The iconographic Mariology of Piero della Francesca (3rd part)

The *Madonna del parto* of Monterchi resembles every pregnant woman in the world. She is like them, worried and happy, exhausted and proud. All her fancies and thoughts are for the unborn child, her body becomes heavy and grows for him. There are two levels of representation: on one hand, an image of a pregnant woman so plausible and idealized that it becomes the emblem of an eternal condition: motherhood and human procreation. On the other, a figure of unfathomable mystery. Everything is spatial and human balance. Slowness, silence, sobriety, and composure, this is monumentalism in a time that does not last but eternity.

Piero’s greatness lies in finding the point of synthesis between these two levels of representation under the sign of a sublime, almost didactic naturalism. To capture the viewer’s gaze, his delicate eyes lower slightly to look at the fate of the Son.

It is the angels who show us the miracle happening. The two angels who lift the curtain of the military tent, the goose bumps of the lining indicate that this is a captain’s tent, they show us not a leader but a peaceful young woman about to give birth.

Our Serene and Contemplative Lady, who does not look anyone in the face, modestly opening her dress to show the pure, white, and innocent interior. The image of peace invites common sense between warring parties, causing us to reflect on the future that lies within a woman’s womb, a woman from the people surrounded by a small halo that makes her sacred in everyone’s thoughts, peace for all and many.

In 1452, with the death of Florentine painter Bicci di Lorenzo, Piero accepts the task of continuing his work in the great apse of San Francesco church in Arezzo, commissioned by the Bacci family. The Legend of the True Cross, reworked in the 13th century by Jacopo da Varagine in the Golden Legend, about the triumph of the Cross that, from Adam’s death, guides man to salvation, was a theme of great complexity. But Piero in the church’s choir paints his fantastical details in some of the most solemn and serene images in Western art.

Unforgettable is the scene of the Adoration of the Holy Wood by the Queen of Sheba and the women in her procession, of extreme elegance in their dress and bearing.

The Legend does not include the Announcement, which however is inserted at the will of the Franciscan Order, so that the Dream of Constantine and the Announcement confront each other as celestial interventions in a single salvation history.

The monumental Virgin differs from classic iconography of the Church of the Annunciation. In fact, she does not suffer passively the Angel’s announcement but welcomes it with an imposing and serene attitude.

The Virgin is found reading a prayer book, holding the sign with her finger to continue at the end of the visit, in an extremely realistic interpretation.

## Image 1:

A high-resized image of the Eternal Father, visible mid-length from above, extending his hands over a cloud to send the Holy Spirit to the Virgin Mary in golden rays of light, through which the Incarnation will take place.

## Image 2:

The Father and the Virgin are solid blocks of color, while Angel Gabriel, in his profile pose, evokes the tradition of the 14th century.

## Text:

Our thoughts turn to Piero’s first Annunciation, painted on two panels of the Polyptych of Mercy, where Archangel Gabriel resembles celestial beings from Beato Angélico, yet with a robust and vigorous body, alive and concrete.

## Image 3:

The Virgin of the Annunciation is depicted in a very realistic pose, her fingers pointing at a prayer book.

## Image 4:

A detailed image of the Annunciation scene from Piero’s polyptych, showcasing Mary with a flowing mantle, her hands gesturing towards a prayer book.

## Text:

From mid-1450s to 1468, Piero worked on a polyptych for the convent of Sant’Antonio alle Monache in Perugia. The composition includes an Annunciation at the apex, four saints surrounding Mary, and three panels depicting miracles in the predella. The Mother with the Child is central, seated on a rich throne with a golden background, adorned with applied silk damask. The faces of both Mother and Child are absorbed, thoughtful, almost sorrowful, reminiscent of Masaccio’s intensity and Domenico Veneziano’s quiet elevation.

The Annunciation stands out for its highly controlled perspective. The colonnade opens up into a clear, airy, and luminous escape in perspective, separating the figure of the Angel from the Annunciate. This draws her profile against the black background that gives depth to the scene. The finger on the book holds the sign of an interrupted prayer suddenly halted. Once again, a Virgin figure appears, attentive to the listening, ready to respond, who keeps the Word in her heart and meditates upon it assiduously.

The artist once again surpasses the limits imposed by the patrons with an antiquated artistic taste and, thanks to the use of oil paints, depicts a sunlit porch, extraordinarily elongated, in the series of capitals, towards the point of escape. Each arch and column cast a thin shadow strip onto the splendid courtyard, which seems to go beyond any architectural inspiration.