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Renowned for his originality and inventiveness, Piero di Cosimo painted many 'spalliera' panels with themes from classical literature. Dating from c.1505, this painting may have been one of a series described by Vasari as painted for Francesco del Pugliese. Two other panels of 'The Hunt' and 'The Return from the Hunt', now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, are thematically related but seem to have been painted in the 1490s. All three are concerned with the history of early man, inspired by passages from Book 5 of 'De Rerum Natura' by Lucretius (98 BC–c.55 BC), who traces the origins of life on earth and the birth of community life, emphasising the role of fire as a catalyst for change. The New York pendants vividly depict a primitive world, while this painting could have been made for a different patron, taking up particular themes relating to more advanced stages of human life.
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology
Oxford
Title
The Forest Fire
Date
c. 1505
Medium
oil on panel
Measurements
H 71.2 x W 202 cm
Accession number
WA1933.2
Acquisition method
Presented by the Art Fund, 1933
Work type
Painting
