Luca Signorelli, 'The Holy Family', probably about 1490-5

The Holy Family

Luca Signorelli

Not on display

About the work

Overview

The Virgin Mary holds her clothing out the way as Christ leans towards her to breastfeed, and Saint Joseph dotes upon him. By using a plain dark background and a tightly cropped close-up view, Signorelli invites us to share in this intimate moment.

Signorelli was well known for his ability to paint the human body convincingly; here, Christ has a study torso and chubby folds of baby fat around his armpits and inner thighs. He holds a strawberry plant in his hand, a symbol of his fruitful and righteous life.

The picture was heavily restored before entering the National Gallery’s collection, and discoloured paint from the restoration remains near the Virgin’s ear, and in Christ’s left shoulder and Joseph’s face, as well as in the draperies.

In-depth

The Virgin Mary holds her clothing out the way as Christ leans towards her to breastfeed, and Saint Joseph dotes upon him. The image of Christ breastfeeding emphasised his humanity and was common in Italian painting, particularly in the late medieval period (see, for example, The Madonna of Humility with Saints Mark and John the Baptist). Signorelli has updated the theme, introducing Joseph and showing the figures without haloes as though they are an ordinary family.

By using a plain dark background and a tightly cropped close-up view, Signorelli invites us into the scene. The holy figures themselves are completely engaged with one another: the Virgin and Joseph both gaze at Christ, who looks towards his mother. Christ holds a strawberry plant, which symbolises his fruitful and righteous life but also adds a familiar element – possibly evoking memories of the fruit’s texture and smell – to a holy scene. The elaborately decorated shawls worn by Mary and Joseph are Signorelli’s way of showing their middle eastern origins. Textiles like this would have been known through imported goods, and the looping pattern on the Virgin’s mantle might be intended to evoke an ancient script.

While the Virgin Mary is an idealised young woman with a profile resembling a classical statue of a goddess, Joseph is more individualised, with a tanned complexion, tufty grey hair and bushy eyebrows. He was probably drawn from life. Signorelli was known for his ability to paint the human body convincingly. Joseph’s skull is well defined beneath his skin, his prominent cheekbone catching the imaginary light source coming from the left. Christ’s torso is sturdy and his stocky little body has chubby folds of baby fat around his armpits and inner thighs.

The picture was heavily restored before entering the National Gallery’s collection, and discoloured paint from the restoration remains near the Virgin’s ear, in Christ’s left shoulder and Joseph’s face, as well as in the draperies.

Key facts

Details

Full title: The Holy Family
Artist: Luca Signorelli
Artist dates: about 1440/50 - 1523
Date made: probably about 1490-5
Medium and support: oil on wood
Dimensions: 80.6 × 64.8 cm
Acquisition credit: Salting Bequest, 1910
Inventory number: NG2488
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: George Salting

Provenance

Bought by George Salting in 1904. Exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, Umbrian Exhibition, 1909 (No. 28). Salting Bequest, 1910.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Martin Davies, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Bibliography

1903

J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, A History of Painting in Italy, Umbria, Florence and Siena, from the Second to the Sixteenth Century, ed. R.L. Douglas, 2nd edn, 6 vols, London 1903
1909

C. Phillips, 'Review of the Umbrian Exhibition', Daily Telegraph, 1909
1910

C. Phillips, 'The Salting Collection, II: The Italian Pictures', The Burlington Magazine, XVII/85, 1910, pp. 9-22
1910

Burlington Fine Arts Club, Catalogue of a Collection of Pictures of the Umbrian School (exh. cat. Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1910), London 1910
1923

R. van Marle, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, 19 vols, The Hague 1923
1927

L. Düssler, Signorelli, Klassiker der Kunst 34, Berlin 1927
1932

B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A List of the Principal Artists and Their Works, with an Index of Places, Oxford 1932
1953

M. Salmi, Luca Signorelli, Novara 1953
1953

R. Fastnedge, 'A Restored Work by Signorelli at Liverpool', The Burlington Magazine, XCV/605, 1953, pp. 273-4
1953

M. Salmi, 'Chiosa signorelliana', Commentari, IV, 1953, pp. 107-18
1961

M. Davies, The Earlier Italian Schools, 2nd edn, London 1961
1964

P. Scarpellini, Luca Signorelli, Milan 1964
1980

F. Zeri and E.A. Gardner, A Catalogue of the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Sienese and Central Italian Schools, New York 1980
1984

