PIERO DI COSIMO

(1462—1521)

Florentinepainter, known mainly for his paintings on themes from classical mythology, such asThe Discovery of Honey, a work that treats mythology quite differently from the spiritualizingNeoplatonictradition of his contemporarySandro Botticelli. In his treatment, the figures in the pagan myth are not allegories but real creatures of flesh and blood; the work reflects an ancient tradition that regarded the gods as gifted and beneficent humans who were gratefully remembered by posterity and eventually recognized as divine, an explanation of ancient polytheism known as euhemerism that originated in Hellenistic times. According to the art historianGiorgio Vasari, Piero was well known in his own time as a maker of ephemeral works for public festivals.