PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA

On the right, the ancient Adam, seated on the ground and surrounded by his children, sends Seth to Archangel Michael. In the background we see the meeting between Seth and Michael, while on the left, in the shadow of a huge tree, Adam’s body is buried in the presence of his family. By placing all three stages of the story within the same background landscape, Piero is abiding by traditional narrative schemes already used by Masaccio in his fresco of the Tribute Money in the Brancacci Chapel.

The cycle of the Cross legend, which according to the Golden Legend begins shortly before the death of Adam, opens in the lunette on the west, or right-hand, wall.

On the right, the ancient Adam, seated on the ground and surrounded by his children, sends Seth to Archangel Michael. In the background we see the meeting between Seth and Michael, while on the left, in the shadow of a huge tree, Adam’s body is buried in the presence of his family. By placing all three stages of the story within the same background landscape, Piero is abiding by traditional narrative schemes already used by Masaccio in his fresco of the Tribute Money in the Brancacci Chapel.

Adam dispatches his son Seth to the gates of paradise. There he is to ask for the oil of mercy, with which to salve his fathers’s body and make him well. In the right foreground is the scene, in which Adam, supported by Eve standing behind him, sits on the ground and makes his request to the white-bearded Seth. A youthful couple also appears in the scene: a nude man seen from the back, leaning on his staff, and a young woman in a hair shirt, standing behind Adam and turned frontally toward the viewer.

Adam, supported by Eve standing behind him, sits on the ground.

A youthful couple also appears in the scene: a nude man seen from the back, leaning on his staff, and a young woman in a hair shirt, standing behind Adam and turned frontally toward the viewer.

A youthful couple also appears in the scene: a nude man seen from the back, leaning on his staff, and a young woman in a hair shirt, standing behind Adam and turned frontally toward the viewer.

Eve, standing behind the sitting Adam, supports him.

Adam dispatches his son Seth to the gates of paradise. There he is to ask for the oil of mercy, with which to salve his fathers’s body and make him well. Instead of the oil, the archangel Michael gives Seth the seeds of the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, with the prophecy that Adam will only recover once the tree grown from these seeds bears fruit. From this seeds would grow the tree that was to provide the wood for building the CrossThis scene is included in the middle distance of the larger one, where we see the tiny figures of Seth and the archangel.

In the left half of the lunette Adam is being buried. The dead man lies stretched out in his newly dug grave and Seth is placing the seeds under his tongue. Adam’s family is gathered around the grave, their gestures expressive of their grief. Directly behind the grave stands the tree that will later sprout from one of the seeds; as the angel’s prophecy might have told us, it has yet to bear leaves and fruit. Even so, it serves to suggest the leap in time that leads into the subsequent events.

Adam’s family is gathered around the grave, their gestures expressive of their grief.

The identity of the figure cloaked in red is not determined.

This detail shows two youths on the left, who witness with dismay the first death in the history of man. They are undoubtedly among the most noble and natural creations of the painting of all time. They have always been considered Adamites (part of Adam’s family). However, they can also be mythological figures. The two stand apart from the others and are deeply involved with one another, in an intensely emotional rapport expressed by their gazes. The young man, dressed in a feline skin with a long tail, grasps the arm of the young woman, who is dressed in Roman style and whose face is of the purest beauty.

This detail shows two youths on the left, who witness with dismay the first death in the history of man. They are undoubtedly among the most noble and natural creations of the painting of all time. They have always been considered Adamites (part of Adam’s family). However, they can also be mythological figures. The two stand apart from the others and are deeply involved with one another, in an intensely emotional rapport expressed by their gazes. The young man, dressed in a feline skin with a long tail, grasps the arm of the young woman, who is dressed in Roman style and whose face is of the purest beauty.

The subject of this painting has nothing to do with the Golden Legend, this is an addition by Piero, who introduced this scene at the bidding of his patrons. The Annunciation is to the left in the lower register on the altar wall. It serves to remind us in a general way of the incarnation of Christ and his sacrifice on the cross.

