Borrowing a decoration programme that had already been used in 1494 by Pinturicchio in the Borgia Apartment in Rome, Signorelli decided to decorate the area below his frescoes with grotesque ornamental motifs, busts of philosophers and poets, as well as monochromes illustrating their work. It is possible that the busts of philosophers and poets are intended as symbols of reason and moral values, the only instruments that man can use to keep in check the powerful animal instincts of his nature and to attain the higher spheres of the spirit.

But one thing is certain: this apparently minor section, which was painted to a large extent by Signorelli's assistants, contains fascinating inventions and reaches extraordinary heights of expression. The artist gives free rein to his imagination in these grotesques, and the result is comparable only to the scenes that Filippino Lippi was painting at about the same time in the Strozzi Chapel in the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence.

Preview	Picture Data	Info
	Dante Alighieri 1499-1502 Fresco, width 432 cm Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto
	Statius 1499-1502 Fresco Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto
	Empedocles 1499-1502 Fresco, width 190 cm Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto
	Claudian 1499-1502 Fresco Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto
	Ovid 1499-1502 Fresco Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto
	Sallust 1499-1502 Fresco Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto
	Tibullus 1499-1502 Fresco Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto
	Decoration (detail) 1499-1502 Fresco Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto
	Dante and Virgil Entering Purgatory 1499-1502 Fresco Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto
	The Angel Arrives in Purgatory 1499-1502 Fresco Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto
	Fresco fragment 1499-1502 Fresco Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto
	Ceiling Frescoes in the Chapel of San Brizio 1499-1502 Fresco Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto
	Choir of Patriarchs 1499-1502 Fresco Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto
	Doctors of the Church 1499-1502 Fresco Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto
	The Virgins 1499-1502 Fresco Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto
	Cappellina dei Corpi Santi 1499-1502 Fresco Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto
	Lamentation over the Dead Christ with Sts Faustinus and Parentius 1499-1502 Fresco Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto