Della Francesca (2), for she remained pregnant with him when his father and her husband died, and he was raised by her and with her help he reached the level bestowed upon him by his happy fate. In his youth, Piero studied mathematical sciences and, although from the age of 15 he followed the path of a painter, he never abandoned them, but, having reaped amazing fruits both in them and in painting, he was called upon by Guidobaldo Feltro, the old Duke of Urbino (3), for of which he completed many paintings with the most beautiful small figures, most of which perished, for this state was subjected to repeated shocks of war. Nevertheless, some of his works on questions of geometry and perspective were preserved there, in which he was not inferior to any of his contemporaries, and perhaps to anyone who had ever lived in other times, as evidenced by all his works, replete with perspectives, and in particular a vessel built from square edges so that its bottom and neck are visible from the front, back, and sides, and this is undoubtedly an amazing thing, for every little thing is built there in the most subtle way and the roundings of all these circles are reduced with great grace(4).
And so, after he had gained respect and fame at this court, he wanted to show himself in other parts, and therefore he went to Pesaro and Ancona, but in the midst of his work he was summoned by Duke Borso to Ferrara, where he painted many rooms in the palace, which were later destroyed by the old Duke Ercole when he rebuilt the palace in a new way. Thus, in this city, of the works of Piero, only the chapel of Sant'Agostino, painted in fresco, remained, and even that was spoiled by dampness (5).
After this, being invited to Rome by Pope Nicholas V, he wrote 2 stories in the upper rooms of the palace, competing with Bramante from Milan, which, like the others, were destroyed by Pope Julius III, so that Raphael of Urbino could paint St. Peter in prison there and the miracle of the sacrament at Bolsena, just as a number of other works written by Bramantino, an excellent painter of his time, were destroyed (6). Since I cannot describe either the life of Bramantino or his individual works, since they were lost, it does not seem difficult for me to recall him, who, in the said destroyed works, by the way, wrote, as I heard, several heads from life so beautiful and perfect that they All that was missing was the gift of speech to become completely alive. Many of these heads have survived, for Raphael of Urbino ordered copies of them to be made in order to have images of all those who were great men, and among them were Nicolo Fortebraccio, Charles VII, King of France, Antonio Colonna - Prince of Salerno, Francesco Carmagnoola, Giovanni Vitellesco , Cardinal Visarion, Francesco Spinola, Battista da Canneto; Giulio Romano, the student and heir of Raphael of Urbino, gave all these portraits to Giovio, and Giovio placed them in his museum in Como. In Milan, above the doors of San Sepolcro, I saw the deceased Christ by his own work, painted in foreshortening, and, although the entire painting did not exceed the height of one cubit, it reveals all the immensity of the impossible, carried out with ease and understanding. There are also in the said city, in the house of the young Marquis Ostanesia, rooms and loggias with many things he executed with confidence and the greatest power in the foreshortening of the figures, and behind Porta Vercellina, near the castle, he painted in the stables, now neglected and dilapidated, several grooms cleaning a horse-comber, among which one was depicted so vividly and so well that the other, a living horse, mistaking it for a real one, kicked it violently.
Let us return, however, to Piero della Francesca. Having finished his work in Rome, he returned to Borgo, since his mother had died, and in the parish church he painted in fresco on the inside of the middle door two saints, which were considered the most beautiful work. In the Augustinian monastery he painted on wood the image of the main altar, and this work received great approval, in fresco he painted the Madonna della Misericordia for one community, as they say, the brotherhood, and in the Palace of the Conservatives - the Resurrection of Christ, which is considered the best of the works in the named city, from all his other works.
At Santa Maria in Loreto he began, together with Domenico Veneziano, to paint the vault of the sacristy, but since they were afraid of the plague, they left the work unfinished, and it was later completed by Luca of Cortona, a pupil of Piero, as will be said in its place.
Arriving from Loreto in Arezzo, Piero painted in San Francesco for Luigi Bacci, a citizen of Arezzo, their family chapel of the high altar (8), the vault of which had previously been begun by Lorenzo di Bicci. This work depicts the stories of the Cross, starting with how the children of Adam, burying their father, put under his tongue the seed of the tree from which the subsequently named Cross was made, right up to the erection of this Cross by Emperor Heraclius, who enters Jerusalem on foot and barefoot, carrying it on his shoulder. These frescoes contain many beautiful observations and movements that deserve approval; so, for example, the clothes of the maids of the Queen of Sheba, made in a gentle and new manner, many portraits, images of people of antiquity and very lively, the order of Corinthian columns, divinely proportionate, the peasant, who, leaning his hands on a spade, listens with such liveliness to the words of St. Helena, while 3 crosses are dug out of the ground, which is impossible to do better. The dead man resurrected from touching the Cross is just as well done, as is the joy of St. Helena and the admiration of those around him who fall to their knees to pray. But above all, his talent and art were manifested in the way he painted the night and the angel in the foreshortening, which descends head down, carrying the sign of victory to Constantine, sleeping in a tent under the protection of a servant and several armed warriors, hidden by the darkness of the night, and illuminates with his radiance and the tent, and the soldiers, and all the surroundings with the greatest sense of proportion. For Pierrot shows in his depiction of this darkness how important it is to imitate natural phenomena, choosing the most essential in them. And since he did this in the most excellent way, he gave the opportunity to new artists to follow him and reach that highest stage, which, as we see, has been achieved in our days. In the same story, in one battle, he expressively depicted fear, courage, dexterity, strength and all other passions that can be observed in the combatants, as well as all sorts of other accidents during the almost incredible massacre and dumping of the wounded, damaged and killed. For the depiction of the brilliance of weapons in this fresco, Piero deserves the greatest approval, no less, however, for what he did on the other wall, where, in the flight and drowning of Maxentius, he depicted foreshortened a group of horses, executed so marvelously that, taking into account those times, they can be called too beautiful and too excellent. In the same story, he painted a half-naked and dressed like a Saracen rider on a lean horse, depicted with an excellent understanding of anatomy, little known at that time. And therefore he deserved for this work a great reward from Luigi Bacci (whom he depicted together with Carlo and his other brothers, as well as numerous Aretines, who then flourished in the field of literature, in the place of the fresco where some king is beheaded); and in this city, which he so glorified with his creations, he has always been loved and respected since then.
