by the VISCONTIof Milan (1399–1404), but then resumed
its communal constitution until the signoria of the
Petrucci family (1487–1524). From 1530 the city had to
accept a Spanish garrison, but rebelled against CHARLES V’s
plan to build a fort there (1552). Spanish and Florentine
forces subdued Siena (1555) and Spain sold Siena to Flo-
rence two years later.
Siena had a university (founded 1240) and a 16th-
century literary society called the Intronati, but it is best
known for its 14th-century school of artists (DUCCIO,
Simone MARTINI, Ambrogio LORENZETTI). PINTURICCHIO
lived in Siena in the early 16th century. The architects
FRANCESCO DI GIORGIO MARTINIand Baldassare PERUZZI
were Sienese-born, as was the sculptor Jacopo della QUER-
CIA. Renaissance Siena boasted two saints: CATHERINE OF
SIENAand BERNARDINO OF SIENA. Surviving landmarks in-
clude the Palazzo Pubblico (1297–1310), the Torre del
Mangia (1338–48), and numerous handsome palaces such
as the Palazzo Piccolomini “delle Papesse,” begun in 1460
to designs by Bernardo ROSSELLINO.
Further reading: Giuletta Chelazzi Dini et al, Sienese
Painting: From Duccio to the Birth of the Baroque (New
York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998).
Siglo de Oro The “golden age” of Spanish literature,
roughly the 16th and 17th centuries. The term, first ap-
plied by a minor 19th-century Romantic writer, is impre-
cise, there being no agreement on the exact boundaries of
the period. The accession of FERDINAND(II) AND ISABELLA
I(1474) or 1500 have been advanced as termini a quo, and
as termini ad quem, the death of the last major writer,
Calderón (1681) or 1700. In either case, most Spanish
“classics” fall within the period. Literary developments do
not parallel but lag behind those of Renaissance Italy; nev-
ertheless, a new European orientation emerged during this
era as writers responded to humanist ideals. Particularly
notable, from this point of view, are (in poetry) the publi-
cation of the works of BOSCÁNand GARCILASO DE LA VEGA
(1543), and (in prose) Boscán’s translation (1534) of THE
COURTIERand the Erasmian influence spread by the works
of the brothers VALDÉS.
signatures, theory of A theory that seems to have orig-
inated with PARACELSUS, who stated: “By the outward
shapes and qualities of things we may know their inward
Vertues, which God hath put in them for the good of
man.” Thus, St. John’s wort was held by Paracelsus to be
good for wounds because the leaves had a similar “porosi-
tie” to that of the skin, and its flowers “when putrified are
like blood.” Paracelsus went on to derive the secondary
principle that “what Climate soever is subject to any Par-
ticular disease, in the same place there grows a Cure.”
Consequently, it was pointless to search for foreign drugs.
But what of the objection that not all plants clearly adver-
tised their virtues? God, it was answered, has signed some
plants to put man on the right track. Thereafter man must
search more strenuously. The Paracelsian doctrine was
picked up and publicized by Giambattista DELLA PORTAin
his Phytognomonica (Plant Indicators; 1588), after which
it remained current for many years although rejected by
such botanists as John Ray (1627–1705).Signorelli, Luca (c. 1441–1523) Italian painter
Signorelli was born in Cortona, the cathedral of which
houses some of his major late works, including The Insti-
tution of the Eucharist (1512). His earliest known works,
fragments in Città di Castello (1474), show some influ-
ence of PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA, whose pupil he is thought
to have been; this is evident in the sculptural style of his
figures. He was greatly influenced however by the con-
temporary Florentine school of POLLAIUOLOand VERROC-
CHIO, as is shown by his interest in the representation of
movement and exaggerated muscular development. Be-
tween 1479 and 1481 he painted frescoes in the cupola of
the sacristy of the Santuario della Sta. Casa at Loreto, and
in the 1480s he worked on the Sistine Chapel frescoes
with PERUGINO, BOTTICELLI, ROSSELLI, and others. In 1497
he was commissioned to paint scenes from the life of St.
Benedict in the cloister of the monastery of Monte Oliveto
Maggiore, south of Siena, but abandoned his work there
after only nine panels, leaving the remainder to be com-
pleted by SODOMA.
His masterpiece is the fresco cycle at Orvieto cathe-
dral (1499–1503). Begun by Fra ANGELICOin 1477, it is a
series of compositions entitled The End of the World and
The Last Judgment. Signorelli uses the grotesque to convey
his vision of the theme with brutal intensity, as in the
packed, writhing figures in The Fall of the Damned (see
Plate XV). The frescoes are also noted for their brilliant
draftsmanship and the representation of nude figures in
action, which influenced MICHELANGELO. The interest in
the nude was also manifest in the overtly pagan Pan and
other Gods (c. 1490), which was destroyed in Berlin dur-
ing World War II.
Further reading: Tom Henry and Laurence Kanter,
Luca Signorelli: The Complete Paintings (Milan: Rizzoli,
2002).signoria (Italian, “lordship”) The characteristic form of
government in Italian city states from the 13th to the 16th
century. It replaced the older republican governments
which were often torn apart by rival factions. The lord or
despot of the signoria was ideally a strong ruler who en-
sured efficient government and peace for his people; he
fostered civic pride through magnificent public works and
lavish patronage of arts and letters. The signoria helped
pave the way for the modern nation state. In Florence the
ruling magistrates formed the signoria.ssiiggnnoorriiaa 444411