Piero della Francesca: Poetic Paintings of Madonna and Child

A detail of "Virgin and Child Enthroned with Four Angels," circa 1460–70, by Piero della Francesca. This painting is one of seven Piero paintings in America. Public Domain

Piero della Francesca, one of the founding figures of the Early Italian Renaissance, occupies a special place in art history. His work is exalted by connoisseurs, fellow artists, and the general public. Devotees of Piero take pilgrimages along what is known as the “Piero della Francesca Trail,” making stops in the Italian regions of Tuscany and Le Marche to see notable works in situ.

Piero’s breathtaking frescos and paintings captivate a viewer’s attention through his masterful creation of illusionistic space, sculptural figures, luminous light and color, and divine atmosphere. Several of his most sublime artworks feature the Madonna and Child in a genre known as “sacra conversazione.”

A ‘Monarch’ of Painting

An illustration of Piero della Francesca from "Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects," 1648, by Giorgio Vasari. Internet Archive. Public Domain

Piero della Francesca (circa 1415/20–1492) was considered a “monarch” of painting in his lifetime. He was born in the small Tuscan town of Sansepolcro, then known as Borgo San Sepolcro, near the Umbrian border. In the 15th century, the town was prosperous, since it was located along trade and pilgrimage routes.

Little is known of Piero’s early life and artistic training. His advanced incorporation of linear perspective, as he was also a mathematical theorist, indicates that he must have been exposed to artists in greater Tuscany, especially Florence. By 1439, he was working in the Florentine city alongside Domenico Veneziano. Piero’s work reflects his influence, and he was also inspired by Paolo Uccello and Leon Battista Alberti.

It is believed that Piero never worked in Florence after the 1430s, though his increasing fame led to prestigious projects in the courts of Rome, Rimini, Ferrara, and Urbino. Patrons included a Who’s Who of the Quattrocento, such as the pope and the Duke of Urbino. However, Piero always returned to Sansepolcro, where he lived and created art throughout his life. He died in his hometown in 1492. Indeed, Sansepolcro features in the landscape of his early masterpiece, “The Baptism of Christ,” from about 1437–1445.

"The Baptism of Christ," after 1451, by Piero della Francesca. Egg tempera on poplar wood. National Gallery, London. Public Domain

Much of Piero’s work remains elusive in terms of date and meaning. His examples of “sacra conversazione” are no exception. The term translates as “holy conversation,” and is applied to an altarpiece that features a focal image of the Virgin and Child surrounded by attendant saints. Despite the genre’s name, it was rare during the 15th century for a painting’s figures to be literally engaged in conversation; rather, they were commonly shown in contemplation. Typically, a saint looks out at the viewer, engaging with them directly. Additionally, there is usually a gesture made by a saint that draws one’s eyes to the painting’s central grouping.

The Clark’s Virgin and Child

"Virgin and Child Enthroned With Four Angels," circa 1460–70, by Piero della Francesca. Oil possibly with some tempera on panel, transferred to fabric on panel; 42 7/16 inches by 30 7/8 inches. Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts. Public Domain

“Virgin and Child Enthroned With Four Angels” is an acclaimed work from Piero’s illustrious career. This large, completely intact altarpiece is now part of Massachusetts’s Clark Art Institute’s collection in the Berkshires, but it was originally commissioned for a church or private residence. It is one of only seven autograph artworks by Piero in an American museum collection, and it is the most beautiful.

At its center is the enthroned Virgin Mary and Jesus. She holds the Christ Child on her knee as he reaches for a rose. The rose symbolizes several things, including divine love, Christ’s humanity, and the Passion that is to come. Christ does not shy away from his fate. He reaches toward the flower anyway, and Mary does not pull it away from him. Instead, she looks at it intently, perhaps having a revelation of what it portends. The importance of the rose is emphasized by the carved rosette motif at the bottom of Mary’s marble throne.

The artwork’s setting is a shallow space composed of classical architectural elements, such as the columns and scrolling decoration at the top of the walls. Piero drew from Greco-Roman antiquity throughout his career. Coupled with the calmness of the figures, there is an air of stillness, harmony, and divinity in this oil on panel painting.

Four angels surround the Virgin and Child. Rendered to give the impression that they are three-dimensional, they appear as elegant marble statues wearing simple, draped robes and wings in contrasting colors. At right, the angel in red looks out at viewers and points to the Christ Child. The angel at left, dressed in white, casts a shadow across the base of the throne. Curators believe that the painting was hung initially to the right of a window and that the artist incorporated the actual light source.

