Figures in a Landscape: Two Nude Youths

Artist Luca Signorelli (Italian, ca. 1441 or 1450-1523)

Place of OriginSiena, Italy

Dateabout 1490

Dimensionspainting: 27 1/4 x 16 1/4 in. (69.2 x 41.3 cm)
frame: 32 1/4 x 21 7/8 x 3 3/4 in.

MediumOil on wood panel

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1955.222A

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 19

Collections

Paintings

Published ReferencesVischer, R., Luca Signorelli und die Italienische Renaissance, Leipzig, 1879, p. 244.

Cruttwell, M., Luca Signorelli, London, 1899, p. 132.

Berenson, B., The Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance, London, 1909, p. 250.

Fry, R., "Exhibition of Old Masters at the Grafton Galleries, I," Burlington Magazine, XX, Nov. 1911, pp. 72, 77, pl. 111.

Borenius, T., "The Reconstruction of a Polyptych by Signorelli," Burlington Magazine, XXIV, Oct. 1913, p. 35.

Cook, H., ed., A Catalogue of the Paintings at Doughty House, Richmond and Elsewhere in the Collection of Sir Frederick Cook Bt., London, 1913, I (T. Borenius, Italian Schools), nos. 50, 51, pl. VIII.

Venturi, A., Storia dell'arte italiana, Milan, 1913, VII, part 2, p. 410, fig. 32. (panel A)

Crowe, J. A., and G. B. Cavalcaselle, A History of Painting in Italy, London, 1914, V, pp. 96-97.

Brockwell, Maurice W., "The Cook Collection," Part I, Italian Schools," Connoisseur, vol. 47, 1917, p. 126.

Venturi, A., Luca Signorelli, Florence, 1922, p. 65, pl. 87.

Dussler, L., Signorelli (Klassiker der Kunst), Stuttgart, 1927, p. 203, repr. pp. 76-77.

A Commemorative Catalogue of the Exhibition of Italian Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, vol. 1, 1931, nos. 219-220.

Berenson, B., Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Oxford, 1932, p. 533.

van Marle, R., The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, The Hague, 1937, XVI, pp. 49-50, 115.

Berenson, B., The Drawings of the Florentine Painters, Chicago, 1938, I, p. 41.

Bodkin, Thomas, Dismembered Masterpieces, London, 1945, p. 25, repr. (b&w), pl. 31.

Berenson, B., The Italian Painters of the Renaissance, New York, 1952, pl. 287.

Handbook to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England, 1952, p. 50.

Salmi, M., Luca Signorelli, Novara, 1953, pp. 22, 55, fig. 37.

Mostyn-Owen, W., "Exhibition of Luca Signorelli at Cortona," Burlington Magazine, vol. 95, August 1953, p. 274.

Comstock, Helen, "Connoisseur in America, Two Panels by Signorelli," Connoisseur, vol. 142, no. 573, Nov. 1958, pp. 202, 203, repr. p. 204.

"Art News of the Year," Art News Annual 28 in Artnews, vol. 57, no. 7, Nov. 1958, p. 207, repr. p. 5.

"La Chronique des Arts," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 60, no. 1092, Jan. 1960, p. 31, repr.

Toledo Museum of Art News, Summer 1960, New Series: vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 54, 55, both panels repr.

"Nuove acquisizioni del Toledo Museum," Emporium, Feb. 1961, no. 794, vol. CXXXIII, p. 86, repr.

Rand, O. A., Jr., Luca Signorelli: Martyrdom of St. Catherine and the Bichi Altar, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, 1961, pp. (7, 8), fig. 9 (photographic reconstruction of Bichi altar; also see exh. cat., Italian Paintings and Drawings, Mar. 1961, last plate).

"Signorelli Masterpiece Reconstructed in Williamstown, Mass.," Art News, LX, Mar. 1961, pp. 36, 37, 55, figs. 4, 5.

Martingale, A., "Luca Signorelli and the Drawings Connected with the Orvieto Frescoes," Burlington Magazine, CIII, June 1961, p. 220.

Scarpellini, P., Luca Signorelli, Milan, 1964, pp. 39, 132, pls. 44a, 44b.

Smart, Alastair, "Roger Fry and Early Italian Art," Apollo, vol. 83, no. 50, April 1966, p. 264, repr. (b&w).

Bruner, Louise, "The Toledo Museum of Art," American Artist, vol. 30, no. 4, April 1966, pp. 33-39, 71, 76, repr. p. 34 (youths only).

Chastel, A., Studios and Styles of the Italian Renaissance, New York, 1966, p. 350, fig. 307 (panel A incorrectly assigned to Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge).

A Guide to the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1966, repr. (col.).

Baldini, U., "Signorelli," Encyclopedia of World Art, vol. 13, p. 50.

