The discovery of Ancient Rome: Luca Signorelli's "Madonna and Child"

Luca Signorelli: "Madonna and Child". ca. 1505-1507. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (USA).

This representation of the Madonna and Child offers a very interesting example of the discovery of Ancient Rome in the context of the Italian Renaissance movement. It is the work of one of the most renowned masters of the time, Luca Signorelli, who worked in several locations in Italy between 1470 and 1523. Signorelli is known for his antiquarian work and devoted study of Ancient Rome ruins. The painting presents the Virgin and Child sitting in front of a golden background decorated with classical elements such as grotesques, putti, coins and medals. In the upper corners, it is possible to identify the profiles of Julius Caesar (right) and Emperor Domitian (left). This artwork has been identified as a gift that Luca Signorelli gave to his daughter Gabriella in 1507 to celebrate the birth of a child.

Luca Signorelli: Detail of "The Last Judgement" fresco cycle. 1499-1502. San Brizio Chapel, Orvieto Cathedral (Italy).

Signorelli's interest in using elements borrowed from Roman Antiquity can be made extensible to his greatest work: the fresco cycle depicting The Last Judgement that he painted in the San Brizio Chapel, Orvieto Cathedral. The area below the ceiling frescoes was filled with grotesque ornamental motifs and bust of philosophers and poets, which can be directly related to the decorations of the Domus Aurea in Rome.

Nero's Domus Aurea (Rome): Detail of wall decorations.

The rediscovery of Antiquity and the return to classical forms are two of the principles that sit at the core of the Renaissance movement. The discovery of Emperor Nero's palace, the Domus Aurea (Golden House), at the end of the 15th century provided the artists of the time with a great catalogue of decorative motifs. These elements became very popular and were especially applied in wall painting and interior design with the scope to recreate the atmosphere of Ancient Rome housing. One of the finest examples of this type of decoration can be found at the Palazzi Pontifici in the Vatican, where Raffaello's workshop painted a frescoes cycle for Cardinal Bibbiena's Loggetta.

Raffaello and workshop: Decoration of Cardinal Bibbiena's Loggetta. 1516-1517. Palazzi Pontifici, Vatican.

Raffaello and workshop: Decoration of Cardinal Bibbiena's Loggetta (detail). 1516-1517. Palazzi Pontifici, Vatican.

Another remarkable episode that was greatly influential over Renaissance art was the discovery of some of the best examples of Ancient sculpture. In 1506, the legendary Laocoön and His Sons was found during an excavation conducted in Mount Esquilinus. The sculpture was immediately identified as the masterpiece that the Roman writer Pliny the Elder praised in one of his major works and attributed to the Greek sculptors Agesander, Athenodoros and Polydorus. The Laocoön group was acquired by Pope Julius II and was put on display at the centre of the Belvedere courtyard in the Vatican, where it became the focal point of the collection. One of the first artists that saw the sculpture after its discovery was Michelangelo, who was deeply influenced by the struggling bodies and the powerful expressions.

Agesander, Athenodoros and Polydorus: "Laocoön and His Sons". Around 40-30 B.C. Musei Vaticani.

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