Piero di Cosimo - Liberazione di Andromeda - Google Art Project

Piero di Cosimo (2 January 1462 – 12 April 1522), also known as Piero di Lorenzo, was an Italian painter of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

. He is most famous for the mythological and allegorical subjects he painted in the late

Quattrocento The cultural and artistic events of Italy during the period 1400 to 1499 are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento (, , ) from the Italian word for the number 400, in turn from , which is Italian for the year 1400. The Quattrocento encom ...

; he is said to have abandoned these to return to religious subjects under the influence of

Savonarola Girolamo Savonarola, OP (, , ; 21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498) or Jerome Savonarola was an Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He was known for his prophecies of civic glory, the destruction ...

, the preacher who exercised a huge sway in Florence in the 1490s, and had a similar effect on

Botticelli Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), known as Sandro Botticelli (, ), was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th century, when he was rediscovered ...

. The

High Renaissance In art history, the High Renaissance was a short period of the most exceptional artistic production in the Italian states, particularly Rome, capital of the Papal States, and in Florence, during the Italian Renaissance. Most art historians stat ...

style of the new century had little influence on him, and he retained the straightforward realism of his figures, which combines with an often whimsical treatment of his subjects to create the distinctive mood of his works.

Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculpt ...

has many stories of his eccentricity, and the mythological subjects have an individual and quirky fascination. He trained under

Cosimo Rosselli Cosimo Rosselli (; 1439–1507) was an Italian painter of the Quattrocento, active mainly in his birthplace of Florence, but also in Pisa earlier in his career and in 1481–82 in the Sistine Chapel in Rome, where he painted some of the large ...

, whose daughter he married, and assisted him in his

Sistine Chapel The Sistine Chapel (; la, Sacellum Sixtinum; it, Cappella Sistina ) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the pope in Vatican City. Originally known as the ''Cappella Magna'' ('Great Chapel'), the chapel takes its nam ...

frescos. He was also influenced by

Early Netherlandish painting Early Netherlandish painting, traditionally known as the Flemish Primitives, refers to the work of artists active in the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands during the 15th- and 16th-century Northern Renaissance period. It flourished especia ...

, and busy landscapes feature in many works, often forests seen close at hand. Several of his most striking secular works are in the long "landscape" format used for paintings inset into

cassone A cassone (plural ''cassoni'') or marriage chest is a rich and showy Italian type of chest, which may be inlaid or carved, prepared with gesso ground then painted and gilded. ''Pastiglia'' was decoration in low relief carved or moulded in ges ...

wedding chests or

spalliera A spalliera (Plural: spalliere) is a decorated backboard mounted on a wall, often behind a cassone (a wooden chest used for storage), or as a headboard to a bed. It is usually made out of wood and embellished with decorative aspects such as intri ...

headboards or panelling. He was apparently famous for designing the temporary decorations for

Carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival t ...

and other festivities.

Biography

Piero di cosimo, san giovannino, 1490-1500 ca

The son of a goldsmith, Lorenzo di Piero, Piero was born in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

and apprenticed under the artist Cosimo Rosseli, from whom he derived his popular name and whom he assisted in the painting of the

in 1481. In the first phase of his career, Piero was influenced by the Netherlandish naturalism of

Hugo van der Goes Hugo van der Goes (c. 1430/1440 – 1482) was one of the most significant and original Early Netherlandish painting, Flemish painters of the late 15th century. Van der Goes was an important painter of altarpieces as well as portraits. He introduce ...

, whose ''

Portinari Triptych The Portinari Altarpiece or Portinari Triptych (c. 1475) is an oil on wood triptych painting by the Flanders, Flemish painter Hugo van der Goes, commissioned by Tommaso Portinari, representing the Adoration of the Shepherds. It measures 253 x 30 ...

'' (now at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence) helped to lead the whole of Florentine painting into new channels. From him, most probably, Cosimo acquired the love of landscape and the intimate knowledge of the growth of flowers and of animal life. The manner of Hugo van der Goes is especially apparent in the ''Adoration of the Shepherds'', at the Berlin Museum. He journeyed to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in 1482 with his master, Rosselli. He proved himself a true child of the

by depicting subjects of Classical mythology in such pictures as '' Venus, Mars, and Cupid'', ''The Death of Procris'', the Perseus and Andromeda series, at the Uffizi, and many others. Inspired to the

Vitruvius Vitruvius (; c. 80–70 BC – after c. 15 BC) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work entitled '' De architectura''. He originated the idea that all buildings should have three attribut ...

' account of the evolution of man, Piero's mythical compositions show the bizarre presence of hybrid forms of men and animals, or the man learning to use fire and tools. The multitudes of nudes in these works shows the influence of

Luca Signorelli Luca Signorelli ( – 16 October 1523) was an Italian Renaissance painter from Cortona in Tuscany, who was noted in particular for his ability as a draftsman and his use of foreshortening. His massive frescos of the ''Last Judgment'' (1499–15 ...

on Piero's art. During his lifetime, Piero acquired a reputation for eccentricity—a reputation enhanced and exaggerated by later commentators such as

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work '' The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculp ...

, who included a biography of Piero di Cosimo in his ''

Lives of the Artists ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'' ( it, Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori), often simply known as ''The Lives'' ( it, Le Vite), is a series of artist biographies written by 16th-ce ...

''. Reportedly, he was frightened of thunderstorms, and so pyrophobic that he rarely cooked his food; he lived on a diet of hard-

boiled egg Boiled eggs are eggs, typically from a chicken, cooked with their shells unbroken, usually by immersion in boiling water. Hard-boiled eggs are cooked so that the egg white and egg yolk both solidify, while soft-boiled eggs may leave the yolk ...

s, which he prepared 50 at a time while boiling glue for his artworks. He also resisted any cleaning of his studio, or trimming of the fruit trees of his orchard; he lived, wrote Vasari, "more like a beast than a man". If, as Vasari asserts, he spent the last years of his life in gloomy retirement, the change was probably due to preacher

Girolamo Savonarola Girolamo Savonarola, OP (, , ; 21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498) or Jerome Savonarola was an Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He was known for his prophecies of civic glory, the destruction of ...

, under whose influence he turned his attention once more to religious art. The death of his master Roselli may also have affected Piero's morose elder years. The '' Immaculate Conception with Saints'', at the

Uffizi The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...

, and the ''Holy Family'', at

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

, illustrate the religious fervour to which he was stimulated by Savonarola. Moses_Rosselli

With the exception of the landscape background in Rosselli's fresco of the ''Sermon on the Mount'', in the Sistine Chapel, there is no record of any fresco work from his brush. On the other hand, Piero enjoyed a great reputation as a portrait painter: the most famous of his work is in fact the portrait of a Florentine noblewoman, ''

Simonetta Vespucci Simonetta Vespucci (née Cattaneo; 1453 – 26 April 1476), nicknamed ''la bella Simonetta'', was an Italian noblewoman from Genoa, the wife of Marco Vespucci of Florence and the cousin-in-law of Amerigo Vespucci. She was known as the grea ...

'', mistress of

Giuliano de' Medici Giuliano de' Medici (25 October 1453 – 26 April 1478) was the second son of Piero de' Medici (the Gouty) and Lucrezia Tornabuoni. As co-ruler of Florence, with his brother Lorenzo the Magnificent, he complemented his brother's image as the ...

. According to Vasari, Piero excelled in designing pageants and triumphal processions for the pleasure-loving youths of Florence, and gives a vivid description of one such procession at the end of the carnival of 1507, which illustrated the triumph of death. Piero di Cosimo exercised considerable influence upon his fellow pupils Albertinelli and Bartolomeo della Porta, and was the master of

Andrea del Sarto Andrea del Sarto (, , ; 16 July 1486 – 29 September 1530) was an Italian painter from Florence, whose career flourished during the High Renaissance and early Mannerism. He was known as an outstanding fresco decorator, painter of altar-pieces ...

. Vasari gave Piero's date of death as 1521, and this date is still repeated by many sources, including the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...

''. However, contemporary documents reveal that he died of plague on 12 April 1522. He is featured in

George Eliot Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrot ...

's novel ''

Romola ''Romola'' (1862–63) is a historical novel written by Mary Ann Evans under the pen name of George Eliot set in the fifteenth century. It is "a deep study of life in the city of Florence from an intellectual, artistic, religious, and social poin ...

''.

Selected works

*''Madonna and Child Enthroned with Sts. Peter, John the Baptist, Dominic, and Nicholas of Bari'' (1481–85) tempera and oil on panel, St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri Piero di Cosimo - Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints

Piero di Cosimo - Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints

*'' Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci'' (c. 1480) Oil on panel, 57 x 42 cm, Musée Condé, Chantilly, France *''The Visitation with Saints Nicholas and Anthony'' (1489–1490) Wood, 184 x 189,

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of ch ...

, Washington *'' Venus, Mars, and Cupid'' (1490) Wood panel, 72 x 182 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin *''Vulcan and Aeolus'' (c. 1490) Oil and tempera on canvas,

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the ...

, Ottawa *''

St Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and resurre ...

'' (1490s) Tempera on panel, 72,5 x 76 cm,

Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica The Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica or National Gallery of Ancient Art is an art museum in Rome, Italy. It is the principal national collection of older paintings in Rome – mostly from before 1800; it does not hold any antiquities. It has two ...

, Rome *''Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria'' (1493) Oil on panel, Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence *''Jason and Queen Hypsipyle with the Women of Lemnos'' (ca 1499) Private CollectionDennis Geronimus, ''Piero Di Cosimo: Visions Beautiful and Strange'', (Yale University Press), 2006 fig. 122 *
Tritons and Nereids
', Oil on Panel, 37x158 cm, Milan
Altomani
collection *''Allegory'' (1500) Panel, National Gallery of Art, Washington *''The Nativity with The Infant St. John'' (c.1500) Oil on panel,

, Washington *''St. John the Evangelest'' (1504–06) Oil on panel,

Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. The museum has one of the largest single co ...

