Westwards, over the hills from Urbino where we were a fortnight ago, we descend to the upper Tiber valley where Umbria meets Toscana, and we find the little cities where Piero della Francesca came from.
A little detail of Piero’s private painting for Duke Federigo da Montefeltro, his triumph
While this picture may indeed show the landscape on that wonderfully hairpinned journey between Urbino and Borgo San Sepolcro, its representation of the Cognoscenti team may be a little fanciful. But having just returned from looking at Pieros and smelling the air where they were painted, I can’t wait for the concentrated few days of our Piero della Francesca tour in September 2016.
The tour is on sale here, and places are filling up. It is unusual for Cognoscenti to focus so closely – not just on 15th century painting but on just one painter. Don’t be put off – for we are certainly not just a gallery-based course of study. The world of Piero della Francesca covers a vast richness of little walled cities and fine food, art collections and bustling piazzas, Renaissance patrons and the other artists Piero influenced or whose works he knew. (And what about geometry and perspective and all that? And even Luca Pacioli? And as for the local wines…)
9 October 2015
