Energized by an In his Footsteps tour of Piero della Francesca's working range, I have been on a months-long quest to identify and view his paintings that have migrated beyond those borders. I had identified the Louvre as the home of his Malatesta portrait (Portrait of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, 1451) but the area wherein the piece was housed was closed on the occasions that I visited. I was finally able to see the painting when I visited the institution with my daughter in August of this year.
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| Piero della Francesca, Portrait of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, 1451 |
The subject of the painting was a powerful and ambitious mercenary captain with an "immense capacity for cruelty." He was born in 1417 and inherited the lordship of Rimini from his father. "... from the outset his life was one of warfare, political intrigue and ceaseless ambition." He fought for and against many Italian states as well as the Papacy, eventually becoming the biter enemy of Pope Pius II.
Malatesta surrounded himself with scholars, poets and artists and this "intellectual curiosity" and "enlightened patronage" transformed Rimini into a "vibrant center of Renaissance culture" (wonderfulmuseums.com). As a part of his image and legacy building initiatives, Malatesta was remaking the modest family Franciscan church -- Tempo Malatestino -- into a "classical temple and personal mausoleum" (wonderfulmuseums.com). Towards that end he invited Piero della Francesca to come to Rimini and paint a fresco in the church of him kneeling in front of his namesake saint.While conducting that effort, Piero was asked to paint the standalone portrait.
Alessandro Angelini (Piero della Francesca, SCALA, 2023) stipulates that the portrait was modeled on a medal made by Pisanelli for Sigismondo. "What was just an emblem on a coin becomes a fully rounded, almost sculptured portrait, with a proud expression of unrelenting cruelty. The three-dimensional effect is achieved also by a most realistic skin tonality, created with the technique of oil paint."
Marilyn Aronberg Lavin (Piero della Francesca, 1972) sees the profile as "fiercely silhouetted against an almost too solid dark background" where the "dark red hair is made to fit like a tight cap around the skull. His tucked, cut-velvet jacket stands as stiff as a pedestal, supporting the column of his neck ... A counter-light coming from behind illuminates the back edge of his neck with a warm glow ..."
And wonderfulmuseums.com describes the piece variously as "a cornerstone of Renaissance painting," "an awe-inspiring masterpiece," and as "instantly recognizable for its stark profile and the enigmatic aura of its subject."
Piero della Francesco
Italian
1412/16 - 1492
Portrait of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta
1451
Oil on wood (poplar)
44.9 x 34 cm
Musée du Louvre
Room 709, Denon
Inventory #: RF 19781
Acquired: 1978
Ownership: Etat
Held by: Musée du Louvre, departement des Peintures
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