The classical architecture is present once again with the elegant column in the centre. The symmetry of proportions is broken by vanishing point, placed not in the centre but to the right, behind the Virgin. There is great attention to even the smallest detail, brought out by the reflections of the light. From the transparent veil that covers Mary’s head, to the pearls that decorate her dress, from the wood intarsia on the door, to the shadows that are projected on the white marble surfaces, there are many new elements that will be further developed in Piero’s later works.

From up in heaven the Eternal Father, seen in half-length, stretches out his arms sending down the Holy Spirit in the form of golden rays of light. The Lord is represented as a good, white-haired old man, similar to King Chosroes: the head, in fact, was made using the same cartoon.

The archangel Gabriel brings the announcement to Mary inside her home: an elegant Roman style setting, decorated with valuable red and green marble. Before a closed, wooden door with intarsia panels, the kneeling archangel brings the divine message to the Virgin. He is in perfect profile, according to the fourteenth-century iconographic tradition.

The light from the window highlights the pure white marble column that divides the scene in two parts and supports the entablature of the porch where Mary stands. Unlike many other Virgins of the Annunciation, especially by fourteenth-century artists, who receive the announcement humbly and almost fearfully, Piero’s Virgin stands, and is rather taller than life-sized. She is regal, with a very beautiful expression, serious, but untroubled. In the background to the right, there is a small glimpse of the nuptial chamber, with the rear wall decorated with a perspective cubes motif.

The archangel Gabriel is in perfect profile, according to the fourteenth-century iconographic tradition.

Mary is regal, with a very beautiful expression, serious, but untroubled, since she is already aware of the meaning of the divine message foretold in the Holy Scriptures, which she had been reading.

The narrative continues in the second register on the west wall.

Two episodes are shown in the same fresco, separated from each other by the column of the royal palace: the Procession of the Queen of Sheba (on the left); Meeting between the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon (on the right). The architectural element (the column) is the centre of the composition and the vanishing point for the whole fresco. The episode on the left is drawn from the “Golden Legend”, while that in the right is an iconographical element added by Piero.

According to the legend, the tree grown from Adam’s grave stood and prospered into the time of Solomon, who had it cut down so he could use it in building a house. As it happened, the wood was not suitable for this purpose, so his workers laid the hewn log across a stream to serve as a bridge. As the Queen of Sheba passed by on her visit to the wise Solomon, she came to the bridge and foresaw that one day the world’s saviour would hang from this beam. She therefore refused to step on it, and instead knelt before it in veneration.

Behind the Queen of Sheba, kneeling in adoration, is her retinue of aristocratic ladies in waiting, with their high foreheads (according to the fashion of the time) emphasizing the round shape of their heads and the cylindrical form of the neck. Their velvet cloaks softly envelop their bodies, reaching all the way to the ground. The almost perfect regularity of the composition is underlined by the two trees in the background, whose leaves hover like umbrellas above the two groups of the women and of the grooms holding the horses. And yet Piero’s constant attention to the regularity of proportions and the construction according to perspective never gives way to artificially sophisticated compositions, schematic symmetries or anything forced.

Behind the Queen of Sheba, kneeling in adoration, is her retinue of aristocratic ladies in waiting, with their high foreheads (according to the fashion of the time) emphasizing the round shape of their heads and the cylindrical form of the neck. Their velvet cloaks softly envelop their bodies, reaching all the way to the ground. The almost perfect regularity of the composition is underlined by the two trees in the background, whose leaves hover like umbrellas above the two groups of the women and of the grooms holding the horses. And yet Piero’s constant attention to the regularity of proportions and the construction according to perspective never gives way to artificially sophisticated compositions, schematic symmetries or anything forced.

Behind the Queen of Sheba, kneeling in adoration, is her retinue of aristocratic ladies in waiting, with their high foreheads (according to the fashion of the time) emphasizing the round shape of their heads and the cylindrical form of the neck.

The detail shows grooms and horses from the train of the Queen of Sheba.

To the right we see the Queen of Sheba’s encounter with Solomon, which takes place in a temple-like structure. Solomon stands with his courtiers; the queen, entering from the right, deferentially bows to him. The queen prophesied to Solomon that the dominion of the Jews would one day be destroyed by the man who would hang from that beam. Solomon’s response was to have the beam sunk in a well.

