The Legend of the True Cross

The Legend of the True Cross (Italian: Leggenda della Vera Croce) or The History of the True Cross (Storie della Vera Croce) is a sequence of frescoes painted by Piero della Francesca in the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo. It is his largest work, and generally considered one of his finest, and an early Renaissance masterpiece.

Its theme, derived from the popular 13th century book on the lives of saints by Jacobus de Voragine, the Golden Legend, is the triumph of the True Cross – the legend of the wood from the Garden of Eden becoming the Cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified. This work demonstrates Piero's advanced knowledge of perspective and colour, his geometric orderliness and skill in pictorial construction.