Editing Luca Signorelli (section)

== Biography ==
{{One source|section|date=August 2023}}
[[File:Luca Signorelli - Testamento e morte di Mosè.jpg|thumb|''Testament and Death of Moses'', detail]]
He was born '''Luca d'Egidio di Ventura''' in [[Cortona]], Tuscany (some sources call him '''Luca da Cortona'''). The precise date of his birth is uncertain, but birth dates between 1441 and 1445 have been proposed. He died in 1523 in his native Cortona, where he is buried.

His first impressions of art seem to originate in Perugia – including the styles of artists such as [[Benedetto Bonfigli]], [[Fiorenzo di Lorenzo]] and [[Pinturicchio]]. Lazzaro Vasari, the great-grandfather of art historian [[Giorgio Vasari]], was Luca's maternal uncle. According to [[Giorgio Vasari]], Lazzaro had Luca apprenticed to [[Piero della Francesca]]. In 1472 the young artist was painting at [[Arezzo]], and in 1474 at [[Città di Castello]]. He presented to [[Lorenzo de' Medici]] a work which is likely ''School of Pan''. [[Janet Ross]] and her husband Henry discovered the painting in Florence {{Circa|1870}} and subsequently sold it to the Kaiser Frederick Museum in Berlin, though it was destroyed there a few days after the end of World War II.<ref>See: Benjamin, Sarah, ''A Castle In Tuscany'', pp. 63–67 (image of the painting at pp. 64–65), Murdoch Books, Australia, 2006.</ref> The painting's subject is almost the same as that which he also painted on the wall of the Petrucci palace in Siena – the principal figures being [[Pan (god)|Pan]] himself, [[Mount Olympus|Olympus]], [[Echo (mythology)|Echo]], a man reclining on the ground, and two listening shepherds.

Signorelli worked in central Italy, leading a very requested workshop, increasing his importance during the 1490s. He often returned to his native Cortona, and worked in nearby [[Umbria]], especially in [[Città di Castello]], where he left one of his masterpieces: ''the Martyrdome of St Sebastian'' (still in the umbrian town). This painting was very influential for the young [[Raphael]], who worked in the same town and sketched some drawings of the "Martyrdom".

In 1498, Signorelli moved to the Monastery of [[Monte Oliveto Maggiore]] south of Siena, where he painted eight frescoes, forming part of a vast series depicting the life of [[Benedict of Nursia|St. Benedict]]; they are at present much injured. In the palace of [[Pandolfo Petrucci]] he worked on various classic or mythological subjects, including the aforementioned ''School of Pan''. Signorelli remained healthy until his death, continuing to paint and accept commissions into his final year, including the altarpiece of the Church at Foiano.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27759?msg=welcome_stranger|title=Luca Signorelli|last=Cruttwell|first=Maud|publisher=Scholarly|year=1901|via=Project Gutenberg}}</ref>