Early years Piero was born Piero di Benedetto in the town of
Borgo Santo Sepolcro, He certainly took notice of the work of some of the
Sienese artists active in San Sepolcro during his youth; e.g.
Sassetta. In 1439 Piero received, together with
Domenico Veneziano, payments for his work on
frescoes for the church of Sant'Egidio in Florence, now lost. In Florence he must have met leading masters like
Fra Angelico,
Luca della Robbia,
Donatello, and
Brunelleschi. The classicism of
Masaccio's frescoes and his majestic figures in the
Santa Maria del Carmine were for him an important source of inspiration. Dating of Piero's undocumented work is difficult because his style does not seem to have developed over the years.
Mature work Piero returned to his hometown in 1442 and was elected to the City Council of Sansepolcro. Three years later, he received his first commission, to paint the
Madonna della Misericordia altarpiece for the church of the Misericordia in Sansepolcro, which was completed in the early 1460s. In 1449 he executed several frescoes in the
Castello Estense and the church of Sant'Andrea of
Ferrara, now also lost. His influence was particularly strong in the later Ferrarese
allegorical works of
Cosimo Tura. The
Baptism of Christ, now in the
National Gallery in London, was completed in about 1450 for the high altar of the church of the Priory of S. Giovanni Battista at Sansepolcro. Other notable works are the frescoes of
The Resurrection in Sansepolcro, and the
Madonna del parto in
Monterchi, near Sansepolcro. kneeling before
St. Sigismund'' (1451) Two years later he was in
Rimini, working for the
condottiero Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta. In 1451, during that sojourn, he executed the famous fresco of
St. Sigismund and Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta in the
Tempio Malatestiano, as well as a
portrait of Sigismondo. In Rimini, Piero may have met the famous
Renaissance mathematician and architect
Leon Battista Alberti, who had redesigned the
Tempio Malatestiano, although it is known that Alberti directed the execution of his designs for the church by correspondence with his building supervisor. Thereafter Piero was active in
Ancona,
Pesaro and
Bologna. In 1454, he signed a contract for the
Polyptych of Saint Augustine in the church of Sant'Agostino in Sansepolcro. The central panel of this
polyptych is lost, and the four panels of the wings, with representations of
saints, are now scattered around the world. A few years later, summoned by
Pope Nicholas V, he moved to Rome, where he executed frescoes in the
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, of which only fragments remain. Two years later he was again in the Papal capital, painting frescoes in the
Vatican Palace, which have since been destroyed. '': the
Queen of Sheba meeting with
King Solomon Frescoes in San Francesco at Arezzo In 1452, Piero della Francesca was called to
Arezzo to replace
Bicci di Lorenzo in painting the frescoes of the basilica of
San Francesco. The work was finished in 1464.
The History of the True Cross cycle of frescoes is generally considered among his masterworks and those of
Renaissance painting in general. The story in these frescoes derives from legendary medieval sources as to how timber relics of the
True Cross came to be found. These stories were collected in the
Golden Legend of
Jacopo da Varazze (Jacopo da Varagine) of the mid-13th century.
Piero's activity in Urbino At some point,
Giovanni Santi invited Piero to
Urbino, where Piero "executed several commissions for Duke
Federico da Montefeltro."
The Flagellation is generally considered Piero's oldest work in Urbino (c. 1455–1470). It is one of the most famous and controversial pictures of the early Renaissance. As discussed in its own entry, it is marked by an air of geometric sobriety, in addition to presenting a perplexing enigma as to the nature of the three men standing at the foreground. or the
Brera Madonna Another famous work painted in Urbino is the
Double Portrait of Federico and his wife Battista Sforza, in the
Uffizi. The portraits in profile take their inspiration from large bronze medals and stucco roundels with the official portraits of Federico and his wife. Other paintings made in Urbino are the monumental
Montefeltro Altarpiece (1474) in the
Brera Gallery in Milan and the
Madonna of Senigallia. In Urbino Piero met the painters
Melozzo da Forlì,
Fra Carnevale, and the Flemish
Justus van Gent, the mathematician Fra
Luca Pacioli, the architect
Francesco di Giorgio Martini, and probably also
Leon Battista Alberti.
Later years In his later years, painters such as
Perugino and
Luca Signorelli frequently visited his workshop. He completed the treatise
On Perspective in Painting in the mid-1470s to 1480s. By 1480, his vision began to deteriorate, but he continued writing treatises such as
Short Book on the Five Regular Solids in 1485. It is documented that Piero rented a house in Rimini in 1482. Piero made his will in 1487 and he died five years later, on 12 October 1492, in his own house in Sansepolcro. He left his possessions to his family and the Church. ==Criticism and interpretation==