PIERO DI COSIMO

This splendid painting, recently restored, reflects the art of Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, with which it has many similarities.

The carved and gilded wood frame is from the 19th century.

Much of the artist’s sympathy for animals, and the fantastical imagination for which he was also noted, can be seen in this painting and in the Death of Procris (also in London). Both must have adorned the backboards of benches or chests in Florentine town houses.

The Forest Fire contains a disjunctive narrative with animals fleeing the fires. Human figures either flee also or concentrate on bringing water to the fire. The composition is not firmly set. Instead, Piero loosely divided the picture by the placement of trees. The decorative richness of the work and the transparent beauty of the glowing distances in the forest and rich, coral colours can now be appreciated after a recent cleaning.

The artist gave the fleeing animals plausible expressions, such as the mother bear, who panting in exhaustion leads her cubs over a crest in the foreground.

One of the most influential individuals in the art worlds of Florence and Rome, the sculptor-turned-architect Giuliano da Sangallo (c. 1443-1516) was a member of the influential Sangallo family of artists. Piero di Cosimo’s portrait of Giuliano, along with the matching portrait of his father, are indicative of the high regard in which Piero was held by his contemporaries.

Francesco del Pugliese, a wealthy cloth merchant, commissioned from Piero di Cosimo a series of panels representing the early history of humanity. This panel from the series depicts a battle between humans, a great variety of animals, and half-human creatures such as centaurs and satyrs.

This painting appears to be the only signed and dated picture of the artist. The signature and date written on the base of panel (‘Pier di Cosimo 1480’) must both be addition, however, because its style points to the last years of his life, sometime in the 1510s. The design is unusual, predicated on the slanting block on which Francis and Jerome kneel, dominating thee lower middle of the panel. By virtue of the intrusion of this platform, which is to be understood as an extension of the real altar, the other four saints, Augustine, Bernard, Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure, appear as three-quarter length The upper part includes and unusually ancient and benign-looking God the Father selecting the Virgin with a rod to indicate the Immaculate Conception, while he courteously turns a tablet towards her. The figure of the young Virgin is paired with an extra, full-length angel, who appears more physically solid than does the Virgin.

The theme of the incarnation of Jesus in the womb of Mary did not have an established pictorial tradition. Never predictable, Piero di Cosimo embraces the challenge of depicting this subject, placing the Virgin on the central axis with the Dove above and the fallen book on the ground below. Scenes in miniature from the early life of Christ are hidden in the rugged hilltops on either side of the picture, including the Annunciation and Nativity on the left and the Flight into Egypt on the right.

A bright, crystalline light emanates from the dove and illuminates the faces of the six saints who, with their carefully differentiated, readily identifiable features are contemplating the Virgin. Those closest to her are the bishop of Florence Antoninus Pierozzi and Philip Benizi, founder of the Order of the Servants of Mary.

The work was commissioned by the Florentine Tedaldi family for their chapel dedicated to St John the Evangelist in the Santissima Annunziata church; the apostle is depicted on the left of the painting, with the customary eagle next to him, together with Philip Benizi, of whom some relics are preserved in the chapel.

In addition to the unconventional allegorical and mythological subjects that he painted, Piero di Cosimo also produced a number of religious or devotional paintings of a more standard type, an example being this tondo.

The group of the Virgin with the Child and the young St John is placed in a hilly landscape that reveals hints of Dutch painting in its effects of breadth and depths, without the Dutch schools atmospheric qualities. The Virgin’s delicate face is reproduced with particular precision, and it reflects the light using fine chiaroscuro modelling.

This large drawing by Piero di Cosimo is a composite of multiple pieces of paper. The need for such a large surface suggests that the work was a cartoon created in preparation for a painting. The presence of stylus marks tracing the charcoal lines in certain parts of the drawing also indicates that the design was at least partially transferred onto another support, confirming its function as a preparatory study. However, the final work is not known.

In the centre of the composition, Perseus is dealing with the sea monster that is about to attack Andromeda, daughter of the King of Ethiopia, offered as a sacrifice to placate the monster’s ire. The monster had been unleashed by Poseidon, angry with the boastful Cassiopeia, Andromeda’s mother. Perseus is shown twice more in the painting, when he sees the dragon and the young sacrificial victim, while flying through the skies on his winged sandals, when he celebrates the liberation of Andromeda, who will become his bride. In the composition, the jubilation of Andromeda’s father and the laughing crowds, shown on the right, contrasts with the desperation of the family at the destiny of the young princess in the scene on thee left.

