Piero della Francesca

The Pieros in the National Gallery, London were bought out of Italy in the mid-nineteenth century by a shoe manufacturer Alexander Barker, a bold purchase of a then obscure artist by a man looked down on by the art establishment as nouveau riche. In the Baptism Christ is accompanied by a glowing group of angels, the middle one expressing astonishment at the event. Behind is a man struggling out of his shirt and another parched landscape, reflected in the river Jordan. The other Piero, the Nativity, has a grayer palette and is more informally composed, perhaps a nod to the many Flemish paintings circulating in Italy.

In his series of frescos in Arezzo of the Story of the True Cross, the most original is a night scene with the dream of Constantine. His most enigmatic painting, the Flagellation in Urbino, shows his mastery of architectural perspective. The group in the foreground has been accorded endless interpretations and possibly relates to the Montefeltro family, Dukes of Urbino. Two portraits of Federico da Montefeltro and his wife are in the Uffizi, with the sitters in triumphal cars on the reverse. In strict profile, they give nothing away except the unassailable right to rule. The panoramic landscapes on both sides, with mountains scattered about like molehills, recall Van Eyck in their scrupulous clarity. The Sacra Conversazione in the Brera Gallery, Milan is a late work painted to celebrate the birth of a son to Federico who kneels bravely caparisoned in shining armour. The figures have become a little stiff, grouped formally and without surprises. The famous ostrich egg suspended from the vault is a Montefeltro symbol of love and creation.