One of the rarer masters on whom the Italian Exhibition
of last year threw more light was Piero della Francesca, the Tuscan painter (1416-1492), who is well represented in the National Gallery, but nowhere else outside Italy. The one and only comprehensive study of his majestic art, by Signor Roberto Longhi, has now been carefully translated by Mr. Leonard Penlock and illustrated with no fewer than 184 good collotypes (F. Warne, 31s. 6d.). The plates include nearly a hundred photographs of the series of frescoes on " The Legend of the Cross at Arezzo, showing the details of each composition in a most instructive way. It is made clear that the early " Baptism of Christ " and the more mature " Nativity " and St. Michael " in our National Gallery are fully typical of Piero at his best, and it is fortunate that out of his few easel pictures three should have their homes here.
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