Also in the Bishopric of the said city, near the door of the sacristy, he depicted St. Mary Magdalene, and for the community of Nunziata he made a banner for processions. In Santa Maria delle Grazie outside the city, on the end wall of the monastery door, he depicted in an armchair, written in perspective, St. Donatus in papal vestments and surrounded by several angels, and in San Bernardo, the monastery of Monte Oliveto, high on the wall in a niche - St. Vincent , which is highly valued by artists. In Sargiano, near Arezzo, in the monastery of the Zoccolante Franciscans, he painted in one of the chapels the most beautiful Christ praying at night in the garden (9).
He also executed many works in Perugia, which can be seen in this city, such as, for example, in the church of the nuns of St. Anthony of Padua on a tempera panel - the Virgin with the Child on her lap and with the presence of St. Francis, St. Elizabeth, St. John Baptist and St. Anthony of Padua, at the top is the most beautiful Annunciation with an angel who seems to actually descend from heaven, but moreover, a truly beautiful perspective with decreasing columns is also depicted. At the extreme, stories with small figures depict: St. Anthony resurrecting a boy, St. Elizabeth saving a child who fell into a well, and St. Francis receiving the stigmata (10). In the church of San Ciriaco d'Ancona, behind the altar of St. Joseph, he wrote a most beautiful story depicting the Betrothal of Our Lady (11).
Pierrot is said to have been very diligent in art, and was much concerned with perspective, and also had an excellent knowledge of Euclid, so much so that he understood better than any other geometer how best to draw circles in regular bodies, and it was he who shed light on these questions, and Master Luca of Borgo, a Franciscan monk who wrote about geometrically regular bodies, was not without reason his student; and when Piero, who had written many books, grew old and died, the said master Luca, having appropriated them, printed them as his own, since they fell into his hands after the death of the master. Pierrot used to make many models from clay and throw soft fabrics with countless folds on them in order to copy them and use these drawings.
Piero's student was Lorentino d'Angelo, an Aretine (12), who, imitating his manner, painted many paintings in Arezzo and completed those that Piero left unfinished when he died. Lorentino completed a fresco around St. Donatus, whom Piero painted in Church of the Madonna delle Grazie, several stories from the life of St. Donat, as well as many things in many other places in the same city and its surroundings, for he worked incessantly in order to help his family, who were at that time in great poverty. He also wrote in the said church delle Grazie a story where Pope Sixtus IV, between the Cardinal of Mantua and Cardinal Piccolomini, who later became Pope Pius III, grants forgiveness to this city; in this story, Lorentino depicted from life the kneeling Tommaso Marzi, Piero Traditi, Donato Rossellini and Giuliano Nardi, Aretina citizens and trustees of this church. In the hall of the palace of the priors he depicted, also from life, Galeoto, Cardinal Pietramala, Bishop Guglielmino degli Ubertini, Messer Angelo Albergotti, Doctor of Laws, and many other works of his are scattered throughout this city. They say that once when Shrovetide was approaching, Lorentino’s children asked him to slaughter a pig, as was the custom in those parts, but since he had no opportunity to buy it, they told him: “How will you buy a pig, father, since you don't have money?" To which Lorentino replied: “One of the saints will help us with this.” But since he repeated this several times, but still did not buy the pigs, and the deadlines still passed, they lost hope. In the end, a peasant from Pieve a Quarto turned up, who, in fulfillment of a vow, wished to have St. Martin painted for him, but he had nothing to pay for the work except a pig, the price of which was 5 lire. Having found Lorentino, he told him that he wanted to get St. Martin, but he could only pay for it with a pig. So they got along: Lorentino wrote him a saint, and the villager brought him a pig; So the saint got a pig for the poor children of this painter.
A student of Piero was also another Piero - from the Castel della Pieve (13), who painted the arch at the top in the church of Sant'Agostino and depicted for the nuns of the monastery of St. Catherine in Arezzo St. Urbana, now destroyed during the reconstruction of the church. Likewise, his student was Luca Signorelli of Cortona, who brought him more fame than all the others.
Piero of Borgo, whose works date back to about 1458, became blind at the age of 60 from some kind of inflammation and lived in this way until the 86th year of his life (14). In Borgo he left a considerable fortune and several houses built by himself, which were partially burned and destroyed in 1563. He was buried with honors by his fellow citizens in the main church, which formerly belonged to the Camaldulian order and which now houses the bishopric.
Most of Piero's books are in the library of Federigo II, Duke of Urbino, and they are such that they have deservedly earned him the name of the best geometer of his time."
(1) Vasari accuses the famous mathematician, inventor of triple Italian accounting, Luca Pacioli, of plagiarism. But Pacioli, in his treatise On Divine Proportion, spoke with great respect of his teacher Piero della Francesca and promised to compile a list of his works on perspective; Therefore, in the similarity of the works of both, it is natural to see, instead of malicious borrowing, a friendly collaboration between a painter and a mathematician.
