Definitive in its scholarship and thrilling in its scope, this lavishly illustrated volume offers the first book-length study of Luca Signorelli (1450-1523), sometimes described as the "least-known major artist" of the Renaissance. Twenty years of painstaking archival research have produced this portrait of Signorelli in public and private life-an adventurous painter who believed art was divinely inspired, and an affectionate family man who participated energetically in public life. In his paintings-of which the Last Judgement in Orvieto cathedral is his undisputed masterpiece-Signorelli integrated his observations of daily life with a fresh and sensitive approach to representing religious subjects.

A student of Piero della Francesca, Signorelli was influential into the early 16th century, though he was ultimately eclipsed by his friends Raphael and Michelangelo. Signorelli's work is represented in museums around the world, and this book now offers new audiences and scholars a complete picture of one of the Renaissance's most significant and intriguing artists.