PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA: “The dream of Constantine”, c.1455 - fresco in the Church of San Francisco de Arezzo - 329 - 190 cm.

Being one of the key figures of quattrocento , the Art of Piero della Francesca has been described like “cold”, “hieratic” or even “impersonal”. But with the apparition of Berenson and the great historians of his time as Michel Hérubel -who defended the “metaphysical dimension” of the paintings by Piero- his precise and contained Art finally occupied the place that it deserves in the Art history

We would have to advance almost two centuries to find a night scene of similar intensity. Piero della Francesca paints the moment jus previous to the awakening of Constantine , that will be visited by the angel who appears in the left superior corner in a spectacular effect of backlighting. This light is really the true protagonist of the painting, a light that creates an excellent volumetric effect in the conical roof above King, a light who hides the faces of the crew members, with the exception of the one who, with the elbow unusually placed in the Emperor's bed, watches directly towards us.