(2) Benedetto, Piero's father, died in the 60s of the 15th century. Piero called himself by the name of his mother (della Francesca), by the name of his family (dei Franceschi) or by the name of his father and the city where he was from (Piero di Benedetto da Borgo San Sepolcro).
(3) Piero worked in Urbino mainly for Duke Federigo da Montefeltro (Guidobaldo was born in 1472, i.e. shortly before the artist’s death).
(4) From Pierrot’s theoretical works, manuscripts of a treatise on perspective have been preserved.
(5) The works in Pesaro, Ancona and Ferrara have not survived.
(6) Compete with Bramante, who came to Rome in recent years centuries, Pierrot could not. Bramantino (actually Bartolomeo Suardi) - Lombard painter who also worked in Rome; student of Bramante (hence the nickname).
(7) Of the works painted in Borgo San Sepolcro, the Resurrection of Christ in the Palazzo Communale (formerly the Palace of the Conservatives) has been preserved, as well as the image (Assumption of Our Lady) from the Augustinian monastery (now in the city Pinacoteca). The frescoes with two saints and the Madonna have not survived (the 2nd fresco should not be confused with the polyptych "Madonna della Misericordia").
(8) Frescoes in Arezzo - main job Piero della Francesca (before him, it was not Lorenzo di Bicci who worked there, but his son Bicci di Lorenzo). General theme The frescoes are the same as those of Agnolo Gaddi in the Church of Santa Croce - the legend of the tree for the Cross on which Christ was crucified. The following 11 frescoes have survived (in addition to the figures of the prophets): a) Adam sends his son Seth to Paradise; b) Death of Adam; c) The Queen of Sheba finds a cut down tree for the Cross; d) Burial of the tree; e) Finding the Cross; f) Night vision of Emperor Constantine; g) Victory of Constantine over Maxentius; h) Victory of Heraclius; i) Death of Khosroes; j) Finding the Cross; k) Exaltation of the Cross.
(9) The fresco "Mary Magdalene" has been preserved (in the cathedral of the city of Arezzo). The rest of the works listed by Vasari have not survived, except for Saint Donatus, which is attributed to Lorentino.
(10) Of the named works in Perugia (in the city Pinacoteca), the triptych “Annunciation” has been preserved, which is not recognized as a reliable work by Piero della Francesca.
(11) The fresco has not survived.
(12) From the works of Lorentino in Arezzo, one of the episodes from the life of St. Donatus has survived (recently discovered on the wall of the hayloft of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie), frescoes and a polyptych in San Francesco, frescoes in the Palazzo Communale and a fragment of a fresco (Madonna) in the church of San Sebastiano , discovered behind an image of Vasari's work. The Madonna in the Dublin Gallery is also attributed to him.
(13) This refers to Pietro Perugino.
(14) Dates are approximate.
Until June 26, 2016, the exhibition “Piero della Francesca. A Study of Myth”, which caused great international resonance. The curatorial team of the San Domenico Museum spins several stories around the hero of the exhibition: his dialogue with other masters of the Quattrocento, his discovery in mid-19th century and influence on Italian artists of the 1920s–1940s. An unexpected perspective brings new light to the significance of Piero della Francesca in history European painting and offers a non-political interpretation of the art of the Mussolini era.
Achille Funi. Vision ideal city. Fragment. 1935. Paper pasted onto canvas, tempera. Private collection. Courtesy Archive Achille Funi, Milan
The town of Forlì is known outside of Italy for its airport, which receives low-cost airlines from all over Europe. However, until recently, arriving passengers, without stopping, proceeded to nearby Ravenna, Ferrara, Urbino, Bologna, Florence - in a crowded artistic treasures In Italy, Forlì has little chance of attracting tourist attention. In 2005, the Blue Guide (the best existing historical and cultural guide) to Northern Italy devoted one page out of 700 to Forlì, noting that "the architecture of the city suffered greatly under the influence of Mussolini, who was born nearby," and the local art gallery- “one of the few museums in Italy that has preserved its old-fashioned structure.”
Everything has changed since then. Mussolini's development historical center made Forlì the starting point of the "European Cultural Route on the Architecture of Totalitarian Regimes", a research and tourism program supported by the Council of Europe. And the renovated city museum, which entirely occupied the former monastery and hospital of San Domenico, has become one of the most interesting in Italy. Its collection remains small (its pride is Canova’s “Hebe” and a grocery store sign by Melozzo da Forlì), but the exhibitions attract many visitors from all over the country and become an occasion for organized tours from abroad.
Based in Forlì, the Fondazione Cassa dei Risparmi, with the goal of making the city visible on the map of Italy, generously sponsors an exhibition program with a common overarching goal: to highlight names and phenomena in Italian art that have undeservedly found themselves in the shadow of the textbook list of “greats.” In 2008, the exhibition was dedicated to the 17th century painter Guido Cagnacci, obscured by the figures of Caravaggio and Reni, in 2010 - to the Renaissance portrait from Donatello to Bellini, in 2011 - to Melozzo da Forli, in 2012 - to the symbolist sculptor Adolfo Wildt, in 2014 - the liberty style, in 2015 - Giovanni Boldini. But all these names are deceptive: the main interest is the broad context through which the central theme is revealed.
The 2016 exhibition under the not very clear title “Piero della Francesca. Study of Myth" (Piero della Francesca. Indagine su un mito) in reviews like "What to see now in Italy" is presented as an exhibition of Piero della Francesca, although there are only four works by this master. Resources that still consider it necessary to warn their readers about this circumstance list the names of Fra Angelico, Paolo Uccello, Giovanni Bellini, Andrea del Castagno, as well as artists of later centuries who were influenced by Piero: Edgar Degas, Paul Cezanne, Carlo Carra, Giorgio Morandi...
