Saint Onuphrius altarpiece

Luca Signorelli
oil on canvas
1484

This painting originally hung in the Sant’Onofrio chapel in Perugia’s San Lorenzo cathedral and was commissioned by the Vagnucci family of Cortona. One of the family’s more illustrious members, Iacopo, was made bishop of Perugia in 1449 and undertook the redecoration of the cathedral in Renaissance style. In the right transept stands the chapel where Vagnucci was interred and where the altarpiece by Luca Signorelli was first hung.

The significance of this painting, which was originally framed, is that it signals a point at the beginning of Signorelli’s artistic career during his training when his work was still subject to significant criticism. The artist shows he has mastered the main themes of the period and produced a work demonstrating considerable stylistic competency.

The painting’s composition is poised with the figures arrayed in an open countryside setting deploying lighting and colour effects which clearly define their stances and volumes. The figure of the angel tuning a lyre is particularly noteworthy and draws on fashionable Venetian compositions of the period. The still life in a glass vase in the foreground is both simple but remarkable and reminiscent of Flemish art and Hugo van der Goes’ al Trittico Portinari in particular.