Piero di Cosimo

Piero di Cosimo Pittor Fiorentino . Illustration from Le Vite by Giorgio Vasari (1568)

Piero di Cosimo , so named after his teacher Cosimo Rosselli , actually: Piero di Lorenzo Ubaldini (born January 2, 1462 in Florence , † April 12, 1521 ibid), was an Italian painter and draftsman of the Renaissance .

Live and act

Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci

The Visit (The Visitation)

Piero di Cosimo was the son of the goldsmith Lorenzo di Piero d'Antonio and a pupil and assistant of Cosimo Rosselli, with whom he worked in Rome on the frescoes “The Passage through the Red Sea” and “Sermon on the Mount” in the Sistine Chapel . Little reliable information is available about Piero's life. The attributions of his works are often controversial.

Cosimo's work seems to reflect the development of Florentine painting during the transition between the 15th and 16th centuries. Influences from Filippino Lippi , Ghirlandaio , Luca Signorelli and Leonardo in particular and the Milan School in general can be seen. He himself influenced well-known artists of subsequent periods, including Andrea del Sarto , Jacopo da Pontormo , Franciabigio and other outstanding masters.

Giorgio Vasari , the art writer of the Renaissance, described him as a difficult and eccentric person, a loner. His mythological pictures are also unconventional with their often unusual and unusual themes. His most interesting creations are some mythological compositions (the story of Perseus in the Uffizi in Florence, Venus, Cupid and Mars in the Berlin Gemäldegalerie). In addition to these paintings, he painted others with religious motifs, a number of altarpieces and portraits . In his painting style he differs from his Florentine contemporaries through his warm colors, a Leonardo-trained treatment of light and shadow and a close study of nature, combined with a preference for landscape painting.

Works (selection)

Piero di Cosimo - The Liberation of Andromeda

None of Piero di Cosimo's pictures are dated or signed by hand.

Portraits of Francesco Giamberti and Giuliano di Sangallo , 1482, diptych , Rijksmuseum Amsterdam ,
Venus, Mars and Amor , ~ 1505, Staatliche Gemäldesammlungen , Berlin

Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci , Condé Museum , Chantilly
St. Family with Johannesknabe , Old Masters Picture Gallery , Dresden; Tondo
Perseus frees Andromeda , ~ 1515, Uffizi Gallery , Florence; Spalliera or cassone picture
From the Prometheus saga , ~ 1487–89, 2 plates, Alte Pinakothek , Munich and Musée des Beaux-Arts , Strasbourg

Death of Prokris , ~ 1488–1510, National Gallery , London
Battle between Lapiths and Centaurs , ~ 1500–1515, National Gallery, London; Spalliera or cassone picture

Scenes from Prehistory , Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York
Mary with the child and a dove , the so-called Dove Madonna , Louvre , Paris
Mary with the Child and the Johannesknaben , Musée des Beaux-Arts, Strasbourg

literature

Mina Bacci: Piero di Cosimo . Bramante, Milan 1966, ( Antichi pittori italiani ).
Anna Forlani Tempesti, Elena Capretti: Piero di Cosimo. Catalogo completo . Octavo, Firenze 1996, ISBN 88-8030-017-2 , ( Biblioteca d 'arte Prima serie 5).

Individual evidence

^ Paul Johnson: The Renaissance , Berlin 2002

Web links

Commons : Piero di Cosimo - Collection of images, videos and audio files

personal data
SURNAME	Cosimo, Piero di
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Cosimo, Pietro di; Lorenzo, Piero di
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Italian painter
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1462
PLACE OF BIRTH	Florence
DATE OF DEATH	around 1521
Place of death	Florence

[1] Paul Johnson: The Renaissance , Berlin 2002