Three years ago Marco Mendogni (novelist, engineer, and archival sleuth) generously financed a one-year scholarship at ISI Florence to research Florentine humanist Giannozzo Manetti (1396-1459). The recipient of that grant, Dr. Vieri Mazzoni, turned up significant documents that shed new light on the life of this important Renaissance banker and man of letters. Mazzoni’s research cross-fertilized with Marco Mendogni’s and Mendogni has now published an original essay (prefaced by Prof. Stefano U. Baldassarri, ISI Academic Director) investigating two famous artworks by Piero della Francesca: The Flagellation of Christ and The Legend of the True Cross. In his Giannozzo e il rebus della tavola d’Urbino (Giannozzo and the Urbino Panel Riddle) Mendogni claims that a male character in both works is to be identified with none other than Manetti. By relying on a wealth of literary and visual sources to support his thesis, Mendogni makes a significant contribution to the debate on these world-renowned and puzzling paintings.

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