A Photo Essay on Sigismondo Malatesta and the Tempio Malatestiano

Piero della Francesca
c. 1422-d. 1492
Portrait of Sigismondo Malatesta (1417-1468)
c. 1450
Wood panel
H 0.44 m; W 0.34 m
The Louvre (Paris)
This portrait of the celebrated "condottiere" and patron of Rimini was doubtless painted shortly before the fresco of the Tempio Malatestanio dated 1451, where Piero gives him the same profile but shows him full length and kneeling by his patron saint, Sigismond. The formula of the profile bust, borrowed from the Gothic courtly tradition, is given a strict rendition here. Piero brought to it two new elements: the powerful solid volume of the bust and the fleshtones enlivening the face, the former deriving from Tuscan art, the latter from the Flemish, and combined them for the first time in an Italian painting.
Online Source: http://www.louvre.fr/anglais/collec/peint/rf1978/txt1978.htm

Map of Italy

The front (west) of Malatesta's Tempio. The church of San Francesco, Rimini was recased as a monument to the glory of the tyrant of Rimini, Sigismondo Malatesta. The building was designed by Leon Battista Alberti (1404-72), one of the "l'uomo universale" in the Renaissance period. The director of the construction was Matteo de'Pasti and the designer of the interior was Agostino di Dccio. The west facade refered to the Roman triumphal arch, the Arch of Constantine in Rome, and the Arch of Augustus in Rimini.
Online Source: http://antares.csr.unibo.it/~turismo/rimini/tempio.htm

Another view of the front of the Tempio, with the side arches partly visible.
Online Source: http://web.kyoto-inet.or.jp/org/orion/eng/hst/renais/rimini.html

A black and white photograph of the Tempio.
Online Source: http://www.arpnet.it/~irrsaeto/semper/zoom/lba/immagini/malat.htm

A side view of the Tempio.
Online Source: http://antares.csr.unibo.it/Terre/itempmal.htm

A fresco by Piero della Francesca in the Tempio. A young Sigismondo genuflecting before San Sigismondo.
Online Source: http://antares.csr.unibo.it/~turismo/rimini/affresco.htm

A detail of the outside showing Sigismondo's name.
Online Source: http://antares.csr.unibo.it/Terre/iaaftm.htm

Outside view of the Tempio.
Online Source: http://antares.csr.unibo.it/Terre/iaaftm.htm

Outside view of the Tempio.
Online Source: http://antares.csr.unibo.it/Terre/iaaftm.htm

Outside view of the Tempio.
Online Source: http://antares.csr.unibo.it/Terre/iaaftm.htm

Inside view of the Tempio.
Online Source: http://antares.csr.unibo.it/~turismo/rimini/tempioint.htm

Interior, nave of the Tempio.
Photo by Shoji Hiramatsu
Online Source: http://web.kyoto-inet.or.jp/org/orion/eng/hst/renais/rimini.html