Giorgio Vasari

“ It is related of Luca Signorelli that he had a son killed in Cortona, a youth of singular beauty in face and person, whom he had tenderly loved. In his deep grief, the father caused his child to be despoiled of his clothing, and, with extraordinary constancy of soul, uttering no complaint and shedding no tear, he painted the portrait of his dead child, to the end that he might still have the power of contemplating, by means of the work of his own hands, that which nature had given him, but which an adverse fortune had taken away. ”

“ And, of a truth, it would often be much better to retain the works of excellent masters, though half spoiled, than suffer them to be retouched by less capable artists. In the same city Luca Signorelli painted a picture in tempera, for the church of Sant’ Agostino, and covered the predella with small figures representing the Crucifixion of Christ: this work has ever been considered to be one of extraordinary beauty. ”

“ In the Capitular Church, which is now called the Episcopate, our artist painted certain Prophets of the natural size, in fresco, for the chapel of the Sacrament: around the tabernacle, moreover, are numerous Angels erecting a pavilion, and on each side are figures, one of St. Jerome, the other of St. Thomas Aquinas. For the high altar of the same church he painted a most beautiful Assumption on panel, and the designs for the pictures in the principal window of the church were prepared by his hand; the cartoons of Signorelli being executed by Stagio Sassoli, of Arezzo. ”