Coriolanus persuaded by his Family to spare Rome

Around 1509 Pandolfo Petrucci, who ruled Siena, had one room of his palace painted with eight scenes from ancient history and legend. Signorelli, Pintoricchio and Girolamo Genga shared the walls, and this is one of Signorelli's.

The story comes from early Rome. Coriolanus, a general driven out of the city, went over to the Volsci, a neighbouring people, and came back at the head of their army. The women of Rome went out to meet him, led by his mother Volumnia and his wife Vergilia, who carries a baby here. He gave way and withdrew. Signorelli paints the moment he chooses his family, the general in blue and gold armour opening his arms to his small son.

Petrucci knew something about exile. He had left Siena himself in 1503, under pressure from Cesare Borgia, and was back in power within months. The frescoes were cut from the walls in the 1840s and moved onto canvas, and this one reached the National Gallery with the Mond Bequest in 1924.