of all is usurped by the presumption of those who seek to conceal the skin of the ass beneath the glorious and honoured spoils of the lion. And although time, who is declared to be the father of truth, does sooner or later make the real state of things manifest, yet it is none the less true, that the labourer is, for a certain period, defrauded of the honour which should attach to the works he has performed. Such was the case with Piero della Francesca, of Borgo San Sepolcro,[1] who, being considered an admirable master in the difficulties of drawing rectilinear bodies, as also well versed in arithmetic and geometry, was nevertheless prevented in his mature age, first by blindness, and finally by the close of his life, from bringing to light the various fruits of his meritorious labours, and the many books written by him, which are still preserved in Borgo, his native place.[2]
And the man who should have laboured with all his powers to secure the fame and increase the glory of Piero, from whom he had acquired all that he knew. Fra Luca del Borgo namely,—he, on the contrary, envious and malignant, did his utmost to annihilate the name of Piero, his instructor, and sought to arrogate to himself that honour which was due to his teacher alone, publishing, under his own name, all the laborious works of that good old man, who, in addition to the acquirements named above, was highly distinguished in painting also.[3] Piero was born in
- ↑ Called also Piero Borghese, from the place of his birth.
- ↑ It has been asserted that various MSS. belonging to Piero had descended to Signor Marini Franceschi of Borgo San Sepolcro, but this is not true; that gentleman does indeed possess a small picture in which is the portrait of Piero, painted by himself, evidently that used by Vasari for his second edition. A pictirre representing the Nativity, and said to be by this master, is in possession of the cavalier Frescobaldi, of Florence, and there is a Coronation of the Virgin, at Citta di Castello, reported to be also by Piero. A description of the latter will be found in the Giornale Arcadico, May and December, 1826.—Ed. Flor. 1849.
- ↑ So grave a charge as this must not be suffered to pass without remark, and the less so as the renowned and much respected mathematician, Fra Luca del Borgo Sepolcro has been largely defended from the odious accusation here brought against him by the Padre della Valle, and more effectually by P. Lanzi Pungileoni, in the Giornale Arcadico, Nos. 0'2—G5 (1835). See also Gaye in the Kunstblatt, No. 69. The painter Guiseppe Bossi likewise, in his admirable work Del Cenacolo di Leonardo da Vinci, has undertaken the defence of Fra Luca, Avhich he conducts with much