Faison, S. Lane, Jr., "From Lorenzo Monaco to Mattia Preti," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, pp. 449, 450, repr. (b&w) figs. 8, 9, p. 451.

Berenson, B., Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Central Italian and North Italian Schools, London, 1968, I, p. 400.

Spaeth, Eloise; American Art Museums, New York, 1969, rev. ed., p. 204.

Fredericksen, Burton B. and Zeri, Federico, Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections, Cambridge, Mass., 1972, pp. 189, 494.

UNESCO: An Illustrated Inventory of Famous Dismembered Works of Art: European Painting, Paris, 1974, pp. 25, 49, repr. p. 50.

Presenti, F. R., "Dismembered Works of Art - Italian Paintings," in An Illustrated Inventory of Famous Dismembered Works of Art: European Painting, Paris (UNESCO), 1974, pp. 25, 49, repr. p. 50.

Birbari, Elizabeth, Dress in Italian painting 1460-1500, London, 1975, p. 30, repr. fig. 13.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, pp. 152-153, pl. 7a-b.

The Toledo Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1976, repr. p. 31 (col.).

Hermesdorf, P.F.J.M., et al, "The Examination and Restoration of The Last Judgement by Lucas van Leyden," Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, Deel 29, 1978, p. 318, repr. fig. 8.

Ingendaay, Martina, "Rekonstruktionsversuch der 'Pala Bichi' in San Agostino in Siena," Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, Bd. 23, Heft 1/2, 1979, pp. 109, 125, n. 8, repr. fig. 6, 7, p. 112.

Adams, Robert, The Lost Museum, New York, 1980, p. 12, repr. 14.

Seidel, Max von, "Signorelli um 1490," Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen, 1984, pp. 210, 243-244, repr. pp. 211, 243.

Kirstein, Lincoln, Paul Cadmus, New York, 1984, p. 81.

Kanter, Laurence, The Late Works of Luca Signorelli and His Followers, Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1989, p. 178 (unpublished).

Van Cleave, Claire, Signorelli as a Draughtman, Ph.D. dissertation, Oxford University, 1995, pp. 128-130 (unpublished).

Henry, Tom and Laurence Kanter, Luca Signorelli: The Complete Paintings, New York, Rizzoli, and Paris, Hazan, 2002, pp. 171-172.

Pernac, Natacha, "Re-reading Luca Signorelli's Nudes: From the 1870s till Today," Artibus et Historiae, no. 59, 2009, p. 181, fig. 2, p. 181.

Gesko, Judit, Cezanne and the Past Tradition and Creativity, Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts, 2012, p. 172, repr. (col.) p. 168, fig. 95. Kren, Thomas, The Renaissance Nude, Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, 2018, p. 241, 242, repr. p. 243 fig. 76a, 76b.

Rubin, Patricia Lee. Seen From Behind: Perspectives on the Male Body and Renaissance Art, London, Yale University Press, 2018, p. 42, repr. p 42 fig 1.42.

Elam, Caroline, Roger Fry and Italian Art, London, Paul Holberton Publishing, 2019, p. 250, repr. (col.) fig. 2.69A-B.

Exhibition HistoryLondon, Burlington Fine Arts Club, The Work of Luca Signorelli and His School, 1893, nos. 10, 11.

London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, Winter Exhibition, 1906, nos. 18, 21.

London, Grafton Galleries, Exhibition of Old Masters, 1911, nos. 10, 12, figs. 8, 10.

London, Royal Academy, Exhibition of Italian Art, 1200-1900, 1930, nos. 219, 220.

London, National Gallery, Renaissance Siena: Art for a City, 2007-2008, nos. 58 & 59, pp. 222, 225, repr. p. 223 (col.) and 224 (col.).

Perugia, Italy, Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria, Luca Signorelli “de ingegno et spirto pelegrino”, April 27-August 26, 2012, no. 26, pp. 308, repr. (col.) p. 203. Los Angeles, The Getty Center; London, Royal Academy of Arts, The Renaissance Nude, 1400-1530, Oct. 30, 2018-Jun. 2, 2019.

Label TextAdmired by Michelangelo and Raphael, Luca Signorelli’s expressive depictions of the body reveal his study of anatomy—an interest that many Italian artists shared in the late 1400s. Looking at classical sculpture, in which the human body was celebrated as the most beautiful expression of nature, many Renaissance artists sought to surpass the achievements of ancient Greek and Roman artists. Originally part of a large altarpiece in a church in Siena, these panels of bathers formed a backdrop to a sculpture of Saint Christopher carrying the Christ Child across a river (in a pose echoed by the woman and baby in the right panel). Look carefully and you can see where Signorelli changed the position of the woman’s raised arm. Such changes, visible because the upper layer of paint has become transparent with age, are called pentimenti—Italian for “repentances.”