Austin Henry Layard. History of the Life-Giving Cross. Battle of Heraclius and Khosrow. After frescoes by Piero della Francesca in the Church of San Francesco, Arezzo. 1855. Paper, pencil. Victoria and Albert Museum, London
And this is also wrong. They are all there, but the main interest is not in meeting the expected great, but in the discovery of the unknown. In both the two brilliantly selected Renaissance rooms and the sections dedicated to the reflections of the art of Piero della Francesca in the 19th and 20th centuries, a stream of surprises awaits the audience. Unknown or noticeable only on the outskirts of mainstream art history, artists turn out to be the authors of works that, it would seem, should have glorified them long ago. And, what is no less surprising, these works form a certain integrity, missing in the usual narrative of art history, which separately notes the fascination with Italian primitives in European painting of the second half of the 19th century century and a “return to order” as one of the trends that emerged after the First World War.
This integrity, revealed in the search for reflections of the myth of the master from Sansepolcro, is the main plot of the exhibition. The introductory section is devoted to the actual formation of this myth: Piero della Francesca was rediscovered in the middle of the 19th century and began to be considered one of the greatest artists of all times thanks to the efforts of very specific people. The leaders in the revaluation of Quattrocento art, as is known, were the British under the leadership of John Ruskin. The Arundell Society, created in 1849, set out to familiarize its compatriots with the treasures of world art, and began publishing reproductions of works by hitherto almost unknown masters. In 1855, the society sent its employee Austin Henry Layard to Arezzo with the mission of making drawings of the paintings of Piero della Francesca. The same Layard who, a few years earlier, revolutionized Europeans’ ideas about antiquity by excavating the palace of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh. This archaeological feat was inspired by the desire to prove the authenticity of the Bible using positive science, so it is easy to imagine why Layard was attracted to the frescoes in Arezzo dedicated to the discovery of the True Cross. More surprisingly, once in the Chapel of the Cross, Layard saw in the paintings covering its walls a resemblance to the decor of Assyrian palaces. Delighted by this, he not only made drawings of all the fragments (indeed, his graphics are a little reminiscent of Assyrian reliefs), but also wrote an essay in which he proclaimed Piero della Francesca the first of all fresco masters. With the publication of this essay in the London Quarterly Review in 1858, the “discovery” of Pierrot began. At the same time, Layard's patron and first director of the National Gallery, Lord Eastlake, acquired Piero della Francesca's masterpiece, “Baptism,” for its emerging collection, which became a source of inspiration for many English artists, from Edward Burne-Jones to our contemporary Rachel Whiteread.
Felice Casorati. Silvana Channey. 1922. Tempera on canvas. Private collection
Painted copies of the Arezzo frescoes, the Madonna del Parto and the Resurrection from Borgo di Sansepolcro, made in the 1870s, ended up in London's Victoria and Albert Museum and the Paris School fine arts, transformed the idea of monumental painting, previously focused on Raphael and Tiepolo. These copies can now be seen at an exhibition in Forlì, but the works they inspired by Stanley Spencer and Winfred Knight cannot, alas, although they are reproduced in a very informative catalogue. The British at the exhibition are represented only by copyists, the French - by isolated examples (“Semiramis” by Degas, the paired “Balloon” and “Dove” by Puvis de Chavannes, two nudes by Seurat, a small landscape by Cezanne). More than half of the 250 works brought to the exhibition were created in Italy in the 1920-1940s.
This preference is explained not by the capabilities of the organizers - the paintings came from everywhere, from the Washington National Gallery to the St. Petersburg Hermitage - but by a completely logical desire to focus attention on local art. With the exception of the artists closest to the international avant-garde, such as Giorgio De Chirico, Carlo Carra or Giorgio Morandi, who form the backbone of the exhibition at the Milan Novecento Museum, it is still half-forgotten. And when brought to the surface, it is examined in the aspect of the politics of the Mussolini era - in the wonderful 2014 exhibition in the Florentine Palazzo Strozzi “Italian Art of the Thirties: Beyond Fascism”, in fact, fascism was the prism under which the works were perceived. In Forlì, the “city of the Duce,” you will not find a single image of the Duce in the exhibition and no clearly fascist themes.
RAM (Ruggero Alfredo Michaelles. Mannequins 1 (Paris). 1931. Oil on canvas. Courtesy Society of Fine Arts, Viareggio
Antonio Donghi, who painted an equestrian portrait of Mussolini (he was given a prominent place in the exhibition in the Palazzo Strozzi), is represented in the museums of San Domenico lyrical paintings, depicting a family with a newly christened baby or elegant summer residents. Achille Funi, who was at the top of the artistic hierarchy during the years of fascism, chose architectural fantasies similar to the marquetry panels from the studiolo of the Duke of Urbino. Ruggiero Alfredo Michaelles, who preferred to call himself by the futuristic acronym RAM, does not have a bronze portrait of the Duce or aerograms glorifying fascist pilots, but compositions with graceful Parisian fashion models. One could see in this approach an analogue of the recoding of socialist realism currently disturbing Moscow, which has reached the point of an absurd attempt to present Alexander Gerasimov as a representative of Russian impressionism, if not for the fact that Mussolini, unlike Stalin and Hitler, adhered to quite broad views in art.
Appeal to the art of the Renaissance (and, in particular, to Piero della Francesca) was not imposed Italian artists power, and was chosen by them - very many of them - of their own free will. Mario Broglio, who played a major role in this turn as editor and publisher of the influential art magazine Valori Plastici (Plastic Values), did not accept Mussolini from the very beginning, and during the Second World War was an active anti-fascist and harbored in his country house resistance fighters. In the twenties he was not concerned about politics, but purely artistic problems. As his wife Edita wrote, Broglio “sought to revive the value of the third dimension, purity of form, color-body, from which flowed attention to lighting and the desire to see different aspects of reality with new eyes. It was necessary to restore the form in its entirety."
