Piero di Cosimo (Piero di Cosimo; Piero di Lorenzo) (1462–1521), an Italian painter, a representative of the Florentine school. The years of his work fell on the period of transition from the Early to the High Renaissance.

The artist’s real name was Piero di Lorenzo. He was born in Tuscany into a family of a jeweler and goldsmith. A student of Cosimo Rosselli. He worked with him in Rome, where Rosselli was invited in 1482 by Pope Sixtus along with Botticelli, Perugino and Domenico Ghirlandaio to paint the papal chapel. Piero di Cosimo completed many portraits of noble people in Rome.

In his work, the artist was influenced by the paintings of Filippino Lippi, Leonardo da Vinci, and Hugo van der Goes. After Rome, Piero di Cosimo worked in Florence, creating altarpieces and paintings in the Cathedral of San Spirito, the Church of San Michele, and the Tebaldi Chapel.

By 1486, Cosimo began working independently and received an order from the Florentine merchant Francesco Pugliese to decorate one of the rooms of his palace with paintings on mythological subjects. The artist borrowed painting techniques from Dutch masters. He depicted the world of plants and animals with extraordinary precision. Two “Hunting Scenes” and “Forest Fire” are allegorical images of the ancient history of mankind, the transition from the Stone Age to the Iron Age, from the primitive state to civilization, creativity and creative work.

When creating works on religious subjects, Piero di Cosimo could not compete with Botticelli and Filippino Lippi: he never managed to achieve the same elegance of lines. In the painting “Venus and Mars” Cosimo tries to imitate the famous work of Botticelli on the same subject, much more graceful and spiritual.

Around 1500, when Leonardo da Vinci returned to Florence after a seventeen-year absence, his influence on the painting of Piero di Cosimo became noticeable. Soft shadows and sfumato (foggy, blurry contours) appeared in his paintings. In this technique, the artist created one of his most famous works – “Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci”, which conveys the spiritual and sensual appearance of a young girl who died early, whose thin profile stands out against the background of a black cloud, cut by lightning, which symbolizes her imminent death.

Along with painting, the artist was also engaged in organizing masquerades, celebrations and triumphal processions.
The most famous painting by Piero di Cosimo from the mature period of his work – “The Death of Procris” received the greatest fame. Here, both the general mood and the landscape with the winding lines of the coast and the hill echo the shapes of the dying nymph’s body. Even in old age, when the artist’s strength began to leave him, he continued to work; one of his late paintings is “Perseus and Andromeda”.

The fantastically swirling waves reflect the horror that gripped the crowd at the sight of the terrible monster, ready to attack Andromeda chained to the rock. Perseus, rushing to her aid, is depicted twice – first he is seen flying from the right side of the composition, and then – on the back of the monster, trying to find a fulcrum to deliver a fatal blow to the beast.

In Renaissance painting, subjects from classical mythology were quite widespread. Familiarity of painting owners with ancient texts, interest in which was revived at that time, was considered high society tone and was quite fashionable. This painting, along with a number of others, previously decorated the walls of the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence.