The Life and Art of Luca Signorelli

Definitive in its scholarship and thrilling in its scope, this lavishly illustrated volume offers the first book-length study of Luca Signorelli (1450and#8211;1523), sometimes described as the "least-known major artist" of the Renaissance. Twenty years of painstaking archival research have produced this portrait of Signorelli in public and private lifeand#8212;an adventurous painter who believed art was divinely inspired, and an affectionate family man who participated energetically in public life. In his paintingsand#8212;of which the Last Judgement in Orvieto cathedral is his undisputed masterpieceand#8212;Signorelli integrated his observations of daily life with a fresh and sensitive approach to representing religious subjects.

A student of Piero della Francesca, Signorelli was influential into the early 16th century, though he was ultimately eclipsed by his friends Raphael and Michelangelo. Signorelli's work is represented in museums around the world, and this book now offers new audiences and scholars a complete picture of one of the Renaissance's most significant and intriguing artists.

and#8220;Tom Henryand#8217;s book is a classic of its kind . . . [and] gives you all the historical and visual knowledge necessary to go forth and look at Signorelliand#8217;s paintings on your own.and#8221;and#8212;Svetlana Alpers,and#160;Key Reporterand#160;

“Wonderfully researched and well-illustrated”—Nadine Dalton Speidel, Library Journal  Key Reporter

and#8220;After nearly twenty years of passionate study . . .Tom Henry has produced his magnum opus in and#8216;The Life and Art of Luca Signorelli.and#8217;and#8221;and#8212;Sara Nair James, Sixteenth Century Journal

andldquo;Wonderfully researched and well-illustratedandrdquo;andmdash;Nadine Dalton Speidel,and#160;Library Journaland#160;

Tom Henry is an independent scholar. Until 2006 he was a reader in the history of Italian Renaissance art, Oxford Brookes University.