Edita Broglio. Tangles. 1927-1929. Oil on canvas. Private collection, Piacenza
Edita herself, nee Zür-Mühlen, a native of Latvia, educated in Königsberg and Paris, was fond of expressionism and experimented with abstraction in the 1910s, but in the early 1920s she felt drawn to the classics. She explained this by “the need to learn to distinguish between appearance and reality, to realize that temperament, ardor and skill are hostile elements alien to art, which requires discipline, moderation, obedience.” A wonderful still life with egg-like skeins of wool in delicate pink, blue, yellow, shows the result of this effort on oneself.
Achille Funi. A vision of an ideal city. 1935. Private collection. Courtesy Archive Achille Funi, Milan
Mario and Edita Broglio became the publishers of Roberto Longhi's book about Piero della Francesca. Published in 1927, it greatly influenced many artists who had until then perceived the cult of the great compatriot at second hand. The “reflections” found in the paintings selected for the exhibition are very different. In some places these are the most general qualities - “silence”, balance of composition, suspended gestures, generality of forms sculpted by diffused light, in others the characteristic harmonies of muted, cool tones are added to this. In others, the reason is the cited motif - an egg transferred from the “Madonna of the Duke of Montefeltro” to a kitchen still life, but retaining its non-domestic significance, or the perspective in which fighting horsemen are shown, who galloped straight from the “Battle of Constantine with Maxentius”, or the pose of a man pulling off his clothes, borrowed from one of the characters in the London “Epiphany”... Sometimes the connection seems too arbitrary, but the neo-Renaissance movement in 20th century painting now looks much more powerful than before.
Pino Casarini. Battle of Barletta. Circa 1939. Canvas, mixed media. Gallery contemporary art Achille Forti, Verona
The exhibition closes with two foreigners: Edward Hopper with two metaphysical landscapes of New York and Balthus with two nudes. Their presence only indicates the significance of Piero della Francesca's influence outside Italy, without revealing this topic. The lack of agreement encourages us to play the game “complete the row” - say, from the Russian one, Malevich’s self-portrait, and many works by Vasily Shukhaev and Dmitry Zhilinsky, as well as, for example, “The Execution of the Narodnaya Volya” by Talyana Nazarenko, which echoes the “Resurrection” from Sanepolcro, would fit in there. We will be satisfied to find at the exhibition paintings by the Armenian Georgy Shiltyan, who studied for three years at the Petrograd Academy of Arts, fled from the Bolsheviks, but without any problems found a place for himself in the Italian art world.
Painting “The Baptism of Christ”. Christ receives baptism from John the Baptist in the Jordan River. Three angels with wonderful multi-colored wings, in tunics and with wreaths on their heads indicate that in this atmosphere of frozen silence the descent of the Holy Spirit takes place, which is represented in the form of a dove. In the background behind this scene is a man taking off his tunic to also partake of the sacrament. The impression of calm and clarity is achieved in the composition by the system of verticals formed standing figures and tree trunks, as well as slight bends of the river. flowing smoothly into the distance. Piero della Francesca's fascination with linear perspective, a subject of passionate interest for early Renaissance artists, is manifested in his interpretation of a picture of figures and trees in the background, the size of which decreases in proportion to their distance into space.
The artist’s exceptional coloristic talent is evidenced by the cycle of frescoes “The History of the Life-Giving Cross” in the Church of San Francesco in Arezzo (1452–1466), executed in the finest range of pale pink, purple, red, blue and gray tones. Generalizing the volumes of the figures and deploying the compositions parallel to the plane of the wall, against the backdrop of calm, clear landscapes, Pietro della Francesca achieves in these paintings the impression of enlightened solemnity, the harmonious integrity of the picture of the universe. The inner nobility inherent in his works acquires a special sublimity in the fresco “The Resurrection of Christ” (circa 1463, Pinacoteca Communal, San Sepolcro).
Around 1465 Pietro della Francesca executed the forms marked by chased sharpness and depth psychological characteristics profile portraits of the Duke of Urbino Federigo da Montefeltro and his wife Battista Sforza (Uffizi), in which distant landscape backgrounds saturated with light and air play a significant compositional and emotional role. Federigo da Montefeltro and his wife Battista Sforza are depicted in profile, but the interpretation of their faces is very different from the flat portrait images of Domenico Veneziano. With rounded contours and soft chiaroscuro, the artist achieves the plastic volume of faces, as if sculpting them with light and paints. Devoid of any idealization, the imperious profile of the Duke of Urbino, depicted in red clothes and a cap of the same color, clearly stands out against the background of a pale sky and a distant bluish-gray landscape, saturated with light and air. The low horizon enhances the monumentality of his figure, dominating the surrounding nature.
The reverse of the painting depicts the triumph of the Dukes of Urbino, which, due to the greatest care of painting, approaches the Dutch painting technique. IN later works Piero della Francesca chiaroscuro becomes softer and more transparent, the transfer of light and air Effects and the development of pictorial details are even more delicate and subtle, which indicates the artist’s familiarity with the samples Dutch painting, which enjoyed great success among Italian artists (Rogier van der Weyden, Nos van Gent). Example late creativity Piero della Francesca can serve the remarkable “Adoration of the Magi” (London, National Gallery), sustained in a silvery-lunar, airy color. In the later works of Pietro della Francesca (“The Nativity”, 1475), the chiaroscuro becomes softer, great value acquires a diffused silvery light.
