Madonna & Child by Luca Signorelli in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 2021

Madonna and Child
ca. 1505–7

Luca Signorelli (Luca d'Egidio di Luca di Ventura) Italian


Object Details

Title: Madonna and Child

Artist: Luca Signorelli (Luca d'Egidio di Luca di Ventura) (Italian, Cortona, active by 1470–died 1523 Cortona)

Date: ca. 1505–7

Medium: Oil and gold on wood

Dimensions: 20 1/4 x 18 3/4 in. (51.4 x 47.6 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: The Jules Bache Collection, 1949

Accession Number: 49.7.13


The artist gave this painting to his daughter as a gift in 1507, possibly to celebrate the birth of a child. A student of ancient art and a master of the human figure, Signorelli was one of the protagonists of Renaissance painting. This picture makes use in the background of highly original decorations partly inspired by motifs popularized by the discovery of the Golden House of Nero in the late fifteenth century. In the upper corners are heads of (left) Domitian and (right) Julius Caesar.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437674