Francesco Signorelli

In the possession of the family of the current owners since at least 1879.

R. Vischer, Luca Signorelli und die Italianische Renaissance, eine Kunsthistorische Monographie, Leipzig 1879, p. 261 (as by Luca Signorelli);
G. Mancini, Vita di Luca Signorelli, Florence 1903, p. 172 (as by Luca Signorelli);
A. Venturi, Storia dell'arte Italiana, VII, vol. II, Milan 1913, p. 408 (as workshop of Luca Signorelli);
A. Venturi, Luca Signorelli, Florence 1921, p. 63  (as workshop of Luca Signorelli);
L. Dussler, Signorelli. Klassiker der Kunst, Berlin and Leipzig 1927, p. 203 (as workshop of Luca Signorelli);
M. Salmi, Luca Signorelli, Novara 1953, p. 61 (as by Francesco Signorelli);
L.B. Kanter, The Late Works of Luca Signorelli and his Followers 1498-1559, doctoral thesis, New York University 1989, p. 225, footnote 17 (as by Francesco Signorelli);
L.B. Kanter, "Francesco Signorelli", in Arte Cristiana, vol. LXXXII, 1994, pp. 199-212;
R. Olson, "Signorelli's Berlin Tondo: New Information (technical, stylistic, and iconographic)", in Arte Cristiana, vol. 779, 1997, pp. 104-105 (as Signorelli Workshop or Francesco Signorelli, present whereabouts unknown);
T. Henry and L.B. Kanter, Luca Signorelli. The Complete Paintings, New York 2002, p. 261, cat. no X27 (as Unknown Tuscan Artsist).

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 made from three sections of vertically joined wood. One join is almost in the middle and the other is on the far right. There are two horizontal wooden reinforcements on the reverse that may be original. The panel is flat and the paint layer is stable. The picture is in very good condition. It is however quite dirty. It does not seem that many retouches will be found beneath the dirt when the work is cleaned. There are some retouches that are conspicuously left incomplete, such as in the lower portion of the red gown in the figure on the right. This is a picture that will certainly respond well to cleaning; the degree of cleaning is a matter of taste, but a lot of retouching should not be required.
"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."

The general composition of the present tondo follows that of Luca Signorelli's Holy Family with Saints John, Elisabeth, and Zacharias in the Berlin Gemäldegalerie, a work which Signorelli painted circa 1509-13.¹ This picture has been recognized as a work by Signorelli's nephew, Francesco Signorelli, who executed works in his uncle's late style in the decades following Luca's death in 1523. Larry Kanter has proposed a dating of this panel to circa 1530-40. 

A variant of the present work, also by Francesco Signorelli, but of smaller dimensions, was sold New York, Christie's, 8 November 1984, lot 88. 


1. see Literature, Henry and Kanter 2002, p. 227.