Luca Signorelli

Luca Signorelli (c. 1450–1523) painted the human body with a power that directly inspired Michelangelo. Born Luca d'Egidio di Ventura in Cortona, Tuscany, he trained under Piero della Francesca and absorbed that master's geometric clarity. But Signorelli rejected Piero's calm, still figures. He wanted bodies in violent motion, muscles straining, limbs twisting. Some historians believe he studied under Antonio Pollaiuolo, whose obsession with anatomy showed in every sinew and tendon.

Signorelli worked across central Italy: Loreto, Perugia, Urbino, Rome. Around 1483 he painted the Testament of Moses fresco in the Sistine Chapel, joining other masters decorating the walls that Michelangelo would later crown. But his masterpiece came at Orvieto Cathedral. Between 1499 and 1503, he covered the Cappella di San Brizio with frescoes of the Last Judgment, the Apocalypse, and the Resurrection of the Flesh. The contract, still preserved, promised him 600 ducats plus lodging, wine, and corn. Theological advisors guided his iconography, the first documented instance of such collaboration. His demons torture the damned with horrifying creativity. His nude figures, male and female, display anatomy studied from dissected corpses.

Tragedy struck during the Orvieto commission: Signorelli's son Antonio died of plague. According to Vasari, he painted the dead Christ using his son's body as the model. Signorelli remained active in Cortona politics, serving on the town council, until his death in 1523 at nearly eighty. Renaissance painters studied his Orvieto frescoes for generations. Works survive at the Uffizi, the National Gallery, and the Louvre.