Blister pack BU

Piero della Francesca was a painter of the Italian Early Renaissance. He came from Borgo San Sepolcro, today’s Sansepolcro in Tuscany, and worked, among other places, in Arezzo, Rimini, Urbino and Rome. His painting is characterised by clearly structured pictorial spaces, tranquil figures and precise treatment of light and perspective. At the same time, he engaged with mathematics and wrote treatises on perspective, geometry and regular solids. Art and the mathematical construction of space were therefore closely connected in his work.

Federico da Montefeltro was initially Count and later Duke of Urbino. As a condottiere, he led troops for various Italian powers in return for payment. He also used the income thus acquired to expand his residence and court. Under his rule, Urbino developed into a centre of humanist culture. Federico had manuscripts collected, supported scholars and artists, and commissioned Piero della Francesca to produce works for his court.

The painting serving as the model belongs to a two-part ruler portrait. The counterpart shows Federico’s wife Battista Sforza. Both appear before an expansive landscape, while the reverse sides show allegorical triumphal processions with personifications of virtues and Latin inscriptions. The work thus combines individual portraits with forms of ancient ruler representation. Battista had probably already died when it was created; the diptych therefore also served a commemorative function.

Federico’s striking profile is connected with a facial injury he sustained in a tournament. The chosen side view shows the uninjured half of his face. At the same time, the strict profile refers to portraits on ancient coins and medals. For this reason, the image can be transferred to a coin round without fundamental alteration.

No direct personal connection between Piero and San Marino can be identified. Rather, the issue follows the practice of the small state of featuring artists, writers and other figures from Italian cultural history on commemorative coins on the occasion of milestone anniversaries.