Piero di Cosimo: A Hunting Scene

Generous loan from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Piero di Cosimo (1462–1522) was born in Florence, the son of a goldsmith. He apprenticed in the studio of the artist Cosimo Rosselli (1439–1507) for whom he assisted in painting the Sistine Chapel in 1481–82. Piero was an older contemporary of Michelangelo, but about a decade younger than Leonardo, who would have much influence on the artist later in his career. He was also a noted eccentric and enjoyed a great reputation as a portrait painter. A Hunting Scene is one of two companion paintings by Piero in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and depicts a hunt by men and satyrs. The inspiration appears to be the poem De rerum natura by the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius (c. 99–55 BC). The painting evokes contemporary interest in the natural world and the influence of humanism with its renewed interest in classical literature. In A Hunting Scene we witness the vivid imagination of this Florentine genius. Piero specialized in painting mythological scenes and others, like these Metropolitan panels, that represented humanity in an idealized distant past, leading a seemingly simpler and more natural existence. Because the museum’s collection does not include a work by Piero di Cosimo, this centennial loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art provides a rare opportunity to appreciate the talent of this gifted artist.

A Hunting Scene, 1494–1500
Piero di Cosimo (Italian, Florence, 1462–1522)
Tempera and oil transferred to Masonite; 70.5 x 169.5 cm.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Robert Gordon, 1975, 75.7.2