The Shell of Being: Poems for Piero della Francesca

With this book by Patrizia Fazzi, those fond of the art of Piero della Francesca have an unusual guide: poetry, a different language intended to mirror the painting, to capture its spiritual nuances and the creative processes embodied in the finished work. She has been attuned for a number of years to the spirituality of Piero, trying to fathom his serene impassiveness, to arrest the light with the written word. In this intense volume, Patrizia Fazzi has modulated her language by adopting two expressive registers. One is terse, measured, as though the words were carved in stone. The other one, with a tone that rises towards more lyrical moments, grasps the symbology, the metaphysical afflatus, the message, the mystery of each painting that captured the emotion of her intellect.