Madonna and Child

The artist gave this painting to his daughter as a gift in 1507, possibly to celebrate the birth of a child. A student of ancient art and a master of the human figure, Signorelli was one of the protagonists of Renaissance painting. This picture makes use in the background of highly original decorations partly inspired by motifs popularized by the discovery of the Golden House of Nero in the late fifteenth century. In the upper corners are heads of (left) Domitian and (right) Julius Caesar.

Credit: The Jules Bache Collection, 1949