Madonna and Child with Saints

Signorelli's Madonna and Child with Saints from around 1519, one of his last major works, was painted for a church in Arezzo. The late altarpiece shows the aging master maintaining his commitment to powerful figure drawing even as younger artists were transforming Italian painting around him. Luca Signorelli was celebrated for his muscular treatment of the male nude in complex narrative scenes, anticipating Michelangelo in his emphasis on anatomy and foreshortening.

Signorelli's sharp, linear drawing and sculptural figure modeling remain characteristic, though the softer palette of his late work reflects a mellowing of his earlier, more aggressive style.