by Shirley Smith
2016 will be the 600th Anniversary of the birth of Piero fella Francesca and so the perfect opportunity to revisit the work of this enigmatic painter. His grave, solid figures set in a timeless landscape and lit by a clear light encapsulates the X harmony of man and his world that lay at the heart of Italian Renaissance thought, a perfect fusion of light and logic which, while reflecting his native countryside, conveys a spirituality that reaches out over time and boundaries. Whether working in the service of the Church or of his patron, Federigo da Montefeltro, his paintings radiate a serenity and timelessness which will take us far beyond the anniversary.
Shirley Smith graduated from the University of East Anglia with a First Class Honours dDegree in the History of Art, specialising in the Italian and Northern Renaissance Art and Architecture. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a part-time .lecturer for the University of East Anglia and for the Department of Continuing Education of the University of Cambridge. She has run Study Days and Certificate courses as well as residential weekend courses. She also lectures to the Art Fund and individual clubs and societies. She is particularly keen to set the art and architecture of the period in the context of the society for which it was produced.
Suggested reading: –
Piero della Francesca – Anna Maria Maetzke – Silvana Press 2012
Piero della Francesca: The Legend of the True Cross in the Church of S. Francesca in Arezzo – Carlo Bertelli(editor) – Skira Editire 2002
The Piero della Francesca Trail – John Pope-Hennessey & Aldous Huxley – Little Bookroom, US 2002