The ''Sant'Onofrio Altarpiece'' is a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Luca Signorelli, housed in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in the Cathedral of Perugia, Italy. It was painted for the church in 1484, commissioned by bishop

Jacopo Vagnucci Jacopo (also Iacopo) is a masculine Italian given name, derivant from Latin ''Iacōbus''. It is an Italian variant of Giacomo. * Jacopo Aconcio (), Italian religious reformer * Jacopo Bassano (1592), Italian painter * Iacopo Barsotti (1921–19 ...

, a native of

Cortona Cortona (, ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the main cultural and artistic centre of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo. Toponymy Cortona is derived from Latin Cortōna, and from Etruscan 𐌂𐌖𐌓� ...

, Signorelli's birthplace.

Description

The scene portrayed is a Holy Conversation, with a high throne where the Virgin and Child sit, placed over a Classical-style pedestal and crowned by a small engraved arch featuring a festoon with vegetables. Mary is reading a Bible, while Jesus holds a white lily, symbolizing her virginity and purity. Over a gilded step are St. John the Baptist and St. Lawrence, surmounted by two flying angels. On the marble step below, Signorelli portrayed a sitting angel playing a

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

, perhaps a homage to elements typical of the contemporary Venetian school (such as the

San Cassiano Altarpiece The ''San Cassiano Altarpiece'' is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Antonello da Messina, dating to 1475–1476. Commissioned for the church of San Cassiano in Venice, it was disassembled in the early 17th-century and the reunited cen ...

by Antonello da Messina). The angel resembles one painted by Signorelli in the Basilica della Santa Casa, at Loreto, a few years earlier. Standing on the foreground pavement are St. Onuphrius and St. Herculanus, the patrons of Perugia. Influences in the style of the painting include Ercole de' Roberti's

Santa Maria di Porto Altarpiece The ''Santa Maria in Porto Altarpiece'' is a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Ercole de' Roberti, executed in 1479-1481 and housed in the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, northern Italy. It was executed for the church of Santa Maria in ...

, Donatello and

Filippo Lippi Filippo Lippi ( – 8 October 1469), also known as Lippo Lippi, was an Italian painter of the Quattrocento (15th century) and a Carmelite Priest. Biography Lippi was born in Florence in 1406 to Tommaso, a butcher, and his wife. He was orp ...

(in the fierce figure of Lawrence) and, in the figure of Herculanus, that of Piero della Francesca's St. Augustine.

Sources

* {{15C-painting-stub Paintings by Luca Signorelli 1484 paintings Paintings of the Madonna and Child Paintings of John the Baptist Angels in art Paintings in Perugia Altarpieces Books in art Musical instruments in art