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PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA
The Baptism of Christ (c. 1442)

Egg tempera on oil on wood, 167cm X l16cm/66in X 45 3/4in

Piero della Francesca is now considered one of the most important painters of the fifteenth century Italian Renaissance, although his work was overlooked For a long time. Piero came from Borgo San Sepolcro - a small town in Umbria. The Baptism was thought to have been painted for a church in this town. Piero workedl in Floreence under the Venetian master Domenico Veneziano and Piero's early work shows in particular how he assimilated for example Florentine ideas on perspective and the organization of space.

Some of Piero’s later paintings reflect a strong Flemish influence, most likely due to the presence of Flemish paintings and artists in Italy at the time. Although he lived until 1492, Piero appears to have stopped painting in the 1470s which was probably due to an over­riding interest in perspective and mathematics on which he wrote two treatises.

The fifteenth century artists, Perugino and Signorelli, were probably both pupils of Piero’s: and his influence was to he felt not only by them, but also by many other artists particularly in the areas in which he worked. for example Ferrara and Umbria. This reflects the Important commu-nication of chits and techniques which obviously promoted the growth and development of Renaissance art.

Piero worked both in egg tempera, as in The Baptism and in oil. He was working at the time when the emphasis in painting was shifting from tempera to oil. However, there is a growing hody of evidence which indicates that this transition took place gradually rather than suddenly as was traditionally thought. Many artists at the time of Piero used both tempera and oil, even combining the two in one painting.

For this reason. it is generally dangerous to assume that all works in tempera by a particular artist must be from an early period and those executed in oil from a later - one. Nevertheless, with further research and im­proving methods of scientific analysis, it may one day be possible to prove that Piero was as important and innovative an artist in fifteenth century Italian painting techniques as he was in other fields.

Piero’s reputation languished for many years, and his work was only ‘rediscovered' towards the end of the nineteenth century. The Baptistit was bought by the National Gallery. London in 1860, at a time when Piero’s works were beginning to attract more wide­spread attention in the art world,.

Pouncing.
Pouncing was a technique used for transferring complicated details on to the painting surface. The lines of a drawing were punctured to create a series of small perforations. The paper was then laid over the gesso ground or, in fresco, otter tile plaster, and dusted wit!t charcoal powder. Tins penetrated time holes lraoing malt dots on the gromomd from rohidi the artist outlined the picture.

The Baptism is painted on a panel constructed of Iwo wide poplar planks with a vertical grain. The panel has been prepa red with a thick and unusually hard ~rou,id nine/i suggests a high proportion of glue in the gesso. The preliminary drawing is simple; however, Piero probably made full-sized cart ions for some of the more complicated details, although none of these have survived, the pigments used are standardfor f/ic period. For example, the robe of theangel on the left was painted with ultramarine, the foliage is verdigris and the flesh areas have been underpainted in the traditional green earth. That a number of forms have been painted on top of one another indicates Piero’s unusual tendency to complete forms even when they were to be covered over.

The paint medium for St. Michael has been identified as a walnut oil . The flesh has been underpainted with a brownish under-modelling as opposed to the green earth of The Baptism, although a little green has beed added to the upper layers of the flesh paint to give a slightly green tinge.

In St. Michael the head of the shepherd has been badly damaged in the past probably by over-cleaning, so that now little more than the brown and undermodelling. The firm , confident underdrawing outlining the main features is typical of Piero's technique.

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