This famous scene takes place within an architectural structure, enlivened by decorations of coloured marble. Everything seems created according to architectural principles: even the three ladies standing behind the Queen are placed so as to form a sort of open church apse behind her. There is a real sense of spatial depth between the characters witnessing the event; and their heads, one behind the other, are placed on different planes. This distinction of spatial spaces is emphasized also by the different colour tonalities, with which Piero has by this stage in his career entirely replaced his technique of outlining the shapes used in previous frescoes.

There is an overall feeling of solemn rituality, rather like a lay ceremony: from Solomon’s priestly gravity to the ladies aristocratic dignity. Each figure, thanks to the slightly lowered viewpoint, becomes more imposing and graceful; Piero even succeeds in making the characteristic figure of the fat courtier on the left, dressed in red, looks dignified.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 3 minutes):

George Frideric Handel: Solomon - The arrival of the Queen of Sheba

Solomon stands with his courtiers; the queen, entering from the right, deferentially bows to him.

Each figure, thanks to the slightly lowered viewpoint, becomes more imposing and graceful; Piero even succeeds in making the characteristic figure of the fat courtier on the left, dressed in red, looks dignified.

At the end wall of the chapel, around the stain-glass window and below the prophets were placed the Burial of the Wood (on the left) and the Torture of the Jew (on the right). These two stories were painted by Piero’s main assistant Giovanni da Piamonte, who used the cartoons by Piero.

The scene of the burial of the beam is shown in a narrow panel. The diagonal beam, carried by several men, extends across nearly the whole picture, forming an X with the outline of the background mountain slope.

In the Burial of the Wood, Giovanni da Piamonte’s heavy modelling draws the stiff folds of the bearer’s garments and their hair, rather mechanically tied in bunches. On the Cross the vein of the wood, like an elegant decorative element, forms a halo above the head of the first bearer, who thus appears as a prefiguration of Christ on the way to Calvary. The sky covers half the surface of the fresco and the irregular white clouds are as though inlaid in the expanse of blue.

The pose of one of the men struggling to lift the wood is reminiscent, perhaps intentionally, of that of Christ suffering under the weight of the cross.

It is remarkable that in this scene the workmen are portrayed as grimacing, comic figures.

The story continues in the lower picture compartment to the right of the altar with the Vision of Constantine.

Constantine the Great (c. 280-337), was a Roman Emperor, the son of Helena. He came to overall power in 312 after defeating the Emperor Maxentius at the battle of the Milvian bridge on the Tiber, an event traditionally regarded as the turning point in the establishment of Christianity within the empire. According to Eusebius’ Life of Constantine (1:27-32), on the eve of the battle Constantine saw in a dream a cross in the sky, and heard a voice saying, ‘In hoc signo vinces’ - ‘By this sign shalt thou conquer.’ Henceforth, it is said, he substituted the emblem for the Roman eagle on the standard, or laborum, of the legions.

Earlier it was thought to be a nocturnal scene. However, the recent restoration revealed it is not a night scene but a dawn, captured at its first stirrings, when still glitter in the sky. Inside his large tent, the Emperor lies asleep. Seated on a bench bathed in light, a servant watches over him and gazes dreamily out towards the onlooker, as though in silent conversation. With a daring innovation, that almost seems to anticipate Caravaggio’s modern concept of light, the two sentries in the foreground stand out from the darkness, lit only from the sides by the light projected from the angel above. The divine messenger descends from on high, showing the Cross made of light to the emperor deep in sleep, to whom he communicates the certainty of victory if the army moves under the sign of the Cross: “In hoc signo vinces”.

A supernatural glow emanated by the heavenly envoy lights up the pink and yellow tones of the tent, the bed with the red cover and the white sheet; it strikes the soldier with the iron helmet facing on the right, and its reflection creates an extraordinary backlit effect on the sentry to the left, seen from the back, leaning on his spear.

A supernatural glow emanated by the heavenly envoy strikes the soldier with the iron helmet facing on the right.

Inside his large tent, the Emperor lies asleep. Seated on a bench bathed in light, a servant watches over him and gazes dreamily out towards the onlooker.

