Includes bibliographical references (pages 240-253) and indices.

1. Piero's formation in Sansepolcro -- Sansepolcro -- The Della Francesca family -- Piero as apprentice and assistant -- The Baptism of Christ -- 2. In search of Piero, the persistent traveler, 1439 -- 50 -- Piero and the culture of Florence -- Piero north of Tuscany -- Piero in Sansepolcro in 1445 : The Misericordia contract -- Ferrara -- Piero in Ancona -- 3. Piero at the court of Sigismondo Malatesta in Rimini -- Jacopo Anastagi -- Piero's new stage : the court of Sigismondo -- Saint Jerome and a Penitent -- The Portrait of Sigismondo Malatesta -- Sigismondo Malatesta Before his Patron Saint Sigismundus -- 4. Piero in Arezzo : The Legend of the True Cross -- The Bacci family and the friars and Church of San Francesco -- Dating the painting of the Arezzo frescoes -- Looking at the Arezzo frescoes -- Choices in the High Altar Chapel -- Piero's narration of The Legend of the True Cross -- Technical and conceptual accomplishments at Arezzo --

5. Creating the sacred : Piero della Francesca's altarpiece for the Confraternity of the Madonna della Misericordia -- The Confraternity of Santa Maria della Misericordia -- The Pichi family -- The Misericordia commission -- The Misericordia altarpiece -- The pace of painting and payments -- 6. Greek geometry in Rome and Piero's Trattato d'abaco -- Francesco del Borgo and Greek geometry -- Piero in Rome, 1458 -- 59 -- Piero's Treatise on Abaco -- 7. Piero's return to patria and family -- Workshops of the Della Francesca family and Piero's presence in Sansepolcro -- Madonna del Parto -- Saint Louis of Toulouse -- Saint Julian -- The Resurrection of Christ -- 8. An Arezzo interlude -- Two lost processional banners -- Saint Mary Magdalene and other commissions in Arezzo -- 9.The practice of perspective : The Sant' Antonio and Sant' Agostino altarpieces and The Flagellation of Christ -- The Sant' Antonio altarpiece of Perugia -- The Sant' Agostino altarpiece --

The Flagellation of Christ -- Jacopo Anastagi -- 10. Piero in Urbino in the early 1470s -- Federico da Montefeltro -- The Uffizi diptych of Federico da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza -- 11. Piero in Sansepolcro, 1472 -- 75 -- The fresco of the glorious Virgin of the Badia -- Piero as Builder -- Hercules -- Marco, Piero, and their sister Vera -- 12. Piero in Urbino, 1475 -- 77 -- Madonna and Child with Saints and Angels -- The senigallia Madonna and Child -- The treatise On Perspective in Painting -- The composition of On Perspective in Painting -- The contents of On Perspective in Painting -- The audience for the treatise -- The relationship of the treatise to Piero's paintings -- 13. The persuasiveness of paternal authority, 477 -- 81 -- The Lost Misericordia fresco -- The Williamstown Madonna and Child with Four Angels -- Piero's scriptorium and the four copies of On Perspective in Painting -- Piero and Archimedes -- Piero's Political Activities --

Family service -- 14. Piero in the last decade of his life -- The Little Book on the Five Regular Bodies -- The Nativity of Christ -- Piero in his final years -- Piero's preparation for death.

Largely neglected for the four centuries after his death, the fifteenth century Italian artist Piero della Francesca is now seen to embody the fullest expression of the Renaissance perspective painter, raising him to an artistic stature comparable with that of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. But who was Piero, and how did he become the person and artist that he was? Until now, in spite of the great interest in his work, these questions have remained largely unanswered. Piero della Francesca: Artist and Man integrates the story of Piero's artistic and mathematical achievements with the full chronicle of his life for the first time, fortified by the discovery of over one hundred previously unknown documents, most unearthed by the author himself. The book presents us with Piero's friends, family, and collaborators, all set against the social background of the various cities and courts in which he lived - from the Tuscan commune of Sansepolcro in which he grew up, to Renaissance Florence, Ferrara, Ancona, Rimini, Rome, Arezzo, and Urbino, and eventually back to his home town for the final years of his life. As Banker shows, the cultural contexts in which Piero lived are crucial for understanding both the man and his paintings. What emerges is a thoroughly intriguing Renaissance individual, firmly embedded in his social milieu, but forging an historic identity through his profound artistic and mathematical achievements.

Text in English.