Luca Signorelli

Private Collection, United Kingdom, from before the 1960s, until acquired by the present owner.

London, National Gallery, Signorelli in British Collections, 11 November 1998 - 31 January 1999, cat. no. 20.

T. Henry, Signorelli in British Collections, exhibition catalogue, London 1998, p. 24, cat. no. 20, reproduced;
T. Henry and L. Kanter, The Complete Paintings: Luca Signorelli, London 2001 and New York 2002, pp. 211-12, cat. no. 71, reproduced.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This panel is flat and the painting has recently been restored. There is what appears to be an addition on the right edge which has received some restoration. The retouches are rather "busy" and seem to give the impression that the painting is in more worried condition than it really is. The painting looks well and could be hung as is. The panel is not reinforced on the reverse. The paint layer is stable and although there are minute and exact retouches within the figures and the sky, and obviously running down the right edge, the condition is respectable yet slightly bound by the retouches, which could be reexamined.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This Madonna and Child by Luca Signorelli was rediscovered and restored to the artist's catalogue of works on the occasion of the London exhibition in 1998. Dating it is not straight forward as elements from different phases of Signorelli's career are discernible, as Henry and Kanter note (see Literature). Though the work is smaller than most comparable treatments of the subject, the design of the Madonna, who here dominates the pictorial space, finds clear parallels from works of the 1480s such as the Madonna and Child with Saints in the Pallavicini-Rospigliosi collection, Rome, and the Holy Family in the National Gallery, London.¹ All share a close interest in the careful description of the Madonna's hands; the London painting, in particular, places the right hand which reaches for her breast in a very similar way to the present work. The soft handling gradual toning of the Madonna's face, however, comes closer to works such as the Metropolitan Museum's Bache Madonna which is datable to the early 1500s.

The figures in the distance can probably be identified as Saint Christopher carrying the Christ Child across the river.


1. See Henry and Kanter under Literature, pp. 166-67, cat. nos. 8 and 9, both reproduced.
2. Idem, pp. 212-13, cat. no. 74, reproduced.