Orvieto prepares to celebrate 500 years since Luca Signorelli's death in 2023

Orvieto is preparing to celebrate, in 2023, the five-hundredth anniversary of the death of Luca Signorelli (Cortona, c. 1445 - 1523), author of the fundamental frescoes of the Chapel of San Brizio in Orvieto Cathedral, by promoting a series of conferences and cultural events that from next March 2023 will deepen and examine the figure of the “magister Lucas de Cortona.” From the sacred scriptures of the Bible, theOpera del Duomo diOrvieto has chosen to draw inspiration to describe the celebrations that will commemorate the 500th anniversary of Luca Signorelli’s death: And I Saw a New Heaven and a New Earth. Art, architecture, theology, history and theater will be the topics on which the cultural itinerary will focus, which will feature speakers such as Francesco Federico Mancini and Cristina Galassi, professors at the University of Perugia, Tom Henry, professor of art history at the University of Kent and director of the Kent Institute in Rome, Antonio Natali, art historianart historian, former director of the Uffizi Gallery and currently a member of the board of directors of the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, Monsignor Gualtiero Sigismondi, bishop of the Diocese of Orvieto - Todi, and Father Jean Paul Hernandez, professor at the Faculty of History and Cultural Heritage of the Pontifical Gregorian University.

Luca Signorelli took on the task in April 1499 of completing the decoration of the two sails left unfinished by Beato Angelico’s initial work. Signorelli’s intervention was so admirable that the Opera del Duomo of Orvieto chose to entrust the artist with the completion of the Last Judgment cycle as well. On April 23, 1500, the painter submitted plans for the wall frescoes to the patrons for their consideration, and four days later he officially received the commission to complete the decoration of the entire chapel. Between 1499 and 1504 Luca Signorelli illustrated in the Chapel of San Brizio the most important Renaissance cycle dedicated to the treatment of eschatological subjects, including The Stories of the Antichrist, The Finimondo, The Resurrection of the Flesh, Hell, The Antinferno, The Calling of the Elect, and Heaven. “Luca Signorelli,” explains art historian Giordano Conticelli, “created an admirable perspective-illusionistic effect by inserting the large narrative scenes and decorations within a false architectural structure, which seems to dilate the space of the chapel by breaking through the walls toward the infinite horizon of apocalyptic visions. Signorelli inserts within this vast loggia his powerful scenes that come to life in front of the viewer as if they were on the proscenium of the great theater of the End. Bounded on the inside by a mock coffered frame, the scenes unfold on an abstract field almost as if to emphasize their timeless character and, from an artistic point of view, suggesting Signorelli’s possible intention to maintain an almost imperceptible link with the compositional approach of the early Renaissance, in continuity with the paintings left by Angelico in the sails.”

There is more, however: the experience of Luca Signorelli’s life and his relationship with Orvieto Cathedral will in fact come alive in the video that the Opera del Duomo of Orvieto has made, produced by Ruvido Produzioni and directed by Igor Molino Padovan, featuring the well-known geologist, science popularizer and TV host Mario Tozzi. The documentary video will be published on the occasion of the next edition of Umbria Jazz Winter, which will be held in Orvieto the end of December, through the Ente’s website and social channels and disseminated in the city through interactive totems and multimedia installations.

The program of initiatives also includes a musical proposal curated by the Musical Chapel of Orvieto Cathedral, on three appointments that will engage the organist, maestro Riccardo Bonci and the Chorale conducted by maestro Stefano Benini. Also planned is the musical contribution of Orvieto’s “Adriano Casasole” Municipal School of Music, which during 2023 will present a piano concert inside the Chapel of San Brizio, by Maestro Riccardo Cambri.

Again, for the fall of 2023 the Compagnia Lombardi-Tiezzi will stage the show L’Oltremondo, Luca Signorelli a Orvieto: Fabrizio Sinisi composes for Sandro Lombardi a text that, continuing the research around Giorgio Vasari ’s Lives inaugurated by Federico Tiezzi, traverses Luca Signorelli’s life in Orvieto, imagining his masterpiece as a theater of visions, a vast and cruel prophecy of today.

Initiatives to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Luca Signorelli’s death will see the collaboration of the Opera del Duomo with the Diocese of Orvieto-Todi and the city’s administrative and cultural institutions. There will also be activities involving the world of schools and associations. All the events of the calendar dedicated to Signorelli will be streamed live on the Opera del Duomo’s social channels to better disseminate the possibility of following the initiatives, of high cultural importance, not only in presence.

In the photo: Luca Signorelli’s frescoes in Orvieto Cathedral.

Orvieto prepares to celebrate 500 years since Luca Signorelli's death in 2023

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