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The Ideal City of Urbino
2026-06-12
- Classification
- Photograph
- Museum
- Wikimedia Commons
- Rights
- CC0, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Kids profiles and older: it shows nature, places, still life or a children's book. How works are placed
About this work
Ideal City, Unknown Author, 1470-1480
Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino Oil on panel, 67 x 238.5 cm
This perspectival city view, known worldwide as the Ideal City, is perhaps the most emblematic work of Urbino's mathematical Renaissance and the highest contribution to 15th century utopian urban planning theories - such as Filarete's Sforzinda - as well as their concrete realisations, like Ferrara and the urban expansion commissioned by Duke Ercole I d'Este.
The name of the painter remains unknown. Over time, scholars have attributed the work to some of the greatest artists associated with Montefeltro's court, including Luciano Laurana, Fra Carnevale, Piero della Francesca, and Bramante himself. Thanks to recent studies, we now know that the panel was bequeathed to the nuns by the heirs of Pietro Avenale at the end of the 17th century. All proposed hypotheses regarding the original form and function of the panel - whether as the backrest of a daybed, an overdoor, or an independent painting - are firmly tied to the mathematical and architectural interests of the Urbino court.
