Piero di Cosimo
Born – Florence, Italy c.1462
Died – Florence, Italy c.1521
A pupil of Cosimo Rosselli, Piero di Cosimo adopted his master’s Christian name. He was influenced by Leonardo da Vinci and Signorelli but painted allegories and classical myths in a singular, imaginative style consistent with contemporary accounts of him as an eccentric and a recluse. Vasari, in his fifteenth-century account of artists’ lives, for example, records Piero’s extreme love of nature and his unlikely diet of hard-boiled eggs as evidence of his idiosyncratic tendencies. In A Satyr Mourning over a Nymph, Piero de Cosimo depicts the personal tragedy of infidelity and jealousy of a young couple, believed to have been Cephalus and Procris. While his handling of their suffering is tender and convincing, the painting is equally remarkable for the artist’s rendition of the effects of natural light and his keen observation of animals. The depiction of the faithful dog is particularly impressive. The painting, which is on wood, was probably designed to adorn a bench or a chest in a Florentine town house. He also painted a few religious works, and worked on designs for festivals, masques and processions.
Masterpieces:
- Fight Between the Lapiths and the Centaurs
- Immaculate Conception
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.
Books About piero di cosimo
Piero di Cosimo: Fiction, Invention and fantasia
Sharon Fermor
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Piero di Cosimo: Visions Beautiful and Strange
Mr. Dennis Geronimus
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Piero di Cosimo: Ein Übergangsmeister vom Florentiner Quattrocento zum Cinquecento (German Edition)
Fritz Knapp
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