530th Anniversary of the Death of Piero della Francesca

The iconic profile of the Duke of Urbino — a masterwork by Piero della Francesca (Pietro di Benedetto dei Franceschi, also known as Pietro Borghese; 1410–1492), one of the greatest painters of the Renaissance with close ties to the court of Urbino. To the left: the issuing state "SAN MARINO"; along the right edge: the commemorative inscription, the dates "1492" and "2022", the "R" of the Rome mint and the designer's initials.

Piero della Francesca is one of the defining figures of the early Italian Renaissance, though his work is above all inseparable from the region of central Italy. Born around 1410 in Borgo Sansepolcro, the painter developed a rigorous visual language steeped in mathematics and geometry that set him apart from his contemporaries. His treatise "De prospectiva pingendi" shows that he not only applied the theory of perspective but grasped it in depth. At the court of Urbino, the region's leading cultural centre in the 15th century, he found his most important patron: Federico da Montefeltro, whose double portrait with his wife Battista Sforza is among the best-known works of the Renaissance. San Marino and Urbino remain close geographic and historical neighbours today — the Republic lies just a few kilometres from Piero's former places of activity.

Piero della Francesca's legacy remains alive in the Romagna and the Marche today: Sansepolcro preserves his major works in the Museo Civico, including "The Resurrection", which Aldous Huxley once called the greatest painting in the world. His influence extended far beyond his lifetime, shaping later generations of artists who took his clear use of colour and spatial rigour as a reference point. Piero died in 1492 in Sansepolcro, the same town where he was born — an unusual detail for an artist who worked at several courts. San Marino honours the 530th anniversary of the death of a painter whose work has profoundly shaped the art history of the entire region with the 2022 2-euro commemorative coin.