Piero della Francesca

These pages are intended as a compact up-to-date guide for readers wishing to find out more about one of the greatest artistic geniuses of all time, an artist epitomising the highest ideals of the age of Humanism whose complex personality challenges even the experts in this field of studies.

This monograph is dedicated to one of the greatest Italian masters, Piero della Francesca (San Sepolcro 1416/1417 approx. - 1492), whose towering multifaceted genius dominates the entire artistic and cultural panorama of the early Italian Renaissance.

Each work, from the Baptism of Christ to the Nativity at National Gallery in London, is presented with full-page images and is analysed in depth from the historical point of view, as well as for its style and considering its critical fortune during the centuries.

A specific focus is on the magnificent cycle of frescoes of the Legend of the True Cross, in the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo, which is considered as Piero's masterpiece.

The author of the book, in charge of a conservation and restoration project of the Chapel, presents in her study the results of the conservation work on half of the painting surface, completed with the images of the frescoes after their cleaning.

This book is intended as a compact up-to-date guide for readers wishing to find out more about one of the greatest artistic geniuses of all times, who was numbered among the greatest artists of his time and highly praised by his contemporaries, beginning with Vasari in the Life that he dedicated to the artist of excellence from Sansepolcro.