On the art Trail in Sansepolcro, pop. 15,923: an earlier Madonna and “The best picture in the world.
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This lovely medieval town is Piero’s birthplace and home.
We stop by the town’s pinoteca to see the magnificent Madonna della Misericordia, an early work of Piero commissioned by a confraternity of the Misericordia -- brethren who wore hoods as they anonymously performed their charitable acts out of love of God and neighbor.
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The Misericordia Polyptych is a resonant reflection of the spiritual and visual culture of Sansepolcro that helped shape Piero. As historians have recognized, the sacred and civic culture of Sansepolcro was distinctive in many respects. Primarily it was the the town’s association with the tomb of Christ, commemorated by its name and dedication to the Holy Sepulcre. The polyptich’s center predella depicting the Biblical scene at the tomb anchors the entire work (the predellas are thought to have been done by Piero’s assistants, however). Saint Sebastian, prominently rendered in the center left panel and typically portrayed with arrows piercing his body, is the protector against the plague, whose victims had been cared for in the hospital administered by the Misericordia since the early 14th century. With this work Piero has synthesized the sacred/civic blend at the heart of the town’s history.
What is different here? I am drawn to the polyptich’s uppermost center panel. The elderly Virgin’s weeping and the grieving Evangelist’s outflung arms evoke a visceral response to Christ’s death, so passionate a rendering that, oddly, we don’t see in his later works.
detail of elderly madonna and St. John the Evangelist
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Piero appears, sheltering under the Virgin’s mantle. He is not asleep as we’ll see him later in The Resurrection. Here he gazes reverently upward at the towering Madonna (who is traditionally portrayed as larger than ordinary humans at the time of Piero’s career).
detail of artist
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It is helpful to learn that this work was finished in 1462, just 114 years after the terrible outbreak of the Black Death had occurred, wiping out one third of the population of Florence and subsequently striking in Sansepolcro.
In this village there is also the Museo Civico, where we see is what has been called“The Best Picture in the world.” It is Piero’s masterpiece, “The Resurrection.”
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It is remarkably fresh for its age. Due, of course, to the fact that it had been covered -- some time after it had been painted, with a thick layer of plaster, under which it had laid hidden for a century or two, and revealed in a state of preservation. Its clear, yet subtly sober colors shine out from the wall. Protected from dampness and dirt, its splendor calls you back for second and third inspections...that’s Piero himself sleeping, with the black curly hair...I note that this Christ is strong and firm (despite the wound in his muscular flank), even athletic. This is Piero’s affirmation of the “triumphant Christ” who returns to plant his flag of victory over death and sin to a slumbering and suffering world.
This work anticipates the metaphysical in painting. At the same time it incorporates the intellectual fascination of the early Italian Renaissance for balanced geometrical design. Piero has made the simple triangular composition symbolic of the subject. The base of the triangle is formed by the sepulchre and the soldiers sleeping around it are made to indicate by their position the upward jet of the two sides, which meet at the apex in the face of the risen Christ.
Here is Georges Seurat’s 19th century homage to Piero’s Resurrection, in his “Bathers of Aznieres”
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During World War II the town of Sansepolcro was saved from destruction by the efforts of Tony Clarke, a British Royal Horse Artillery officer who halted the Allied artillery attack in order to save Piero della Francesca's fresco “Resurrection.” Why? He had read Aldous Huxley’s 1925 essay, proclaiming it “The Best Picture in the World.” There is now a street in the town bearing Clarke’s name.
Tomorrow: onward to Arezzo, where the film “Life is Good” was shot.
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Last edited Mon May 26, 2014, 06:57 PM - Edit history (1)
I have no doubt, however, that Piero was a devout Christian, indeed in those days people feared for their immortal souls in a big way. Art brought the religious messages to the masses. And the Church supported the arts which did so. We see this BIG time in the counter-Reformation...the church had to find a way to counter the Protestant movement and did so with Baroque period art, starting with Caravaggio. Gorgeous, dramatic scenes on canvas ensued. Chiarascuro was intensified. The emotional message registerd and Protestantism stopped before it reached France, Spain and esp. Italy...
Growing up Protestant, I had no such exposure as you had. There is a whole language of the saints in art...St. Lawrence carries a grill, St. Lucy has her breasts on a plate (or is it her eyeballs?), St. Sebastian has his body pierced with arrows. I had none of that growing up so I was at a disadvantage with my Roman Catholic friends. They'd all know and say "oh, that's so and so..." and I'd just scurry back to my art books to read about it...
Thanks CTYankee 