At the end of his life, the master abandoned painting and devoted himself entirely to writing scientific treatises on perspective and geometry. Pietro della Francesca owns two scientific treatises: “On Perspective in Painting,” in which, under the influence of Leon Battista Alberti, the artist gives a mathematical development of perspective techniques, and “The Book of the Five Regular Bodies,” devoted to the practical solution of some problems of stereometry. The work of Pietro della Francesca laid the foundations of Renaissance art in the painting of Central and Northern Italy and had a significant impact on the development of the Venetian and Florentine schools. Piero della Francesca rightfully occupies an honorable place among the most famous artists 15th century.
There are many unclear places in the biography of Piero dema Francesca. Entire decades of the artist’s life are shrouded in darkness, which modern art historians are unable to dispel.Piero della Francesca was born around 1415 in Borgo Sanse Polcro, a small town located in the picturesque valley of the Tiber River about 80 kilometers southeast of Florence.
Art historians had to establish the date of birth of Piero della Francesca indirectly, since no documents were preserved that would indicate the day of birth of this remarkable painter. The first official record associated with his name dates back to June 1431. From it we can learn that the artist was paid in full for the large wax candles he painted, intended for church needs. Apparently this order was the first independent work Piero della Francesca, and therefore it is reasonable to assume that in 1431 he was, although young, but already out of adolescence. This is where "circa 1415" emerged as a starting point life path masters
Piero della Francesca's father was engaged in a respectable and profitable business - he traded in leather and wool. In addition to the tannery, he owned several houses and farms. We have almost no information about the childhood of Piero della Francesca, but, undoubtedly, the boy received good education, because he knew Latin very well and was fairly skilled in mathematics, as evidenced by the treatises he subsequently wrote on geometry and perspective.
Presumably, the father of the future painter approved of his son’s studies in mathematics, considering this science necessary for any merchant. However, his hopes that his son would continue his business were not destined to come true. When Piero della Francesca was fifteen years old, he firmly declared his intention to become an artist. This fact was made available to us by Giorgio Vasari, and although his Lives are full of inaccuracies, this evidence still looks plausible. Until 1439, Piero della Francesca most likely did not leave his native Sansepolcro. And in 1439 he did not go to the ends of the world. A record dated September 7 of this year has been preserved, from which it follows that for the painting of the Florentine church of Sant'Egidio "money was paid to the painter Domenico Veneziano and his assistant, called Piero di Benedetto dal Borgo of San Sepolcro." This record is valuable not only because it gives us an idea of the whereabouts of Piero della Francesca in 1439. Something else is much more valuable. Thanks to this dry “financial report” we know that the mentor of the hero of our issue was Domenico Veneziano, a master of mood and color. Unfortunately, the paintings in the Church of Sant'Egidio have not survived to this day, and we have no other evidence that Veneziano and Piero della Francesca ever worked together again.
In 1442 Piero della Francesca was elected member of the city council of Sansepolcro and remained in hometown the next few years. In 1445, he received an order to create an altar image for the Brotherhood of Charity (Campagna della Misericordia), an organization involved in charity. In particular, the Brotherhood's concerns included caring for the sick and burying the poor.
The contract stated that work on the altar image must be completed “in three years.” In reality, it lasted much longer. In 1455 (that is, ten years after the signing of the treaty), the Brotherhood reminded the painter in writing that it was “still waiting for the commissioned image to be painted.” Apparently, work on it lasted until 1462, and this suggests, firstly, that Piero della Francesca wrote very slowly, and, secondly, he repeatedly left Sansepolcro, receiving orders outside his hometown.
The most significant part of the master's surviving works is located in Arezzo, a city located near Sansepolcro, as well as in Urbino, 50 kilometers from Sansepolcro. As for longer travels, we can say with confidence that Piero della Francesca repeatedly visited Rimini, where he was patronized by Sigismondo Malatesta, and Ferrara, fulfilling the orders of its ruler, Duke d'Este. The artist also had a chance to visit Rome.
It is known for certain that the master worked in Ferrara in the late 1440s. But when did he appear in Urbino? The artist's name is mentioned only once in the city archives, and this mention dates back to 1469, when Piero della Francesca visited Giovanni Santi, Raphael's father. But the number of works he wrote in Urbino suggests that his connections with this city were not limited to just one visit.
The lack of documentary evidence makes it difficult to date many of Piero della Francesca's works created in Urbino. For example, disputes have not yet subsided regarding the time of painting of the famous paired portrait of the Dukes of Urbino - Federigo da Montefeltro and his wife Battista Sforza. It is usually dated to 1465, but some researchers believe that the artist painted it in 1459, immediately after the Duke’s marriage. Others are inclined to believe that the portrait should be attributed to the mid-1470s, believing that Federigo da Montefeltro ordered it from the painter in order to perpetuate the memory of his wife, who died in 1472.
It is also not possible to accurately establish the time of creation of the most significant work of Piero della Francesca - the wall paintings in the Church of San Francesco in Arezzo. The only known year of completion of work on these frescoes is 1466. When did the master begin work? Probably no later than the mid-1450s - after all, as we remember, he wrote slowly and, moreover, had a habit of leaving the place of his “main works” to complete small orders.
Despite being busy in Arezzo and Urbino, Piero della Francesca never left his small homeland. In 1454 he was commissioned to create an altarpiece for the church of Sant'Agostino in Sansepolcro. According to the contract, the painter was given eight years to work on this image. Such an unusually long period suggests that the customers knew about main feature the artist - his slowness.
