Sansepolcro was the birth-place of Piero and where he lived
for most of his life. The Museo Civico possesses two important
works: the Madonna della Misericordia, an early polyptych where
the Virgin's cloak enfolds a crowd of onlookers kneeling at her
feet, and the Resurrection, painted c.1460, perhaps the artist's
masterpiece. In the cold light of dawn, the awe-inspiring figure
of Christ, with his stern, unbending gaze, and one foot placed
on the tomb, rises above the sleeping soldiers. The soldier with
his head leaning against the rim of the tomb may be a self-portrait.
The museum also contains Signorelli's striking Crucifixion, painted
on a processional banner, and the Martyrdom of San Quintino by
the strange Mannerist painter Pontormo.
