Attributed to Luca Signorelli

Giorgio Vasari, the first biographer of the Italian artists, had a family reason to know about Luca Signorelli. Luca's mother was a sister of Lazzaro Vasari, Giorgio's great-grandfather, and the young painter lived in Lazzaro's house in Arezzo while he worked with Piero della Francesca, the master who painted the frescoes of the True Cross in that town. Vasari wrote that in those years Luca imitated Piero's manner so closely that their work could hardly be told apart.

That is the difficulty behind the label attributed to. Very little of what Signorelli painted in the 1470s is dated or documented, so his early hand has to be pieced together by comparison, and a panel in Piero's calm, pale manner may belong to the master, to the pupil or to another painter of their circle. Attributed to Luca Signorelli means that specialists think a work is probably his, while no signature or document proves it. The label claims more than workshop of or follower of, which give a picture to other hands.