|
|
|
Piero della Francesca's Flagellation (c. 1454), a masterful study of perspective, was originally held in the Palace of Urbino and was almost certainly commissioned by the duke Federico of Montefeltro himself.
A complex task is the meaning and the identity of the three figures shown in the right foreground parallel to the Flagellation of Christ in the background.
A fascinating relatively recent hypothesis identifies the figures as Oddantonio, Guidantonio - Federico's father - and the Byzantine emperor John VIII Paleologus; the supposed purpose of the work was to rehabilitate Federico's half-brother as well as commemorate the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
|