“The most beautiful painting in the world”?

About 250 km north of Rome and in the beautiful region of Tuscany lies a small town of only 15,000 souls, Sansepolcro. The town’s claim to fame is that it’s the birthplace of one of the world's finest painters, Piero della Francesca (1412-1492).  The “Piero della Francesca Civic Museum”, and his adjacent abode hosts, some of his greatest paintings, including his “Resurrection”, which was once defined by Aldous Huxley, the father of “Brave New World”, as “The most beautiful painting in the world” (Della Francesca had painted it around 1460).

The town itself is quaint and isn't too far away from a small town of 1,800 people, Monterchi, which is home to another Della Francesca masterpiece, the “Pregnant Madonna”.  It lies in the museum of the same name and it's another magnificent piece of art by the Tuscan master.  

His other painting “Polyptych/the Madonna of Mercy” is also located in Sansepolcro's Civic Museum and is another artistic wonder.   The museum is also interesting because it outlines the artist’s mathematical studies and calculations that went into his detailed paintings, including the theories of Euclid, a Greek mathematician who lived in 300 B.C. (his “Elements of Geometry”, which covered plane geometry, the theory of numbers, irrationals, and solid geometry, was the standard work until other kinds of geometry were discovered in the 19th century).    According to art historians, Della Francesca was the first painter to have fully embraced the exact mathematical perspective. 

From there a short 30-minute drive took us to another beautiful Tuscan town, Arezzo, which was also the birthplace of another great artist (and the very first art historian), Giorgio Vasari.  Arezzo is also home to a few Della Francesca’s works, including his magnificent “Mary Magdalen” (Maria Maddalena) painting which hangs in the town’s San Donato Cathedral.   Not too far away from there is his “Stories of the True Cross” (Storie della Vera Croce) located in the St. Francis Basilica chapel, another artistic wonder.  The paintings at the side of the main altar describe the events tied to Jesus’s crucifixion as the cross itself was initially hidden, then lost then found once again by the Queen of Saba. 

The “Resurrection”

The “Pregnant Madonna”

“Mary Magdalen” 

Truly mesmerising work by one of history's foremost painters!