Education of Pan

Luca Signorelli's Education of Pan, painted around 1490, was formerly in the Bode Museum, Berlin, but was destroyed during World War II (now known only through reproductions). The mythological subject—showing the god Pan being taught by Olympian figures—reflects the sophisticated classicism of the circle of Lorenzo de' Medici, for whom the painting was likely created. The loss of this work is considered one of the most significant art casualties of the war.

Known only through reproductions, the painting demonstrated Signorelli's powerful nude figure painting in a mythological context, with multiple figures arranged in a classical landscape—the muscular figures anticipating Michelangelo's later treatments.