Friday 19 June 2015, 12.45 – 19.30 (with registration from 12.15)
Saturday 20 June 2015, 10.00 – 17.30 (with registration from 9.30)
Kenneth Clark Lecture Theatre, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN and Sainsbury Wing Theatre, The National Gallery, London
The role of design (disegno) is fundamental to understanding the working practice of Piero della Francesca. While none of his works on paper survive, research conducted in the past decade by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure and the Sherman Fairchild Paintings Conservation Center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art has revealed Piero’s obsessive working and reworking of compositions. Disegno, in the period sense of the term, was also a problem-solving tool, a catalyst for invention, and an effective means of communication.
Problems raised by Piero’s earliest known work, the Baptism (The National Gallery, London) which was part of the San Giovanni d’Afra triptych (Museo Civico, Sansepolcro), introduce the practical and conceptual implications of Piero’s approach to disegno and will serve to open this conference. The following sessions will be dedicated to the composition of his frescoes, the role of underdrawings in his paintings, the use of geometrical figures in his mathematical treatises, the transmission of his style, and the place of architecture in his career.
Organised by Professor Emeritus James R. Banker (North Caroline State University), Professor Tom Henry (University of Kent), Dr Machtelt Brüggen Israëls (University of Amsterdam), Dr Scott Nethersole (The Courtauld Institute of Art), Dr Nathaniel Silver (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum), and Dr Caroline Campbell (National Gallery, London)
Ticket/entry details: £26 (£16 students, Courtauld staff/students and concessions) Through generous support from the Society for Renaissance Studies, a limited number of complimentary places are available for research students. To apply for one of these places, please send a brief description of your studies to ResearchForum@courtauld.ac.uk, Attention: Piero Organisers.
BOOK ONLINE: http://courtauld-institute.digitalmuseum.co.uk
Or send a cheque made payable to ‘The Courtauld Institute of Art’ to: Research Forum Events Co-ordinator, Research Forum, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN, stating ‘Piero della Francesca’. For further information, email ResearchForum@courtauld.ac.uk.
PROGRAMME
| FRIDAY | |
| 12.15 | Registration |
| 12.45 | Introduction |
| SESSION I: Design and Construction of the Altarpiece for San Giovanni Battista in Val d’Afra | |
| 13.00 | The State of Research on the Baptism
Rachel Billinge, Caroline Campbell and Britta New (The National Gallery, London) |
| 13.30 | The San Giovanni Battista in Val d’Afra Altarpiece: The Triptych’s Carpentry in relation to other Adriatic Altarpiece Typologies TBC
Ciro Castelli (Opificio delle Pietre Dure) |
| SESSION II: Design and Technique in Piero’s frescoes | |
| 14.00 | The Restoration of the Arezzo Cycle TBC
Cecilia Frosinini (Opificio delle Pietre Dure) |
| 14.30 | Piero della Francesca’s Hercules: Conservation History and Recent Technical Findings
Gianfranco Pocobene (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum) |
| 15.00 | The Saint Julian by Piero from Sant’Agostino at Sansepolcro: Reconstruction of a Fragmentary Fresco in its Original Context
Giacomo Guazzini (Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa) Elena Squillantini (Fondazione di Studi di Storia dell’Arte Roberto Longhi) |
| 15.30 | Tea and Coffee |
| SESSION III: Drawings on Panel and Paper | |
| 16.00 | ‘De Prospectiva Pingendi’ by Piero della Francesca: The Computer’s Precursor
Rocco Sinisgalli (University of Rome, La Sapienza) |
| 16.30 | Piero and disegno: ‘pianificazione del lavoro’ TBC
Roberto Bellucci (Opificio delle Pietre Dure) |
| Keynote Lecture: National Gallery | |
| 18.30 | Piero della Francesca: A Life of Design and Proportion
James R. Banker (North Caroline State University) |
| Saturday | |
| 09.30 | Registration |
| SESSION IV: Drawing concepts: Piero’s Treatises | |
| 10.00 | Legacies on Paper: Piero, Fra Luca, and Leonardo
Carmen Bambach (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) |
| 10.30 | Piero’s disegno, between Mathematical Humanism and Renaissance Court Culture
Renzo Baldasso (Arizona State University) |
| 11.00 | Tea and Coffee |
| SESSION V:
Piero’s Pupils and Followers |
|
| 11.30 | ‘che quasi l’una dall’altra non si conosceva’: Luca Signorelli ‘degno discipulo’ of Piero della Francesca
Tom Henry (University of Kent) |
| 12.00 | ‘Imitando la sua maniera’ and the question of cartoons: Lorentino d’Andrea and other discepoli
Frank Dabell (Temple University, Rome) |
| 12.30 – 14.00 | Lunch (not provided) |
| 14.00 | Bartolomeo della Gatta and Piero della Francesca
Cecilia Martelli (Syracuse University Florence) |
| 14.30 | The Legacy of Piero della Francesca in Sansepolcro: Pietro di Galeotto and Gerino da Pistoia
David Franklin (Archive of Modern Conflict, Toronto and London) |
| 15.00 | Tea and Coffee |
| SESSION VI:
Piero’s architecture |
|
| 15.30 | Piero della Francesca as Painter, Architect, and Patron in his Family House
Machtelt Brüggen Israëls (University of Amsterdam) |
| 16.00 | The In-between Bits: Piero’s Architectural Interstices
Amanda Lillie (University of York) |
| 16.30 | Some Notes on Piero’s ‘architecture’ and his Role on the Theory and Practise of Architectural Drawing
Francesco Paolo Di Teodoro (Politecnico di Torino and Centro Linceo Interdisciplinare ‘B. Segre’, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei) |
| 17.00 | Discussion |
| 17.30 | Drinks |