Portrait of a Boy. Guidobaldo da Montefeltro (?)

Piero della Francesca, who was one of the supreme painters of the Italian Renaissance, celebrated for his mathematical approach to perspective and his serene, monumental figure style, created this work around 1483, now in Madrid's Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. Portrait painting emerged as a major genre during the fifteenth century, reflecting the growing emphasis on individual identity and the secular confidence of the merchant and aristocratic classes.

Careful attention to physiognomic detail and costume textures distinguishes this portrait, with the sitter rendered against a controlled background that focuses attention on facial features and expression.