272, 273. Piero della Francesca (c. 1415-1492),

Italian, Diptych: Portrait of Duke Federico

da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza, c. 1465.

Oil and tempera on wood, 47 x 33 cm each panel.

Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

 

 

As it was painted from the funeral mask of the chief warrior Montefeltro, the face of the sitter remains hieratic. The profile portrait takes its inspiration from the ancient medals and testifies to a certain will to preserve conventional aspects: Federico is blind in one eye and this representation enables not to offend. Nevertheless, he is depicted with great realism (bent nose and wart are shown). The elegance of the portrait rejoins the precepts of Alberti (enounced in De Pictura). The recent discovering of oil painting enables more realism and subtlety, especially in the illusionism one can see in the background landscape.