Lot 7

Sotheby's, London, 27 March 1963, lot 43
Private collection, acquired from the above
Thence by descent
Christie's, London, Old Master & 19th Century Paintings, Drawings & Watercolours, 9 December 2009, lot 116
where purchased by Robert Compton Jones (accompanied by a copy of the original purchase receipt and auction catalogue)

Kanter, L. B., The Late Works of Luca Signorelli and his Followers, 1498-1559, Ph.D. Thesis, New York University, 1989, p. 116.
Kanter, L.B., 'Some Late Alterpieces by Luca Signorelli', in Studi di Storia dell'Arte, II, 1991, p. 186-7.
Henry, T and Kanter, L.B., Luca Signorelli: The Complete Paintings, London, 2001, p. 206, no. 60, illustrated.

RELATED WORK:
Luca Signorelli, Lamentation over the Dead Christ 1502, wood, 270 x 240cm, Museo Diocesano, Cortona (card no. 18630)

LOT ESSAY:
This panel depicting Saint Michael has been plausibly identified by Kanter as originating from one of the pilasters flanking Luca Signorelli's celebrated Lamentation at the Foot of the Cross (also known as Lamentation over the Dead Christ), commissioned for the high altar of Santa Margherita in Cortona and completed in 1502.(1) The altarpiece, now housed in the Diocesan Museum of Cortona, is widely regarded as Signorelli's most distinguished commission and a pinnacle of his artistic output for his native town.

The Lamentation was commissioned by the Soprastanti of Santa Margherita and documented as underway by October 1501, with completion confirmed by February 1502. Bartolomeo della Gatta, called upon to assess its value, declared it worth 200 florins, though Signorelli accepted only half, renouncing the remainder "for the love of God, for [the salvation of] his soul and the souls of his ancestors."(2) The memory of his family was also echoed in the now-lost frame's inscription, which uniquely bore Signorelli's patronymic: LUCAS EGIDII SIGNORELLI CORTONENSIS. MDII.(3)

The present panel, with its luminous depiction of Saint Michael, shares compositional characteristics with the central altarpiece and is lit in the same manner, suggesting it was conceived as part of the altarpiece. Its dimensions and stylistic features align closely with three other panels believed to represent Saints John the Baptist, Jerome, and Anthony of Padua. These saints, along with Michael, are recorded in historical descriptions of the altarpiece's pilasters and are each of the same dimensions, notably larger than other pilaster panels painted by Signorelli. The altarpiece reportedly also included pilasters of Saints Basil, Francis, Louis of Toulouse, and Bonaventure. The only extant visual record of the original configuration is a drawing by F. Fabbrucci (Vatican archives), which, though unreliable, confirms the presence of these figures, albeit inaccurately all rendered as bishops.(4)
The expressive intensity of Signorelli's Lamentation has often been linked to Vasari's poignant account of the artist drawing the body of his deceased son Antonio. While Antonio was still alive at the time of the painting's completion, dying later in 1502, it is conceivable that he served as the model for the figure of Christ, and that Vasari's anecdote emerged in the wake of the painting's unveiling and Antonio's death. The enduring fame of the Lamentation, praised by Vasari in 1550 as "a beautiful thing and worthy of great praise," inspired subsequent commissions.(5) The commission for the 1505 altarpiece for Sant'Agostino in Matélica explicitly requested "just as he has painted and perfected the high altarpiece of the church of Santa Margherita in Cortona."(6) This panel of Saint Michael thus stands not only as a testament to Signorelli's technical mastery and devotional intensity, but also as a fragment of one of the most revered altarpieces of the Italian Renaissance.

Madeleine Mackenzie

(1) Henry, 2001, p. 206
(2) Kanter, 2001, p. 142
(3) ibid
(4) Henry, 2001, p. 206
(5) Kanter, 2001, p. 142
(6) ibid