Excerpt from Luca Signorelli From Vasari, then, we learn that Luca was born in Cortona, Of Egidio Signorelli, and a sister of Lazzaro de Taldi.l This Lazzaro, great grandfather of the biographer, deserves special mention, since it was through his means, and under his guardianship, that Luca was placed as a child to study painting with Pier dei Franceschi, at Arezzo.2 Vasari tells us that Lazzaro was a famous painter Of his time, not only in his own country, but throughout Tuscany, with a style of painting hardly to be distinguished from that of his great friend, Pietro della Francesca. 3 This, however, is an assertion that has never been supported, and was probably based on the author's pride in his own family, for in the Cortona tax-receipts for the year 1427, he is described merely as a harness-maker (sellajo a'i There is, besides, no record Of him among the painters Of Arezzo, and no fragment remains Of the many work-s emimerated 'by his great-grandson. But it is of little consequence whether he was a painter Of pictures or a decorator Of saddles; what is to our purpose is the fact, that by his means Luca was placed under the tutelage Of the painter most capable Of developing the noblest qualities Of his genius. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.