It is curious that eight years was not enough for him. The altar image was completed only in 1469. At the same time as working on this commission, Piero della Francesco was working on the fresco "Resurrection" for the town hall of Borgo Sansepolcro. Around the same time, he created the fresco “Madonna del Parto” for the church in the nearby town of Monterchi, where the artist’s mother was from. Considering such a “geographical dispersion” of the master’s activities, one should not be surprised that he was “sluggish” in working on large orders.
In 1478, the artist signed his last contract - to create a fresco for the Brotherhood of Charity in Sansepolcro (it was also the painter’s first customer, which once again confirms fate’s ability to joke on occasion). The fresco has not survived to this day, so we don’t even know whether Piero della Francesca started work, or whether the order remained on paper. The latter is supported by the fact that the master almost abandoned painting at that time and was enthusiastically working on mathematical treatises. He also began to go blind in the late 1470s.
By the end of his life, Piero della Francesca was almost completely blind. However, in 1487 he was still able, in his own words, to work and was “in a strong mind and sound body.” The famous painter died in October 1492. Being single and childless, he bequeathed all his property to his brother and other relatives. The master's ashes were buried in the abbey in Borgo Sansepolcro.
Introduction
The Renaissance, the heyday of Italian culture, the time when many of the most beautiful cultural creations were born, which to this day amaze the eye with their beauty and depth of author’s thought. The era of Ducento, i.e. The 13th century was the beginning of the Renaissance culture of Italy - Proto-Renaissance. The Proto-Renaissance is closely connected with the Middle Ages, with Romanesque, Gothic and Byzantine traditions (in medieval Italy, Byzantine influences were very strong along with Gothic). Even the greatest innovators of this time were not absolute innovators: it is not easy to trace in their work a clear boundary separating the “old” from the “new.” The “symptoms” of the Proto-Renaissance in the fine arts did not always mean a break in Gothic traditions. Sometimes these traditions are simply imbued with a more cheerful and secular beginning, while maintaining the old iconography, the old interpretation of forms. This has not yet reached the point of a genuine Renaissance “discovery of personality.”
Quantrocento stage Early Renaissance in Italy, a triumphant period in the history of art. Generosity and excess amazes artistic creativity gushing out as if from a cornucopia. You might think that so much has never been built, sculpted, or painted as in Italy of the 15th century. However, this impression is deceptive: in later eras works of art no less appeared, the whole point is that their “average level” became exceptionally high during the Renaissance. It was also high in the Middle Ages, but there art was the fruit of a collective genius, and the Renaissance parted with medieval mass character and anonymity. Architecture, sculpture and painting passed from the hands of a multifaceted artisan into the hands of a professional artist, an artist-artist who asserts his individuality in art. Of course, at that time there were more talented and less gifted artists, there were path makers and simply their followers, but the category of “mediocrity” is not applicable to the artists of the Renaissance. Art played too important a role in her life: it went ahead of science, philosophy and poetry, performing the function of universal knowledge.
One of greatest people era of the Early Renaissance there was someone I will talk about in my work - Piero della Francesca, great artist and mathematician of his time. Here I will tell you about his main achievements both in mathematics and in painting, which is closely related to it.
Biography of Piero della Francesca (1406/1420-1492)
Piero della Francesca was born between 1406 and 1420 in San Sepolcro in Umbria (now the eastern part of Tuscany) “and was named after his mother della Francesca, since she remained pregnant with him when his father, her husband, died, and so how she raised him and helped him achieve what fate promised him (however, Milanesi cites facts without indicating his sources: the father of Piero Benedetto dei Francesca, or dela Francesca, from a very famous family in Borgo San Sepolcro, was married to Romana da Perino di Carlo from Monterchi and died only after 1465, it follows 1) that Francesca dela is a surname, and not a nickname from his mother, and 2) that his father died many years after the birth of Piero). In his youth, Pierrot studied mathematics, and from the age of fifteen he received instructions in painting, never, however, leaving mathematics, producing amazing results both in it and in painting.” The absence of any information about his artistic activity from 1439 to 1444 does not make it possible to trace the first steps of Piero della Francesca in art. Until the late 1430s and early 1440s, Renaissance trends were not felt in Arezzo, one of the largest cities in Umbria. However, from 1439, through contacts with the art of Florence, Piero became familiar with the system of linear perspective invented by Brunelleschi and developed by Alberti; the sculpture of Donatello, Michelezzo and Luca della Robbia and the new style they created; with the art of Masaccio, who combined the laws of linear perspective with ancient traditions to create forms with dramatic power, bold angles and modeling of carnation using sharp dark shadows. Masaccio's influence predominates in early works Piero della Francesca, for example in the altarpiece Madonna della Misericordia, commissioned in 1445 by the Confraternity of Charity of Borgo San Sepolcro (San Sepolcro, State Museum).
