Urbino, Piero, Laurana, e Federigo

Great weekend: Arezzo, San Sepulchro, Urbino, Monterchi, and Remini to see most of Piero della Francesco's works.  I gained a new appreciation for Piero della Francesca.  His art is far before its time: he dabbles with form and abstraction in a manner that does not emerge until the 19th century.  In my opinion, Piero explores these questions of vision and representation more subtly and beautifully than modern artists who exclusively focus on them.  Not discounting his other works, I particularly enjoyed seeing The Resurrection of Christ in San Sepulcher and The Legend of the True Cross fresco cycle in Arezzo.

In Urbino, we saw the Flagellation of Christ, likely Piero's most famous work, but the palace itself impressed me the most.  The structural archictect, Luciana Laurana, created the palazzo with such proportions that each room and hall has a great sense of space, airiness, and light.  There is also speculation that he painted the Ideal City panel, which I believe, but I doubt that he did it alone.  At any rate, the panel shows his calm, rational approach to architecture.  Outside of the palace, in the courtyards and gardens, Laurana used evening-colored sandstone (which is very similar in color to the stone at Sewanee) and white marble, which create a much stronger sense of warmth than the coolness of the pietra serena used in Florence and the travertine in Rome.

It is said that Duke Federigo hold audience with anyone and never needed bodyguards.  His citizens loved him, and he could walk through the city alone without being disturbed.  Federigo created a court composed of many of the leading intellectuals and artists of his time.  Kenneth Clark, a famous English art historian, said that in the late 15th century, Urbino was the most civilized place on Earth.  The sense still lingers in the ducal palace.