Background
Piero di Cosimo was born on January 2, 1462, in Florence, Italy. His father was a goldsmith.
Piero di Cosimo was born on January 2, 1462, in Florence, Italy. His father was a goldsmith.
Piero di Cosimo studied under the tutelage of Cosimo Rosselli. From Rosselli, Piero also took the name "di Cosimo", indicating a particular affection for his teacher.
In 1481, Piero di Cosimo assisted his mentor Cosimo Rosselli on the frescoes "Sermon on the Mount" and possibly "Crossing of the Red Sea" in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. Also, it was there, that he saw the frescoes of Sandro Botticelli and Domenico Ghirlandaio, whose styles dominate his early work "Jason and Queen Hypsipyle with the Women of Lemnos" (1499).
Also, at the beginning of his career, Piero was influenced by the Dutch naturalism of Hugo van der Goes, whose "Portinari Triptych" helped to lead the whole of Florentine painting into new channels. From him, most probably, Cosimo acquired the love of landscape and the intimate knowledge of the growth of flowers and of animal life.
In 1482, Cosimo, together with his teacher Rosselli, visited Rome. It was at that time, when he started to depict subjects of Classical mythology. The brightests examples of his works from that period include "the Venus, Mars and Cupid", "the Death of Procris", "the Perseus and Andromeda" series and many others.
The last years of his life Piero spent in gloomy retirement, the change was probably due to preacher Girolamo Savonarola, under whose influence he turned his attention to religious art. The death of his mentor Roselli also had an impact on Piero's later sombre years. "The Immaculate Conception with Saints" and "the Holy Family" illustrate the religious fervour, to which he was stimulated by Savonarola.
During his lifetime, Cosimo also painted portraits, of which the best known is the memorial bust of Simonetta Vespucci, mistress of Giuliano de’ Medici.
Piero di Cosimo gained prominence for his works, depicting mythological and allegorical subjects. His most famous paintings include "The Visitation with Saints Nicholas and Anthony", "Venus, Mars and Cupid", "St. Mary Magdalene" and others.
Moreover, Piero was known as an accomplished portrait painter. "Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci" is the most renowned work of this type. Also, according to Vasari, Cosimo excelled in designing pageants and triumphal processions for the pleasure-loving youths of Florence.
Today, his works are kept in the collections of different museums and galleries, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, the National Gallery in London, the Louvre in Paris and others.
Giuliano da San Gallo
Allegory
The Myth of Prometheus
Crucifixion of Christ
Venus, Mars and Cupid
St. John the Evangelist
The Forest Fire
Magdalena Reading
The Discovery of Honey by Bacchus
Madonna and Child with Saints and Angels
The Young Saint John the Baptist
A Woman
A Young Man
Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria
A Satyr mourning over a Nymph
The Immaculate Conception with Saints
Maria Magdalena
Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci
Tritons and Nereids
Perseus Rescuing Andromeda
The Fight between the Lapiths and the Centaurs
The Misfortunes of Silenus
During his lifetime, Cosimo acquired a reputation of an eccentric person. Reportedly, he was afraid of thunderstorms, and so pyrophobic, that he rarely cooked food. Piero lived largely on hard-boiled eggs, which he prepared 50 at a time, while boiling glue for his artworks. Moreover, Cosimo resisted any cleaning of his studio or trimming of the fruit trees of his orchard. In later life, he became increasingly reclusive.
Quotes from others about the person
"Piero could not stand babies crying, men coughing, bells ringing, or friars chanting. But he doted on animals, accurately rendering many of them in his work, including a giraffe." — Giorgio Vasari, an Italian painter, architect, writer and historian
Piero was married to the daughter of his mentor Cosimo Rosselli.
