In the footsteps of Piero della Francesca

Our journey begins in Sansepolcro, where Piero della Franscesca was born around 1412. Here, you can visit the Civic Museum housing four splendid works by the artist, including the Polyptych of the Misericordia, which Piero was commissioned to create by the Sansepolcro confraternity of the Compagnia della Misericordia in 1445.
The central panel depicts the Virgin of Mercy, welcoming followers and devotees under her mantle, like a large tabernacle, with men on the left and women on the right.

Instead, in the Sala dell’Udienza in the Civic Museum, you can find the large fresco depicting the Resurrection. This work, considered among the artist’s most representative, is the human and spiritual expression of Christ’s rebirth, with the strong, solemn figure of the Savior dominating the scene. In the background, Piero choose to represent the sunrise, rising to symbolize the beginning of a new life.

Also at the Civic Museum, you can admire the fresco representing Saint Julian, which was found in 1954 in the ancient Church of Sant’Agostino, later named Santa Chiara. The Saint, depicted with a youthful face, is wrapped in an elegant red cloak that stands out against the antique green faux marble background.

Finally, we find the detached fresco depicting Saint Louis of Toulouse, from the Palazzo Pretorio, depicting the saint dressed in a Franciscan habit and a richly decorated bishop’s cope. In the background appears a mock niche with precious red and green marble.

Leaving Sansepolcro, the journey continues to Monterchi. In this delightful village, perched on a hill bordering Umbria, Piero della Francesca created the extraordinary fresco of the Madonna del Parto for the ancient Church of Santa Maria a Momentana.

Since 1991, the fresco has been housed in the Madonna del Parto Civic Museum. The iconography of the Virgin in waiting gives the image great sacredness and monumentality, with the Madonna bearing both a divine and human expression. By her side are two angels who, holding open the curtains of a pavilion, present the Madonna simply wearing a blue dress and white smock as she shows off her belly.

The itinerary in the realm of Piero continues and ends in Arezzo. The Bacci Chapel, in the Basilica of San Francesco, houses the fresco cycle of the Legend of the True Cross, the masterpiece the artist executed for the Franciscan church between about 1452 and 1466. The subject of the cycle is taken from the Legenda Aurea (Golden Legend) by Jacopo da Varazze, written in the 13ᵗʰ century.

Amidst landscapes dear to the artist and the painted architecture, we find Arezzo itself perched on the hillside along with Sansepolcro, with its buildings arranged in perspective as scenic backdrops, with elegant and geometrically perfect figures gracefully accompanying the viewer scene by scene into the story being told.

Finally, in the Cathedral of Arezzo, at the end of the left aisle, is the fresco depicting Mary Magdalene, one of the most beautiful figures painted by Piero, here truly striking due to the expressiveness of her face and her low, deep gaze, with light exalting the white and red of her cloak, the green of her dress and her rosy cheeks.