J. Ruda, 'Style and Patronage in the 1440's: Two Altarpieces of the Coronation of the Virgin by Filippo Lippi', Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, XXVIII/3, 1984, pp. 363-84
1984

M. Seidel, 'Signorelli um 1490', Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen, XXVI, 1984, pp. 181-256
1986

Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
1996

T. Henry, The Career of Luca Signorelli in the 1490s, Phd Thesis, Courtauld Institute of Art 1996
1997

R.J.M. Olson, 'Signorelli's Berlin Tondo: New Information (technical, Stylistic, and Iconographic)', Arte Cristiana, LXXXV/779, 1997, pp. 99-108
1998

T. Henry, Signorelli in British Collections (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 11 November 1998 - 31 January 1999), London 1998
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2002

T. Henry and L. Kanter, Luca Signorelli: The Complete Paintings, New York 2002
2008

T. Henry, 'Le prime opere di Luca Signorelli a Cortona ed Arezzo', in L. Fornasari et al., Arte in terra d'Arezzo: Il Quattrocento, Florence 2008, pp. 171-83

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

Images

More works by Luca Signorelli

(Showing 6 of 8 works)

Coriolanus persuaded by his Family to spare Rome

Luca Signorelli

This picture, painted in fresco (directly onto wet plaster), was part of a series of eight which decorated the walls of the palace belonging to Pandolfo Petrucci, the ruler of Siena. He commissioned the frescoes to celebrate the marriage of his son to Pope Pius III’s niece. Two others survive in...

Not on display

Man on a Ladder

Luca Signorelli

This fragment of a larger painting shows an elderly man on a precarious descent down a ladder. His grip is obstructed by a pair of pincers, which he has used to extract the nails which secured Christ to the Cross. Signorelli was noted in his time for his skill at depicting the human body in a var...

Room 10

Predella: Esther, and Life of Saint Jerome

Luca Signorelli

This long rectangular panel was made as a predella, the lowest tier of an altarpiece, and was commissioned by the Company of Saint Jerome for their church in Arezzo. The main panel, now in the Museo Civico, Arezzo, shows the Virgin Mary with symbols that refer to the doctrine of the Immaculate Co...

Not on display

The Adoration of the Shepherds

Luca Signorelli

The focus of this large altarpiece is the tiny infant Christ – he lies on the ground, his head supported by a small cushion. His mother, the Virgin Mary, kneels behind him, surrounded by angels. Also gathered in worship are Mary’s husband Joseph and, to the left, four shepherds.The shepherds appe...

Room 10

The Adoration of the Shepherds

Luca Signorelli

The Virgin Mary kneels and bows her head before the newborn Christ, while her husband Joseph sits behind her on a low rock. Three shepherds bow in worship to the left. Despite its small scale, the painting demonstrates Signorelli’s immense skill at drawing the human body in complex poses, coverin...

Not on display

The Circumcision

Luca Signorelli

Following Jewish tradition, Christ was circumcised when he was eight days old (Luke 2: 21). Seated on his mother’s lap, Christ reaches out to the mohel, the man who will perform the surgery, who holds a fine blade. The vibrantly coloured marble floor tiles are designed to attract the viewer’s att...

Room 10

The Triumph of Chastity: Love Disarmed and Bound

Luca Signorelli

This picture, painted in fresco (directly onto wet plaster) was part of the decoration of a room in the palace of the ruling Petrucci family of Siena. Two others survive in the National Gallery’s collection.Love – the naked youth with multi-coloured wings – is chased, captured and finally bound b...

Not on display

The Virgin and Child with Saints

Luca Signorelli

This large painting of the Virgin Mary surrounded by saints was part of an altarpiece. It was made for a chapel dedicated to Saint Christina of Bolsena in the church of San Francesco in Montone, in the Italian region of Umbria.A large stone hangs from a rope looped round Christina’s neck, as a r...

Not on display

You've viewed 6 of 8 works

Luca Signorelli, 'The Holy Family', probably about 1490-5

About the work

Overview

In-depth

Key facts

Details

Provenance

Additional information

Source

Bibliography

About this record

Images

More works by Luca Signorelli