The subject of the painting, derived from the Ovid’s Metamorphoses illustrates the story of a famous couple from Greek mythology and seems right for the destination of the panel, painted as part of the furnishings for a nuptial room, most likely that of Filippo Strozzi the younger and Clarice de’ Medici in Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, on which cabinet maker Baccio d’Agnolo was working in 1510-1511. The artist, Piero di Cosimo, an eccentric, imaginative Florentine painter, working above all to make the narration clean and the improbably musical instruments or eastern costumes of the subjects credible, rather than evoking the drama of the story, also diluted by the reassuring view of the sea in which the enormous monster is swimming, almost bathing in a pond.

None of Piero di Cosimo’s works are signed or dated, making a reconstruction of his stylistic development extremely tentative. The dating of this Andromeda Frees Perseus is therefore unclear, although critics are generally agreed that it is a work of the artist’s maturity since it contains stylistic elements reflecting the transition to sixteenth-century art: the presence of Leonardesque “sfumato”, the Raphaelesque typology of the figures and the proto-Mannerist character of the overall structure.

Ovid tells how Andromeda, daughter of an Ethiopian king, was chained to a rock by the sea-shore as a sacrifice to a sea-monster. Perseus (the son of Danaë whom Jupiter caused to conceive after turning himself into a shower of golden rain) flying overhead on Pegasus, the winged horse, fell in love at first sight. He swooped down just in time, slew the monster and released Andromeda.

This painting is Piero di Cosimo’s most seemingly confident and outstanding later work to survive. It manifests all the qualities that kept his style attractive and relevant until his death in 1521.

Piero was frequently patronized by the most powerful families, for whom he executed not only permanent painted works, but also temporary designs for spectacular festivals. His portrait of the noted Florentine beauty Simonetta Vespucci shows his range as a painter and also exemplifies a certain type of commission for private families.

The portrait represents the death of Cleopatra which belongs to the category of celebrated women of antiquity who committed suicide, such as more virtuous names like Lucretia.

She wears the veil of a married woman and black, possibly, but not necessarily a sign of widowhood. A difficult colour to achieve in dyeing, it was worn by the wealthy. The sitter is traditionally identified as Caterina Sforza, the extraordinary daughter of the duke of Milan. She was known as the Virago - the Amazon - for her military exploits.

St Mary Magdalene is identified by her profile and the halo, her long hair and jar of ointment. The jar alludes to the visit of the Magdalene and the pious women to the sepulcher on Easter morning. Having reached the place where the body of Jesus would be embalmed with perfumed oils, they found the sepulcher empty and were the first to bear witness to the Resurrection. The long hair with which the Magdalene is generally depicted actually derives from an erroneous interpretation of the Gospel, arising from a confusion between the Magdalene with the nameless prostitute who, repenting of her sins, shed tears on Jesus’s feet and dried them with her own hair.

Piero di Cosimo’s painting, however, includes details that go beyond the traditional depiction of the saint, drawing on the artist’s own time: the style of her dress, the open book and the lady’s pose, like the architecture framing her, draw directly on the portraiture of the 1400s. In fact, it cannot be excluded that the painting may actually have been commissioned by or for a lady named Maddalena, who wished to be portrayed as the saint whose name she bore.

The painting is notable for its extremely refined execution, particularly striking in the pictorial surface and definition of the details. In these ways, Piero di Cosimo reveals his profound understanding and appreciation of the formal values of Flemish painting.

The old attribution to Mantegna was corrected in 1874 when the painting was given to Piero di Cosimo. Most scholars have seen the piece as belonging to the first years of the sixteenth century, the last phase of the artist’s production; when he was influenced by the Leonardesque movement. A more precise dating has placed this work to 1501, the time of Leonardo’s return to Florence. Some scholars, on the other hand, placed the date at around 1490, setting the work among the earliest of a group carried out between 1485 and 1505. In the pictures of this group, the artist reveals a stylistic attachment to Filippino Lippi, toning down the colours for a “northern accent”, in the manner of Hugo van der Goes.

This panel presents a number of compositional and symbolic peculiarities: St Joseph is represented in the background, visible in the middle through the door of the hut, grazing the ox and the donkey, usually depicted next to the Infant Jesus; angels playing long flutes take the place of the shepherds and Magi; the white bird on the beam of the roof (a dove?), perhaps an allusion to the Holy Spirit that descended to Mary. The Virgin’s usual blue cloak is adorned with the star of the Byzantine tradition and behind her hangs a humble saddle. The Infant St John has significantly handed the cross, symbol of the Passion, to the child, who, as was common in Tuscan painting, is lying on a sheet and a sack. The figure of the Madonna, like those of the angels, fits in perfectly with the curved edge of the panel, perhaps painted to celebrate a birth, as was customary at the time. Tradition and innovation are fused in this painting, of which there is another version in the Hermitage, considered by some the original and by others a replica of the tondo in the Galleria Borghese.

This mysterious panel, owned by the Medici in the seventeenth century, was ordered by the guild of the masters of stone and wood (Arte dei Maestri di Pietre e di Legname) in Florence. This highly sequential and disjointed narrative unfolding in an exotic present is now extremely useful to scholars for its accurate depiction of the construction of an idealized Renaissance palace.

