ure is perhaps that
one presented by Luca to Lorenzo de' Medici, of which Vasari tells, and
if so it was probably on a wall in the Medici palace when Michelangelo
as a boy was taught with Lorenzo's sons. Luca's sweetness was alien
to Michelangelo, but not his melancholy or his sense of composition;
while Luca's devotion to the human form as the unit of expression
was in Michelangelo carried out to its highest power. Vasari, who
was a relative of Luca's and a pupil of Michelangelo's, says that
his master had the greatest admiration for Luca's genius.

Luca Signorelli was born at Cortona, and was instructed by Piero della
Francesca, whose one Uffizi painting is in a later room. His chief work
is at Cortona, at Rome (in the Sixtine Chapel), and at Orvieto. His
fame was sufficient in Florence in 1491 for him to be made one of
the judges of the designs for the facade of the Duomo. Luca lived
to a great age, not dying till 1524, and was much beloved. He was
magnificent in his habits and loved fine clothes, was very kindly
and helpful in disposition, and the influence of his naturalness and
sincerity upon art was great. One very pretty sad story is told of him,
to the effect that when his son, whom he had dearly loved, was killed
at Cortona, he caused the body to be stripped, and painted it with the
utmost exactitude, that through his own handiwork he might be able
to contemplate that treasure of which fate had robbed him. Perhaps
the most beautiful or at any rate the most idiosyncratic thing in the
picture before us is its lovely profusion of wayside flowers. These
come out but poorly in the photograph, but in the painting they
are exquisite both in form and in detail. Luca painted them as if
he loved them. (There is a hint of the same thoughtful care in the
flowers in No. 1133, by Luca, in our National Gallery; but these at
Florence are the best.) No. 74 is in tempera: the next, also by Luca,
No.1291, is in oil, a "Holy Family," a work at once powerful, rich,
and sweet. Here, again, we may trace an influence on Michelangelo,
for the child is shown deprecating a book which his mother is
displaying, while in the beautiful marble tondo of the "Madonna and
Child" by Michelangelo, which we are soon to see in the Bargello,
a reading lesson is in progress, and the child wearying of it. We
find Luca again in the next large picture--No.1547--a Crucifixion,
with various Saints, done in collaboration with Perugino. The design
suggests