Vierge à l'Enfant

When Signorelli painted this round panel in the 1490s, Florentine workshops were saturated with antiquity. Ancient statues pulled from Roman soil were being studied almost like scripture, and you can feel that even in a sacred picture like this one. Off to the right a nude youth sits on a rock, lifted straight from a celebrated antique sculpture then in Florence, the Spinario, a boy drawing a thorn from his foot. The standing Christ Child was likely modelled on antique figures too. Behind them the crags dissolve into a soft blue haze, a trick learned from Leonardo. Signorelli sets strong verticals and horizontals against the tondo's curve, squaring the circle on purpose.