A supernatural glow emanated by the heavenly envoy lights up the pink and yellow tones of the tent. Its reflection creates an extraordinary backlit effect on the sentry to the left, seen from the back, leaning on his spear.

The divine messenger descends from on high, showing the Cross made of light to the emperor deep in sleep, to whom he communicates the certainty of victory if the army moves under the sign of the Cross: “In hoc signo vinces”.

The story continues in the lower picture compartment of the right wall with the battle Constantine wins over Maxentius under the sign of the cross. The night before the battle the emperor (who took up a position with his army next to the river) was awakened by an angel, who told him to look up at the sky. There he saw a glowing cross circled by the words ‘in hoc signo vinces.’ The next morning he had a replica of the cross made and carried it before him into the battle, in which he was victorious.

This episode certainly carried an important idealistic hidden meaning and also touched on contemporary events, at a time when Pius II was planning a crusade against the Turks. All attempts to reconcile the two churches had in fact failed, so that, after the Turkish conquest of Constantinople, the only solution appeared to be to unite all Christians in the struggle against the Infidel.

In Piero’s fresco, Constantine face is a portrait of John VIII Palaeologus, former Eastern Emperor. And just as Constantine had gone into battle, leading his troops carrying the symbol of the Cross, so the modern Emperor can defeat the Infidel by leading all Christian armies into battle. But beyond this symbolism the battle between Constantine and Maxentius is depicted as a splendid parade, from which the crashing of arms has definitely been eliminated. The absence of movement immortalizes the horses with raised hoofs in the act of jumping, the shouting warriors with open mouths, all fixed once again by the unbending rules of construction according to linear perspective.

Compared to the Battle of San Romano, painted by Paolo Uccello about twenty years earlier and which was one of the highest achievements of that Florentine pictorial perspective that inspired the young Piero, in the Arezzo fresco there is a totally new depth of space between the figures. A realistic atmosphere, conveyed by the bright lighting, emphasizes the various spatial planes. Within this composition, Piero della Francesca succeeded in reproducing, thanks to his highly refined use of bright colours, all the visual aspects of reality, even the most fleeting and immaterial ones. From the reflections of light on the armour, to the shadows of the horses’ hoofs on the ground, to the wide open sky with its spring clouds tossed by the wind, the reality of nature is reproduced exactly, down to its most ephemeral details.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 12 minutes):

Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber: The Battle, suite

Accepting the invitation of the angel, Constantine leads his ranks of armed horsemen with arm outstretched brandishing the Cross. Maxentius and his troops flee, they ford the river. Constantine’s army advances from the left, closely united. Their very long standards and lances stand out sharply against thee bright, clear sky of the early morning. The scene is dominated by the large, yellow banner with the black imperial eagle.

The bugler, who is always there to follow after and to stir up the warriors in their attack with the silvery blare of his instrument, puffs up his cheeks with all of the air in his lungs. He is to the far left of the scene, right behind the horseman with the Roman-style leather armour and the large metal helmet.

The horseman with the Roman-style leather armour and the large metal helmet holds back with difficulty his splendid white steed.

The bugler, who is always there to follow after and to stir up the warriors in their attack with the silvery blare of his instrument, puffs up his cheeks with all of the air in his lungs.

The emperor had a replica of the cross made and carried it before him into the battle, in which he was victorious.

In Piero’s fresco, Constantine face is a portrait of John VIII Palaeologus (d. 1448), former Eastern Emperor, who was portrayed on a medal by Pisanello.

The scene is dominated by the large, yellow banner with the black imperial eagle.

The right-hand portion of the battle scene is badly damaged. Of the figure of Maxentius only a piece of the hat and a fragment of the torso remain; he is wearing a coat of mail with a red surcoat. Only one of the soldiers in flight has remained nearly completely intact. A small part of his head with the metal helmet is missing. He looks back as he is crossing the river and his face is marked by fear.

Only one of the soldiers in flight has remained nearly completely intact. A small part of his head with the metal helmet is missing. He looks back as he is crossing the river and his face is marked by fear.