*'' The Discovery of Honey by Bacchus'' (c. 1505–1510) Oil on panel, Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts *''The Finding of Vulcan on Lemnos'' (1495–1505) Oil and tempera on canvas,

Wadsworth Atheneum The Wadsworth Atheneum is an art museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth is noted for its collections of European Baroque art, ancient Egyptian and Classical bronzes, French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School lands ...

, Hartford, Connecticut *''

Perseus Freeing Andromeda ''Perseus Freeing Andromeda'' or ''Liberation of Andromeda'' is a painting created by Piero di Cosimo, during the Italian Renaissance. The painting was praised by critics and art historians for its aesthetic, cosmological and political implica ...

'' (c. 1515) Oil on wood, 70 x 123 cm,

, Florence *''Portraits of

Giuliano People with the Italian given name or surname Giuliano () have included: In arts and entertainment Surname * Geoffrey Giuliano, American author * Maurizio Giuliano, writer and Guinness-record-holding traveler Given name * Giuliano Gemma, actor ...

and Francesco Giamberti da Sangallo'' (c. 1485) Diptych, wood panel, 47,5 x 33,5 cm,

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the ...

, Amsterdam *'' The Death of Procris'' (c. 1500) Oil on panel, 65 x 183 cm,

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

, London *''Virgin with Child, St. John the Baptist and an Angel'' (c. 1500–1510) Oil on panel, diameter 129 cm,

São Paulo Museum of Art The São Paulo Museum of Art ( pt, Museu de Arte de São Paulo, or ') is an art museum located on Paulista Avenue in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. It is well known for its headquarters, a 1968 concrete and glass structure designed by Lina Bo ...

, São Paulo *''The Adoration of the Christ Child'' (1505) Oil on wood,

Galleria Borghese The Galleria Borghese () is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, housed in the former Villa Borghese Pinciana. At the outset, the gallery building was integrated with its gardens, but nowadays the Villa Borghese gardens are considered a separate touris ...

, Rome *'' The Forest Fire'' (c. 1505) Oil on panel, 71 x 202 cm,

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University o ...

, Oxford *'' Immaculate Conception with Saints'' (c. 1510 or c. 1498) Wood panel, 206 x 172 cm,

, Florence *''The Misfortunes of Silenus'' (c.1505–1510) Oil on panel, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts *'' The Myth of Prometheus'' (1515) Oil on panel,

Alte Pinakothek The Alte Pinakothek (, ''Old Pinakothek'') is an art museum located in the Kunstareal area in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses a significant collection of Old Master paintings. The name Alte (Old) Pi ...

, Munich and Musée des Beaux-Arts, Strasbourg *''The Building of a Palace'' (1515–20) oil on panel, 83 x 197 cm,

Ringling Museum of Art The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art is the official state art museum of Florida, located in Sarasota, Florida. It was established in 1927 as the legacy of Mable Burton Ringling and John Ringling for the people of Florida. Florida State Univ ...

, Sarasota, Florida *''Madonna and Child with Saints and Angels'' (c.1520) oil on wood panel,

Philbrook Museum of Art Philbrook Museum of Art is an art museum with expansive formal gardens located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The museum, which opened in 1939, is located in a former 1920s villa, "Villa Philbrook", the home of Oklahoma oil pioneer Waite Phillips and his ...

, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Gallery

File:Piero di Cosimo - Portrait de femme dit de Simonetta Vespucci - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Portrait of

'', oil on panel painting, c. 1480, 57 x 42 cm, Musée Condé, Chantilly, France File:Piero di Cosimo (Piero di Lorenzo) - St. John the Evangelist, c. 1500.jpg, ''

St. John the Evangelist John the Evangelist ( grc-gre, Ἰωάννης, Iōánnēs; Aramaic: ܝܘܚܢܢ; Ge'ez: ዮሐንስ; ar, يوحنا الإنجيلي, la, Ioannes, he, יוחנן cop, ⲓⲱⲁⲛⲛⲏⲥ or ⲓⲱ̅ⲁ) is the name traditionally given t ...

'', oil on panel, 1504-6,

, USA File:Piero di Cosimo - Venus, Mars and Cupid - Gemäldegalerie Berlin - framed.jpg, ''Venus, Mars and Cupid'', c. 1505, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin File:Piero di Cosimo 023.jpg, ''Visitation, with Saints Nicolas and Anthony Abbot'', c. 1490,

, Washington DC

References

* Hartt, Frederick, ''History of Italian Renaissance Art'', (2nd edn.)1987, Thames & Hudson (US Harry N Abrams), *

External links

*
''Italian Paintings: Florentine School''
a collection catalog containing information about di Cosimo and his works (see pages: 174–180).
''Project Piero di Cosimo''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cosimo, Piero Di 1462 births 1522 deaths 15th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 16th-century Italian painters Painters from Florence Italian Renaissance painters 16th-century deaths from plague (disease)