Piero Della Fransesca Herakles Artwork
HERAKLES BY Piero della Francesca
From: http://www.gardnermuseum.org/collection/browse?filter=artist:1899
Piero della Francesca (c. 1415[1] – October 12, 1492) was a painter of the Early Renaissance. As testified by Giorgio Vasari in his Lives of the Artists, to contemporaries he was also known as a mathematician and geometer. Nowadays Piero della Francesca is chiefly appreciated for his art. His painting was characterized by its serene humanism, its use of geometric forms and perspective. His most famous work is the cycle of frescoes "The Legend of the True Cross" in the church of San Francesco in the Tuscan town of Arezzo.
Statistics:
About 1470
Piero della Francesca, Italian, c 1415–1492
Fresco, 151 x 126 cm
Genre: European Art, Paintings
Location: Early Italian Room
This fresco depicting Hercules comes from the artist’s own house in Borgo Sansepolcro.
The image of the ancient hero was originally positioned in the upper corner of a room, with its right edge bordering a wall, which explains the steep perspective.
Hercules stands at a threshold. Beyond, we can see a ceiling with wooden beams decorated with foliage. Piero della Francesca chose to portray Hercules as a youth, rather than as the bearded and muscle-bound figure familiar in ancient sculpture. Ideal nudes were a major concern of the Italian Renaissance. Although Hercules was commonly associated with goodness and civic virtue, it is not clear why the artist chose to paint the young Hercules in his own residence. Perhaps the painting of a classical nude in unusually steep perspective was a compelling artistic challenge. Does the almost-awkward figure, tentatively poised in a doorway, express the sense of doubt that comes when confronting an important decision?
Many artists who have painted Hercules have painted him acting vigorously, bashing about with his cudgel, killing lions, and pursuing people. Not Piero della Francesca. His Hercules is a young man with a grave face. He holds
From: http://www.gardnermuseum.org/collection/browse?filter=artist:1899
Piero della Francesca (c. 1415[1] – October 12, 1492) was a painter of the Early Renaissance. As testified by Giorgio Vasari in his Lives of the Artists, to contemporaries he was also known as a mathematician and geometer. Nowadays Piero della Francesca is chiefly appreciated for his art. His painting was characterized by its serene humanism, its use of geometric forms and perspective. His most famous work is the cycle of frescoes "The Legend of the True Cross" in the church of San Francesco in the Tuscan town of Arezzo.
Statistics:
About 1470
Piero della Francesca, Italian, c 1415–1492
Fresco, 151 x 126 cm
Genre: European Art, Paintings
Location: Early Italian Room
This fresco depicting Hercules comes from the artist’s own house in Borgo Sansepolcro.
The image of the ancient hero was originally positioned in the upper corner of a room, with its right edge bordering a wall, which explains the steep perspective.
Hercules stands at a threshold. Beyond, we can see a ceiling with wooden beams decorated with foliage. Piero della Francesca chose to portray Hercules as a youth, rather than as the bearded and muscle-bound figure familiar in ancient sculpture. Ideal nudes were a major concern of the Italian Renaissance. Although Hercules was commonly associated with goodness and civic virtue, it is not clear why the artist chose to paint the young Hercules in his own residence. Perhaps the painting of a classical nude in unusually steep perspective was a compelling artistic challenge. Does the almost-awkward figure, tentatively poised in a doorway, express the sense of doubt that comes when confronting an important decision?
Many artists who have painted Hercules have painted him acting vigorously, bashing about with his cudgel, killing lions, and pursuing people. Not Piero della Francesca. His Hercules is a young man with a grave face. He holds