Only one of the soldiers in flight has remained nearly completely intact. A small part of his head with the metal helmet is missing. He looks back as he is crossing the river and his face is marked by fear. He clutches the horse’s mane with his hands, as the reins are useless for guiding the horse through the water.

The view of the river is extraordinarily original, with the crystalline water acting as a limpid mirror to the buildings and shrubbery, the trees along the banks.

The view of the river is extraordinarily original, with the crystalline water acting as a limpid mirror to the buildings and shrubbery, the trees along the banks.

At the end wall of the chapel, around the stain-glass window and below the prophets were placed the Burial of the Wood (on the left) and the Torture of the Jew (on the right). These two stories were painted by Piero’s main assistant Giovanni da Piamonte, who used the cartoon by Piero.

Having achieved his victory, Constantine determined to find out more about the mysterious cross. His mother, Empress Helena, set out for Jerusalem to learn what she could. There she questioned all of the Jewish scholars, and when she sensed that information was being withheld from her she threatened to have them all burned. At that a man by the name of Judas, who knew where the cross was to be found, was sent to her. He would not reveal the secret, however, so Helena had him thrown down into a dry well. After six days without food he begged to be released. We find this scene in the middle register of the choir wall. Judas has only halfway emerged from the well. One man holds him by the hair while two others pull him out with the help of a winch set up behind the well, from which a rope has been tied around his body.

One man holds him by the hair while two others pull him out with the help of a winch set up behind the well, from which a rope has been tied around his body.

One man holds him by the hair while two others pull him out with the help of a winch set up behind the well, from which a rope has been tied around his body.

The story continues in the middle register of the left (east) wall.

This is one of Piero’s most complex and monumental compositions. The artist depicts on the left the discovery of the three crosses in a ploughed field, outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem, while on the right, taking place in a street in the city, is the Recognition of the True Cross. His great genius which enables him to draw inspiration from the simple world of the countryside, from the sophisticated courtly atmosphere, as well as from the urban structure of cities like Florence or Arezzo, reaches in this fresco the height of its visual variety.

The scene on the left is portrayed as a scene of work in the fields, and his interpretation of man’s labours as act of epic heroism is further emphasized by the figures’ solemn gestures, immobilized in their ritual toil.

At the end of the hills, bathed in a soft afternoon light, Piero has depicted the city of Jerusalem. It is in fact one of the most unforgettable views of Arezzo, enclosed by its walls, and embellished by its varied coloured buildings, from stone grey to brick red. This sense of colour, which enabled Piero to convey the different textures of materials, with his use of different tonalities intended to distinguish between seasons and times of day, reaches its height in these frescoes in Arezzo, confirming the break away from contemporary Florentine painting.

To the right, below the temple to Minerva, whose fa�ade in marble of various colours is so similar to buildings designed by Alberti, Empress Helena and her retinue stand around the stretcher where the dead youth lies; suddenly, touched by the Holy Wood, he is resurrected. The sloping Cross, the foreshortened bust of the youth with his barely visible profile, the semi-circle created by the Helena’s ladies-in-waiting, and even the shadows projecting on the ground - every single element is carefully studied in order to build a depth of space which, never before in the history of painting, had been rendered with such strict three-dimensionality.

Here we see Helena in a mountainous landscape, a view of the city of Arezzo in the background, as one cross is being lifted up out of the ground. Judas, wearing a red hat, stands next to her, pointing at the other cross just coming to light. One man in the foreground is still standing waist-deep in the hole; three others, carrying axes and shovels, stand next to the first cross to have emerged. According to the legend, Helena has all three of the excavated crosses brought to the city, for she has no idea which of them is the cross of Christ.

Judas, wearing a red hat, stands next to Helena, pointing at the other cross just coming to light.

The detail shows the head of Helena.

The detail shows the figure of Judas.

The group on the left side is closed by the image of the peasant resting wearily on his spade, seen in left profile. He wears an intensely black woolen jacket, left open over an ample white blouse, beneath which appear his muscular legs, nude as far as the knees, as he has rolled down his stockings to work more comfortably. His beret is white and stands out in contrast against the black hair and thick beard.