This painting was probably part of the decoration of a palace in Florence.

Despite the different datings they have been given the two panels (Death of Procris, and Venus and Mars) may have formed part of a cycle illustrating themes from ancient mythology. Considering that they stem from the hand of a Florentine artist, both demonstrate an unusual interest in landscape. The progression towards lighter colours in the background and the accompanying softening of focus reflect Leonardo da Vinci’s new theories of colour.The first panel shows the death of Procris, killed by mistake, while out hunting, by a javelin which Procris had been given by King Minos and which never missed its mark. The dog on the right was also a gift from Minos.

Piero di Cosimo’s two mythological paintings, the Discovery of Honey (Art Museum, Worcester) and The Misfortunes of Silenus (Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge), with their free, combinatory constructions, bright palette and almost outrageous sense of humour and wit, were ordered by Giovanni Vespucci.

Vulcan (Greek Hephaestus) in Greek and Roman mythology was the god of fire, and the blacksmith who forged the weapons of many gods and heroes. He was the educator of the primitive man, and taught him the proper use of fire. He was the son of Jupiter and Juno. He was married to Venus who made a cuckold of him. He was crippled as a result of being thrown down to earth from Olympus by Jupiter in a fit of anger.

When Vulcan was thrown down from Olympus, he landed on the island of Lemnos in the Aegean where he was looked after by the inhabitants. He is shown being helped to his feet by one of a band of nymphs.

Silenus in Greek mythology is a rural god, one of the retinue of Bacchus, a gay, fat old drunkard who was yet wise and had the gift of prophecy. On the picture he is lolling drunkenly the back of an ass.

Piero di Cosimo’s two mythological paintings, the Discovery of Honey (Art Museum, Worcester) and The Misfortunes of Silenus (Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge), with their free, combinatory constructions, bright palette and almost outrageous sense of humour and wit, were ordered by Giovanni Vespucci.

Prometheus in Greek mythology is the son of Iapetus, a Titan. He created the first man from clay, stole fire from the gods to give to mankind, and was punished by JUpiter, the father of the gods, by being chained to a rock where an eagle came everyday to feed on his liver.

According to Ovid, Prometheus made the figure of a man from clay in the image of the gods. He is shown before a life-size statue which stands on a pedestal.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 13 minutes):

Franz Liszt: Prometheus, symphonic poem

Piero di Cosimo was overshadowed by his fellow artists such as Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, and especially Leonardo, yet his high level of skill ensured his lasting reputation. Piero presents the Visitation with outstanding directness. In the direct centre of the painting, Piero juxtaposes the two pregnant women, one youthful and the other beyond childbearing years. The composition is rigorously arranged so as to underscore the importance of this event.

Despite the different datings they have been given the two panels (Death of Procris, and Venus and Mars) may have formed part of a cycle illustrating themes from ancient mythology. The long shape of the panels suggest that they may have decorated a cassone chest.

Another aspect of Piero’s artistic personality is his ability to infuse his subjects with wit and fantasy. The subject matter is sensual in nature, with Cupid nestling beside Venus’ breast near a long-eared rabbit, a symbol of sexual excess. The black and white birds down below seem to symbolize the lovers, Venus and an exhausted Mars asleep on the ground.

This panel may have been painted as part of a suite of marital furniture, such as a bedstead, hope chest, or frieze.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 4 minutes):

Francesco Gasparini: The Meddlesome Cupid, aria

Venus embraces her son Cupid, while a rabbit, another symbol of love and fertility, nuzzles his hand.

Making love, not war, has exhausted Mars. He is literally disarmed as well as stripped by and for passion as putti toy with his armour in the background. Lovebirds and turtledoves coo nearby.

Making love, not war, has exhausted Mars. He is literally disarmed as well as stripped by and for passion as putti toy with his armour in the background.

This altarpiece shows Piero at his most impressive as a mature painter of monumental religious subjects, crucially in the period before Leonardo’s return to Florence from Milan. Supplied for the Pugliese altar in the church of the foundling hospital near SS. Annunziata, it features the Virgin and Child enthroned with Saints Dorothy, Peter (at left), Catherine and John the Evangelist (at right). It was installed in 1493.

The painting is carefully structured in its layout and is compact with short, stocky bodies and overlapping forms. The work is basically symmetrical and controlled, but in an attempt to enliven the iconic altarpiece the image is predicated on the narrative of a double mystic marriage between Christ Child and St Catherine, who receives a ring, and St Dorothy, from whom he appears to take rosebuds. Piero’s figures are seen close up giving them a force and monumentality.

This is the artist’s masterpiece, dating from his most intense period of devotion to Leonardo da Vinci. This unusual composition was copied several times.