Piero della Francesca, Madonna and Child with Saints, Angels, and Federico da Montefeltro

We're in the Brera Gallery in Milan, looking at Piero della Francesca's Madonna and Saints with Angels. We know it was taken from a church called San Bernardino in Urbino in the first decade of the 19th century. This was the moment when large parts of Italy were being taken by Napoleonic forces. And Napoleon often gave himself access to the treasures of that region. And many of those paintings and sculptures were sent to the Louvre in Paris, but some of them remained in Italy. And the Brera was a museum that Napoleon helped to create. In the lower right corner is Federico de Montefeltro. Federico is a great military leader, sold his services to multiple heads of state in Italy and made a fortune. And with that fortune established a humanist center in Urbino and became its leader. Montefeltro is here in the position where we often find patrons of paintings. And it is not unusual to see the person who commissioned, who paid an artist to make a painting, included within the painting, paying reverence to holy figures. And what's interesting is that Montefeltro is contemporary to the moment in which this painting was made. But the other figures come from a variety of different historical moments. This is called the Sacra Conversazione. It joins an image of Mary and Christ together with saints from different time periods. We have St. John the Baptist who is pointing to Christ, which is something that John commonly does. In the background is San Bernardino. Then holding a rock, we see St. Jerome. And on the other side, St. Francis, who opens his cloak to expose his stigmata, the wounds that he miraculously received on his body that mirrored the wounds of Christ. Behind that, St. Peter Martyr, who we can identify because he's got a wound in his head. And beside that, St. John the Evangelist holding a book. And we see four beautifully dressed angels. Just look at the wealth that they wear, a way of signifying spirituality. It's also in Mary's garment where we see gold embroidery and pearls, both around the collar and also at the hem of her garment. She wears this vivid, deep blue, which was a very expensive pigment. And she wears, underneath that blue mantle, very luxurious garment. This is a painting that, while feeling very solemn and quiet, also establishes the magnificence, the wealth, the education of Frederico de Montefeltro. Montefeltro gained enormous wealth through his military exploits. And he invested that money in the city of Urbino. And he surrounded himself with philosophers, with artists. And transformed what was basically a hilltop town into a major humanist center. And by humanism, we're referring to a revived interest in ancient Greek and especially Roman culture. And we can see that clearly in this painting. We see a coffered barrel vault, pilasters with lovely Corinthian capitals, a cornice, and acanthus vine motifs. All of these forms are borrowed from ancient Greek and Roman art, especially these beautiful panels of colored marble. This is ancient Roman architecture that has been transformed into a Christian context. But the architectural feature that I think people find most interesting is that beautiful scallop shell. And look at the way that the light plays across it, accentuating the concave and convex surfaces. And then hanging from it is this large egg. There's general agreement that it's an ostrich egg and that it refers to the Immaculate Conception. It's so elegant, the way it hangs directly over the Virgin Mary's head. And notice that the egg is not only echoed in the shape of the Virgin Mary's head, but also in the opening of her blue mantle. And in really interesting contrast to the solemnity and the symmetry of the Virgin Mary is the Christ child who lies on her lap in a position that seems so much more informal. Well, he's sleeping, but he's clearly meant to evoke the image of the Pieta, Mary holding the dead Christ. And in fact, he wears around him coral beads and a piece of rock crystal. They refer generally to Christ's sacrifice. If we look at Mary, we can see the light coming from the left. And there are other very carefully painted aspects of the light here, including in Montefeltro's armor, where we see a reflection of a window that must be in the space that we occupy. Look at the platform on which the Virgin Mary is seated and the way that that carpet recedes so perfectly back in space, or the foreshortened view that we have of the barrel vault and the coffers and the way that they are so compressed and yet create this illusion of deep space. I think that's a great reminder of the incredible naturalism that Piero is able to achieve. He's got figures who stand solidly on the ground. They cast shadows. They're modeled in three dimensions. They're all individuals standing within this very believable space. What a complicated and extraordinary testament to the achievements of this humanistic moment in Italy in the 15th century, this coming together of military power, of intellectual endeavor, and of artistic mastery.