The group on the left side is closed by the image of the peasant resting wearily on his spade, seen in left profile. He wears an intensely black woolen jacket, left open over an ample white blouse. His beret is white and stands out in contrast against the black hair and thick beard.

At the end of the hills, bathed in a soft afternoon light, Piero has depicted the city of Jerusalem. It is in fact one of the most unforgettable views of Arezzo, enclosed by its walls, and embellished by its varied coloured buildings, from stone grey to brick red.

In the right-hand part of the scene we see an urban square, in the background the richly encrusted fa�ade of a temple-like structure. A miracle has just occurred. Judas has had all three crosses, one after another, touched to the body of a young man being carried to his grave. At the touch of the third cross, the young man revived and sat up, thereby revealing which of the three was the true cross of Christ. Judas appears twice, each time wearing a different garment. This is because, according to the Golden Legend, he had himself baptised after the discovery of the cross and subsequently became the bishop of Jerusalem under the name Quiriacus.

The kneeling figure of Helena is a repetition of the figure of the Queen of Sheba in the scene of Procession of the Queen of Sheba.

At the touch of the third cross, the young man revived and sat up, thereby revealing which of the three was the true cross of Christ.

The kneeling figure of Helena is a repetition of the figure of the Queen of Sheba in the scene of Procession of the Queen of Sheba.

In the group of male figures in the foreground watching the miracle, of outstanding quality is the one wrapped in the very full, blood-red cloak and wearing a high, pale blue headdress.

The succession of buildings on the right-hand edge of the composition follows a road that leads to a church with a typical bell tower and a high, rounded dome ending in a lantern. This could be a reference to the artist’s native Sansepolcro.

In the year 615, the Persian King Chosroes steals the wood, setting it up as an object of worship. The Eastern Emperor Heraclius wages war on the Persian King and, having defeated him, returns to Jerusalem with the Holy Wood.

The battle of Heraclius and Chosroes has little of the luminary magic of the battle of Constantine and Maxentius, perhaps because of its situation on a wall which never receives direct light. Piero includes no landscape, concentrating instead on the battle. He may have been guided in part by Roman battle sarcophagi, seen in Florence and Pisa, in which the compositional field is completely filled with interwoven figures in conflict. The motif of the horse rearing over a fallen enemy is common in Roman sculpture.

In representing the episode Piero has chosen to represent the grim mechanics of the slaughter: there are no beautiful patterns, no lovely light, and the armour has little allure. The legs of horses and people fill the lower part of the composition, while above masses of steel and flesh collide. There are incidents of utter brutality, as when a soldier near the throne jabs his dagger into the throat of another, or of pathos, as we watch the dying figure below the rearing horse. The dethroned monarch on the far right awaits the executioner’s sword. Above him the True Cross is blasphemously incorporated into his throne.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 12 minutes):

Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber: The Battle, suite

There are soldiers dressed in Roman style, with very colourful and fanciful costumes. These soldiers run through their enemies, who are seemingly defenseless in their elegant civilian clothes, not battle dress, and try to protect themselves with very light-weight shields, in vain.

The armoured horsemen coming from the left seem to play a decisive role in the outcome of the battle. Clad in the shining of the quite up-to-date armour, they advance like anonymous western defenders of the faith.

The trumpeter on the left is one of Piero’s most famous figures.

There is a huge number of men and horses and they clash and cross each other’s path.

Standards made of a light-weight material stand out against the morning sky. The imperial eagle, black against a yellow field, dominates from its place at the centre.

To the far right, before the large canopy that arches over in the space above the blasphemous throne of Chosroes, the final episode of the cycle unfolds, with the sentencing to death of the Persian king. The defeated king, wearing his crown, is kneeling, old, white-haired, wrapped in a mantle that restoration has revealed to bee of very bright blue colour. Next to him stand Emperor Heraclius, who grasps the staff of command as he condemns him, and a series of Piero’s contemporaries believed to be portraits of the Bacci family, who commissioned the artist to do the paintings in the chapel

Standards made of a light-weight material stand out against the morning sky. The rampant lion is followed by the large, white Cross on a red field, emblem of the faith of the Christian soldiers.