Luca Signorelli

Luca Signorelli (Cortona c. 1450-1523 ?) Saint Michael oil on panel 19½ x 8 in. (49.5 x 20.4 cm.) with inscription '... 27- Un Quadro dipinto in Tavola pres...n..[t?]e S: n Michele Arcange[lo] ...a di Luca Signorelli ...' (on a label on the reverse of the panel) Provenance Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 27 March 1963, lot 43, when acquired by the father of the present owner. Literature L.B. Kanter, The Late Works of Luca Signorelli and his Followers, 1498-1559, Ph.D. Thesis, New York University, 1989, p. 116. L.B. Kanter, 'Some Late Alterpieces by Luca Signorelli', in Studi di Storia dell'Arte, II, 1991, pp. 186-7. T. Henry, in L.B. Kanter, Luca Signorelli: The Complete Paintings, London, 2001, p. 206, no. 60, illustrated. Lot Notes This panel was plausibly identified by Kanter (1989) as from one of the pilasters of Signorelli's Lamentation of 1501-2, originally on the high altar of the church of S. Margherita at Cortona and now in the Diocesan Museum there, which is unquestionably the most distinguished of the numerous commissions Signorelli executed for his native town. Descriptions of the altarpiece establish that the pilasters represented Saints Michael, John the Baptist, Anthony Abbot, Basil, Jerome, Francis, Louis of Toulouse and Bonaventura, and thus suggest that this panel was the topmost element of the left-hand pilaster. Panels of Saint John the Baptist and Saint Jerome which are thought to be from the same series are recorded (Henry, nos. 61 and 63), and Henry associates a Saint Anthony of Padua (his no. 62) with these.

Luca Signorelli (Cortona 1450-1523) The Massacre of the Innocents with the Adoration of the Shepherdsand the Adoration of the Magi, panel from a predella inscribed 'Luca Signorelli' (on the reverse) tempera on panel, the reverse prepared with ochre paint 9 x 29½ in. (22.9 x 75 cm.) Provenance Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, Monaco, 2 December 1988, lot 604,where acquired by the present owner. Literature L.B. Kanter, The Late Works of Luca Signorelli and his Followers1498-1559, Ph.D. Thesis, New York University, 1989, pp.274-5. L.B. Kanter, 'Some Documents, a Drawing, and an Altarpiece by LucaSignorelli', Master Drawings, 1992, 30, no. 4, p. 419, fig. 4 L.B.Kanter in L.B. Kanter and T. Henry, The Complete Paintings, LucaSignorelli, London, 2002, pp. 90-2, no. 136; T. Henry, in the same,pp. 248-9, no. 136. Lot Notes This panel, unrecorded until its sale in 1988, was linked byLawrence Kanter with two other panels, the Marriage of the Virginand Annunciation (formerly Luigi Grassi) and The Flight into Egyptand Christ among the Doctors (Kansas City, Nelson Atkins Museum ofArt, no. F61-65) (Kanter and Henry, nos. 135 and 137). That thethree panels are consistently lit from the left, represent multiplescenes and are flanked by identical pilasters confirms Kanter'sview. The companion panels are marginally narrower, at 69 and 68.9cm. respectively, and clearly flanked this composition, as indeedthe order of the scenes implies. The series must have come from thepredella of an altarpiece dedicated to the Virgin; and Kanter haspersuasively argued that the panels were originally part of thegreat altarpiece of the Assumption of the Virgin, now in the MuseoDiocesano at Cortona, which was commissioned for the high altar ofthe new Cathedral of the city in March 1519. The combined width ofthe three panels is 213 cm. and thus roughly a centimetre greaterthan that of the Assumption. That the authorities of the Cathedralselected the elderly Signorelli who had for over forty years beenrecognised as the leading artist of his birthplace was almostinevitable. And Signorelli, much of whose later work is of unevenquality, reflecting his use of assistants, evidently paidparticular attention to the altarpiece as its charged qualitydemonstrated. The finer of Signorelli's late predella panels exemplify acontinuing interest in composition and the representation ofmovement. This is apparent in this panel, in which Kanter fairlyobserves that The Massacre of the Innocents is 'a highly animatedscene of tangled limbs and emotional anguish that recalls thePunishments of the Damned at Orvieto' (2002). The panel is indeedSignorelli's final reprise of that dynamic and influentialmasterpiece.

black chalk this lot contains 1 item(s). as was suggested by carmen bambach, the scale of this drawing, as well as the type of figure, suggest that it is preparatory for a predella . stylistically it compares closely with a drawing of st. lucy which was dated by lawrence kanter to late in the artist's career, circa 1518-1519 (see sale, new york, christie's, 10 january 1990, lot 38). as was suggested by carmen bambach, the scale of this drawing, as well as the type of figure, suggest that it is preparatory for a predella. stylistically it compares closely with a drawing of st. lucy which was dated by lawrence kanter to late in the artist's career, circa 1518-1519 (see sale, new york, christie's, 10 january 1990, lot 38).

LOT 15 LUCA SIGNORELLI CORTONA CIRCA 1450 - 1523 A PROCESSIONAL BANNER: THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE distemper on canvas 70 1/2 by 52 1/2 in.; 179 by 133.3 cm.