Operating upon the principle that each generation of scholars and critics can and should confront and revaluate the influential works which they study, the author here seeks to develop a new reading of the True Cross cycle by Piero della Francesca in Arezzo. No effort is offered for another iconographic reading, however. Instead the author seeks to present a visual reading in which the objects constitute the central matrix. The trigger for this paper is the discovery of documents by Enzo Settesoldi, one of which indicates that Piero began painting the famous cycle in 1457, rather than 1452, the date usually taken. The implications of the new date for future study of Piero is incalculable, but here it will only be applied to the Arezzo frescoes.