Art: Renaissance Find

The little (pop. 12,600) Italian town of Borgo San Sepolcro, lying in the fertile valley of the upper Tiber, has a proud boast: one of its townsmen was the great Renaissance painter and mathematician, Piero della Francesca (circa 1418-92). Legend has it that Piero was a fatherless boy who took the name of his mother Francesca. He studied at Florence, returned to Borgo San Sepolcro to get his first major commission, traveled through Italy painting in Rimini, Ferrara, Rome, Arezzo and Urbino, then settled down to spend his last 14 years in his...

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