Luca Signorelli's Santa Cecilia Altarpiece Restored and Reattributed in Città di Castello

The Pala di Santa Cecilia (1516) in Città di Castello's 16th-century pinacoteca has been restored and officially reattributed to Luca Signorelli, not his workshop. Tom Henry, leading Signorelli expert, confirmed the attribution after following the restoration closely. The cleaning revealed original features obscured by 17th-century repainting following the Council of Trent: vivid drapery colors, the Christ Child's nudity, the Virgin's body shape, and saints' psychologically truthful faces. The altarpiece was nearly taken to the Louvre in 1812 by director Vivant Denon but was too large (2x3 meters, over 100 kg). Its predella was bought by Hitler in 1940 from Otto Lanz's collection, hidden in the Altaussee mine, recovered by Monuments Men in 1945, and returned to the museum in 1994 via a donation from Cassa di Risparmio di Torino. The restoration was funded by Università eCampus via Art Bonus, conducted by Paolo Pettinari (paint layer), Marco Santi (wood support), and Francesca Rosi (scientific analysis). The altarpiece joins Signorelli's Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian in the same museum, which attracted the young Raphael. Fifty years ago, Alberto Burri sold paintings to fund restoration of Signorelli's frescoes in Morra.