ABSTRACT
In a culture such as that of early modern Europe where a high value is set on classical learning, it is not surprising to find large numbers of paintings with subjects deriving from ancient history, mythology, or poetry. Moreover the profession of artist had taken on a degree of intellectual respectability thanks to the growth of academies of art, the developing historiography of art, while reputations could also be made on the increasingly important international art market. In approaching such paintings of the Renaissance, the traditional model in art history has been that of the patron, often in collaboration with a humanist adviser, devising a subject which was then given to the artist to execute. The celebrated and enigmatic painting by Piero di Cosimo, familiarly known since its sensational appearance in London in 1921 as The Forest Fire, has generally been discussed within the terms of the traditional model.