The 1450s was a prolific decade for Piero. He started to work for the court of Urbino, for which it is believed he painted his renowned “Flagellation of Christ;” began production of a celebrated fresco cycle in the church of San Francesco in Arezzo known as “The Legend of the True Cross;” and he completed frescos for the Vatican palace. In subsequent decades, his rapport with Urbino’s ruler, Duke Federico da Montefeltro, grew. Piero received important commissions, including a double portrait diptych of the ruler and his wife, which has become one of the most admired portraits of the period.

San Bernardino Altarpiece

"Madonna and Child With Saints, Angels and Federico da Montefeltro (San Bernardino Altarpiece)," circa 1472, by Piero della Francesca. Tempera on panel. Brera Art Gallery, Milan, Italy. Public Domain

Piero’s “sacra conversazione” called “Madonna and Child With Saints, Angels and Federico da Montefeltro (San Bernardino Altarpiece)” features the duke among saints and angels. It belongs now to the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan. Curators believe Federico commissioned it after the birth of his male heir and the death of his wife, and that there are symbols of both events in the painting. The Pinacoteca writes that “the sleeping Child alludes to maternity and at the same time to death.”

The painting’s medium is tempera on panel and dates from 1472 to 1474. It is possible the altarpiece was intended to be housed in the church of San Bernardino in Urbino, built by the duke to house his own grave. The classical setting with its crisp light is similar to the “Virgin and Child Enthroned With Four Angels,” though this version features an apse and an archway. At the back of the former is an upturned scallop shell from which hangs an ostrich egg that has multiple meanings, like so many components in Piero’s work. In this case, it can be interpreted as representative of the world, the Virgin’s maternity, the heraldic emblem of the Montefeltro family, as well as the Passion and Resurrection. The final two are also symbolized by the red coral necklace worn by Christ. Coral necklaces were historically worn by children for protection and teething purposes.

In a semicircle around the Virgin and Child are, from the left, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Bernardine, Saint Jerome beating his chest with a stone, Saint Francis showing the stigmata, Saint Peter Martyr with a head wound, and Saint John the Evangelist. Behind them are bejeweled, celestial archangels. An armor-clad Federico, famed for his military might and arts patronage, kneels in front of the enthroned Madonna and Jesus.

Senigallia Madonna

“Madonna and Child With Two Angels (Senigallia Madonna)” between 1474 and 1478, by Piero della Francesca. Oil on board; 24 inches by 20 4/5 inches. National Gallery of the Marche, Urbino, Italy. Public Domain

Still in Urbino at the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche is another “sacra conversazione” by Piero from the time of his employment by Federico. This painting is smaller and more intimate. “Madonna and Child With Two Angels (Senigallia Madonna)” is in oil and tempera on panel and dates to 1474 or 1478. Scholars believe the duke gifted it to his daughter on the occasion of her marriage to Giovanni della Rovere, the lord of Senigallia.

The painting has a tightly cropped composition. In this version, the Madonna stands holding the Child in a pose reminiscent of ancient icons as two subdued angels stand behind them. The angel at left wears a glistening pearl pendant, which symbolizes purity. In this picture, Jesus wears a coral necklace and holds a white rose. Instead of a chapel setting, the figures are in an interior that resembles Urbino’s Ducal Palace. An opening at left shows another room that is beatifically lit.

“Madonna and Child With Two Angels” came to the Galleria, which is housed in Urbino’s Ducal Palace, from the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Senigallia in 1917. In 1975, it was one of three paintings stolen from the Palace, along with another work by Piero, “The Flagellation of Christ,” and a Raphael. Thieves broke in and sliced the pictures from their frames, making international news that was sensationalized as the “robbery of the century.” Tipped off by a Roman antiques dealer, the works were recovered the following year by Italy’s Carabinieri Department for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in Locarno, Switzerland.

Piero della Francesca created some of the most important and original artworks of the Renaissance. His paintings are legendary for their balance of majesty and austerity, geometry and color, awe and poignancy. Piero incorporated the latest techniques: accurate perspective progressed by the Florentine school, and the manipulation of light, realism, and use of oil paint from Netherlandish art. The apex of his magnificently refined paintings that transcend paint to become visual poetry include these three “sacra conversazioni” that offer infinite contemplative meditation.

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