An artist from a small town that did not fall into the sphere of cultural influence of Florence until the 16th century, Piero readily learned from masters from other cities. From Domenico Veneziano, whose formation was in turn influenced by the style of international Gothic, represented in the Veneto by the work of Gentile da Fabriano and Pisanello, Piero della Francesca learned the naturalistic rendering of lighting and chiaroscuro; this technique formed the basis of the powerful poetic realism of his works. Impressionistic motifs in the interpretation of foliage, borrowed by the artist, possibly from Domenico Veneziano, in his later works, written under the influence Flemish painting, became one of the earliest attempts in Western European art to depict objects taking into account lighting. “Piero della Francesca was called by the elder Guidubaldo Feltro, Duke of Urbino, for whom he did a lot the most beautiful paintings with small images; Most of them suffered greatly, since this state suffered many wars. Nevertheless, some of his manuscripts on geometry and perspective were preserved there, in which he was no worse than anyone in his time and even, perhaps, those who ever existed. This is shown by his works, full of perspective, and in particular the vessel, so drawn in squares from different sides that the bottom and neck are visible from the front, back and sides; this is truly an amazing thing, in which he drew every detail in the most subtle way and with great grace made a perspective reduction of all the circles.” Although Piero always maintained a close connection with his family and hometown, from about 1446 to 1454 he worked extensively at the courts of the rulers of Pesaro, Ferrara and Rimini, in Bologna, Ancona and Loreto. “So after Urbino,” writes Vasari, “Piero went to Pesano and Ancora, from where, in the midst of doing the most beautiful works, he was called by Duke Borso to Ferrara, where he painted many halls in the palace, which were later destroyed by Duke Ermole the Elder, in order to remodel the palace into modern style. Thus, in this city there remains only one chapel in the Church of St. Augustine, painted in fresco by Pierrot’s hand, but it was badly damaged by dampness.” After this, he was called to Rome by Pope Nicholas V, where in the upper rooms of the palace, competing with Bramante from Milan, he performed two scenes, which, according to Vasari, were also destroyed by Pope Julius II, since Raphael of Urbino was there to write the imprisonment of St. Peter and the miracle of communion in Bolsena. After Piero had completed his work in Rome, he “returned to Bongo, since his mother had died, and inside the parish church he painted in fresco on the middle door two saints, which were considered the most beautiful thing. In the Augustinian monastery he painted an altarpiece on wood, and this work was highly praised; in fresco he executed “Our Lady of Mercy” in one society, or, as they call themselves, a brotherhood; and in the Palace of the Conservatives - the resurrection of Christ, which is considered the best of his works in the named city and, in general, of all his works,” writes Vasari.
Also, in the period from 1446 to 1454, one of his most beautiful paintings was created - “The Flagellation of Christ” (Urbino, National Gallery of Marche), in which the figure and the surrounding architecture are built with strict adherence to proportions, everything is geometrically verified and depicted in accordance with the laws linear and aerial perspective (which are changed only in the group with the scourged Christ to set the semantic emphasis of the composition). In other paintings. Created during this period, for example Saint Jerome (1450, Berlin, State Museum) and St. Jerome with the Donor (circa 1452, Venice, Galleria dell'Accademia), the landscape appears for the first time. It shows the tendencies that arose in Florentine painting under the influence of northern art towards great realism in the construction of composition and rendering of details, the use of aerial perspective and panoramic views. In Ferrara, the artist painted frescoes that have not survived to this day, commissioned by the brothers Leonello and Barsjd'Este. Leonello's collection included paintings by Rogier van der Weyden, which undoubtedly aroused Piero's interest in Flemish technique oil painting, to the ways of transmitting light to the impressionistic interpretation of gold embroidery and lace, so masterfully depicted by 15th-century artists on the rich clothes of the characters in their paintings. Imitation of Flemish technique and an impressionistic interpretation of illuminated objects appear already in the portrait of Sigismondo Malatesta, ruler of Rimini (1451, Louvre).
At the courts of humanist rulers in Ferrara, Pesaro and Rimini, Piero della Francesca became acquainted with a culture whose main aspiration was the revival of antiquity and the use of its achievements in all spheres of human activity, from writing and handwriting to fine arts . Influenced by this fascination with antiquity, Pierrot began to use classical forms in his paintings, primarily in architectural backgrounds. Despite numerous attempts to understand Piero della Francesca's methods of constructing architectural and landscape backgrounds, it was not possible to detect a consistent use of a geometric module or a system of perspective constructions in his paintings. On the contrary, it can be argued that Piero used the compositional principle that dominated Florentine painting in the mid-1430s: a progressive reduction in the size of figures from the foreground to the background; the foreground figures also determine the size of the columns of the depicted buildings. Pierrot's ancient architecture combines massiveness, clarity and nobility of forms with graceful lightness of ornament. Buildings often turn out to be unfinished within the picture plane, parts of them seem to be cut off as a result of framing the canvas with a frame. “Arriving from Aretto in Arezzo, Piero painted for Luigi Bacci, a citizen of Arezzo, in the Church of San Francesco the chapel of his family at the main altar, the vault of which had already been begun by Lorezzo di Bicci,” writes Vasari. In this work, the clothes of the women of the Queen of Sheba are executed in a new and gentle manner, there are many portraits from life that depict people of antiquity. “However, above any other achievement in terms of depiction and skill is the way he depicted the night and the angel in perspective, who lowers his head down to convey the sign of victory to Constantine, sleeping in a tent under the protection of a servant and several armed men, hidden in the darkness of the night. So Piero, in depicting this darkness, makes it clear how to imitate natural things, choosing them from reality in their true form, by the fact that he did this in the most excellent way, he gave the opportunity to new artists to follow him and reach the highest level at which he is art today,” says Vasari. The formation of Piero della Francesca's style in his mature period was influenced by classical sculpture, which he saw in Rome. His only documented trip to Rome occurred in September 1458-1459, when, by order of Pope Pius II, he painted two halls in the Vatican Palace with frescoes. According to Vasari, Pierrot also worked for Pope Nicholas V (1447-1454); It must have been during this trip that the master became acquainted with works of ancient sculpture, an excellent knowledge of which he demonstrates in the painting The Baptism of Christ (London, National Gallery) and in the cycle of frescoes The Legend of the Holy Cross (Arezzo, Church of San Francesco). The painting is of the Baptism, probably painted around 1453. Christ is depicted standing in the blue waters of the river, in which people on the shore are reflected - a clear imitation of the Flemish masters.