Editing Luca Signorelli (section)

== Work in Orvieto ==
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{{Main|Orvieto Cathedral#Chapel of the Madonna di San Brizio}}
[[File:Luca signorelli, compianto, cortona, dettaglio 01.jpg|thumb|''Lamentation over the Dead Christ'', detail, 1502]]

From the Monastery of Monte Oliveto Maggiore near [[Siena]], Signorelli went to [[Orvieto]] and produced his masterpiece, the frescoes in the chapel of S. Brizio (then called the Cappella Nuova), in the [[Duomo di Orvieto|cathedral]].

The Cappella Nuova already contained two groups of images in the vaulting over the altar, the Judging Christ and the Prophets, murals initially begun by [[Fra Angelico]] fifty years prior. The works of Signorelli in the vaults and on the upper walls represent the events surrounding the Apocalypse and the Last Judgment. The events of the Apocalypse fill the space which surrounds the entrance into the large chapel.

The Apocalyptic events begin with the ''Preaching of Antichrist'', and proceed to the ''Doomsday'' and ''The Resurrection of the Flesh''. They occupy three vast [[lunette]]s, each of them a single continuous narrative composition. In one of them, the [[Antichrist]], after his portents and impious glories, falls headlong from the sky, crashing down into an innumerable crowd of men and women.

The events of the [[Last Judgment]] fill the facing vault and the walls around the altar. The series is composed of ''Paradise'', ''the'' ''Elect and the Condemned'', ''Hell'', the ''Resurrection of the Dead'', and the ''Destruction of the Reprobate''.

[[File:Luca signorelli, compianto, cortona, e predella.jpg|thumb|''Lamentation over the Dead Christ'', Diocesan Museum, Cortona]]
To Angelico's ceiling, which contained the ''Judging Christ'' and the ''Prophets'' led by John the Baptist, Signorelli added the ''Madonna leading the Apostles'', the ''Patriarchs'', ''Doctors of the Church'', ''Martyrs'', and ''Virgins''. The unifying factor of the paintings is found in the scripture readings in the Roman liturgies for the Feast of All Saints and Advent.

Stylistically, the daring and terrible inventions, with their powerful treatment of the nude and arduous foreshortenings, were striking in their day. [[Michelangelo]] is claimed to have borrowed, in his own fresco at the [[Sistine Chapel]] wall, some of Signorelli's figures or combinations. The lower walls, in an unprecedented style, are richly decorated with a great deal of subsidiary work connected with [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]], specifically the first eleven books of his ''Purgatorio'', and with the poets and legends of antiquity.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=San Juan |first1=Rose Marie |title=The Illustrious Poets in Signorelli's Frescoes for the Cappella Nuova of Orvieto Cathedral |journal=Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes |date=1989 |volume=52 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/751539}}</ref> A ''Pietà'' composition in a niche in the lower wall contains explicit references to two important Orvietan martyr saints, San Pietro Parenzo and San Faustino.

The contract for Signorelli's work is still on record in the archives of the Cathedral of Orvieto. He undertook the task of completing the ceiling on April 5, 1499 for 200 ducats, as well as 600 ducats for the walls, along with lodging, and a monthly payment of two measures of wine and two quarters of corn. The contract directed Signorelli to consult the Masters of the Sacred Page for theological matters. This is the first such recorded instance of an artist receiving theological advice, although art historians believe such discussions were routine. Signorelli's first stay in Orvieto lasted no more than two years. In 1502 he returned to Cortona, later returning to Orvieto to continue the lower walls. He painted a dead Christ, with Mary Magdalene, the Virgin Mary, and the local martyr Saints Pietro Parenzo and Faustino. The figure of the dead Christ, according to Vasari, is the image of Signorelli's son Antonio, who died from the plague during the course of the execution of the paintings.