Brief Biography-Pietro di Benedetto or Dei Franceschi, also named Piero Borghese, is known today as Piero della Francesca. He was born in Borgo San Sepolcro near Florence. He worked in Florence with Domenico Veneziano between 1439 and 1450 on the frescoes of Sant' Egidio. The works of Paolo Uccello, Filippo Lippi and Masaccio were just a few of the Florentine artists that influenced him there. He was summoned to Rome by Pope Nicholas V. He painted two frescoes in the Vatican, which Julius II later had removed to make way for "The imprisonment of Saint Peter" and "The Miracle of The Mass at Bolsena" frescoes by Raphael. In 1451, Piero worked for The Duke of Rimini, Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, doing a mural of him kneeling at the enthroned Saint Sigismund of Burgundy. He undertook several works in his home town of Borgo San Sepolcro before moving to Urbino to work for Duke Federigo da Montefeltro. There is now in the Uffizi Gallery Florence his famous diptych of the Duke and his wife, Batista Sforza. He was to continue working for Federigo's son Guidobaldo. Other notable works are "The Flagellation" at Urbino, in the Ducal Palace, and "The Legend of the Holy Cross" at Arezzo. He also worked for the Duke of Borso, decorating his palace in Ferrara. He was known to have painted until at least 1478. He took up writing on geometry and perspective, which he always had an interest in, and wrote treatises on both subjects. Piero died in 1498 in his hometown. His most notable pupils were Luca Signorelli and Pietro Perugino. Giorgio Vasari stated that Piero's student, the Franciscan monk Fra Luca del Borgo, who wrote about regular bodies in geometry, wickedly and maliciously appropriated Piero's books on his death for his gains and had them published in his name.