Madonna and Child with Ignudi (aka The Medici Tondo)

The nudity of the Christ Child as well as of the background figures, not only shows off Signorelli's skill in painting the human form but can also be interpreted as a way of including the idea of worldly human nature into this religious work. With this painting, Signorelli pioneered the inclusion of nude figures in representations of the Holy Family, and Michelangelo followed suit by doing the same, for instance, in his Tondo Doni (1504-06). Other similarities exist between these two works, including the tondo format, and the placement of the Virgin Mary directly on the ground.

An art historian said this work chronicles Signorelli's adherence to classical models, especially for the nudes in the background of the tondo, with its fictive marble frame superimposed on a rectangular picture. Signorelli is thought to have been a student of ancient sarcophagi as well as of freestanding statues and very likely also knew quite a bit about Roman sculpture and Greek pottery. At the same time, he was aware of the sculpture of Donatello and Andrea del Verrocchio.

This boldly-colored work presents the Virgin Mary, wearing a red dress and blue robe, and sitting on the ground in a pastoral outdoor setting (with classical architectural features in the background) with the Christ Child at her side. He is nude, standing on one foot, with his right leg raised, being supported by his mother, holding her left hand with both of his, and her right hand gently supporting his side. In the mid-ground, Signorelli included a grazing horse, and four young men, naked except for loincloths. The round presentation (tondo) is a trompe-l'oeil painting of carved stone, with, at the upper left and right corners, the figures of two prophets in the process of writing, and between them, Saint John the Baptist. 

This work is oil and tempera on wood panel. It is housed in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy