Luca Signorelli

Luca Signorelli is an Italian Renaissance painter, master of anatomy and precursor of Michelangelo whose monumental frescoes of the Last Judgment in Orvieto establish a new standard for representing the human body in movement. Probably trained with Piero della Francesca, he inherits a geometric rigor that he combines with a passionate study of anatomy, creating figures of sculptural power unprecedented in the painting of his time. His frescoes of the San Brizio chapel in Orvieto cathedral, representing the end of times with hundreds of nudes in bold foreshortening, directly anticipate Michelangelo's Sistine and revolutionize the conception of the body in sacred art. His dramatic treatment of religious subjects, his expressive use of movement and his mastery of foreshortening testify to a scientific research on the human form that goes beyond simple imitation to achieve an expression of vital force and spiritual tension that fascinates the Renaissance.