Word: arezzo
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Once Piero had returned from his travels to Arezzo, the wealthy Bacci family commissioned what is widely considered his masterpiece in the city's Basilica of San Francesco. The Legend of the True Cross, a complex yet perfectly proportioned fresco cycle of 12 panels, uses contemporary models and references to tell the ancient legend of how the Emperor Constantine's mother discovered Christ's cross during a pilgimage to the Holy Land. The modest "skyline" of 15th century Arezzo, for example, served as his model for biblical Jerusalem...
...After a nearly 15-year restoration that was completed in 2000, the fresco has become a must-see stop on any Tuscan art lover's itinerary. It is this (necessarily permanent) presence of The Legend of the True Cross in Arezzo, along with other notable Piero works housed in his birthplace of Borgo Sansepolcro and the nearby village of Monterchi, that make the current exhibit so powerful. The unprecedented collection of his six paintings on display - brought in from the Louvre and Uffizi, among other sources - shares the billing with Piero's famous works already residing in and around Arezzo...
...central exhibit, which features some 100 works by artists influenced by Piero and five of his own mathematical treatises, is being billed as the Renaissance art exhibit of the year in Italy, and an unprecedented chance for Arezzo to spread its wings. "Piero has become the very expression of the city's identity," says Arezzo's commissioner of culture Camillo Brezzi, noting the importance of the True Cross restoration in drawing visitors. "But like all of Italy really, this remains a small town no matter how big it might get." With its medieval architecture and steep cobblestone streets, the city...
...portraiture a strikingly modern aspect. "It is almost hyper-realism," Bertelli says. "The faces are gigantic compared to the background landscape, making them monumental." The same attention to character is evident in his frescoes. La Madonna del Parto (The Pregnant Madonna) in Monterchi and La Maddelena (Mary Magdalene) in Arezzo's cathedral feature a similar female face, which is both angelic and a touch uneasy. Bertelli says the artist is able to capture the fleeting emotion of his subjects: "It's almost as if the person was obligated for some mysterious reason to stay there. It was destiny to arrive...
...Following his travels and years of service in the courts of nobles, Piero spent most of his later life in Borgo Sansepolcro and Arezzo. He died on Oct. 12, 1492, the very same day Genoa native Christopher Columbus landed in America - an unlikely reminder that travel can yield discoveries of limitless and priceless variety...