Urbino, at first a scholar of Signorelli, afterwards of Perugino, and
who remained some time pursuing his studies in Florence. He was, for a
long period, in the service of the Duke of Urbino, and attached himself
more to architecture than to painting, though, in the latter, he was
sufficiently distinguished to deserve a place in the history of art. We
cannot form a correct judgment of him, as a great part of his own works
have perished; and as he assisted Signorelli in Orvieto and other
places; and was assisted by Timoteo della Vite in Urbino, and in the
imperial palace of Pesaro by Raffaelle del Colle, and various others. In
the Petrucci palace at Siena, which now belongs to the noble family of
Savini, some historical pieces are ascribed to him near those of
Signorelli. They are described in the Lettere Senesi, and in the notes
published at Siena to the fourth volume of Vasari. These pieces are
praised as superior to those of Signorelli, and as in many parts
approaching the early style of Raffaello. Nor do I see how, in the above
mentioned letters, they could be supposed to be by Razzi, or Peruzzi, or
Pacchiarotto, "_in their hard dry manner_" when history assures us that
Girolamo was with Pandolfo a considerable time, which cannot be asserted
of the other three; and as it appears that Petrucci, to finish the work
of Signorelli, selected Genga from among his scholars. If we deprive him
of this work, which is the only one which can be called his own, what
can he have executed in all this time? In this house there is no other
picture that can be assigned to him, although Vasari asserts that he
there painted other rooms. A most beautiful picture by Genga, and of the
greatest rarity, is to be seen in S. Caterina da Siena in Rome; the
subject is the Resurrection of our Saviour.
Of the other scholars of Perugino we have no distinct account; but we
find some notice of them in the life of their master. Giovanni
Spagnuolo, named Lo Spagna, was one of the many _oltramontani_ whom
Perugino instructed. The greater part of these introduced his manner
into their own countries, but Giovanni established himself at Spoleti,
at which place, and in Assisi, he left his best works. In the opinion of
Vasari the colouring of Perugino survived in him more than in any of his
fellow scholars. In a chapel of the Angioli, below Assisi, there remains
the picture described by Vasari, in which are the portraits of the
brotherhood of S. Francis, who closed his days on this spot, and,
perhaps, no other pupil of this school has painted portraits with more
truth, if we except Raffaello himself, with whom no other painter is to
be compared.
A more memorable person is Andrea Luigi di Assisi, a competitor of
Raffaello, although of more mature years, who, from his happy genius was
named L'Ingegno. He assisted Perugino in the Sala del Cambio, and in
other works of more consequence; and he may be said to be the first of
that school who began to enlarge the style, and soften the colouring.
This is observable in several of his works, and singularly so in the
sybils and prophets in fresco in the church of Assisi; if they are by
his hand, as is generally believed. It is impossible to behold his
pictures without a feeling of compassion, when we recollect that he was
visited with blindness at the most valuable period of his life. Domenico
di Paris Alfani also enlarged the manner of his master, and even more
than him Orazio his son, and not his brother, as has been imagined. This
artist bears a great resemblance to Raffaello. There are some of his
pictures in Perugia, which, if it were not for a more delicate
colouring, and something of the suavity of Baroccio, might be assigned
to the school of Raffaello; and there are pictures on which a question
arises whether they belong to that school or to Orazio; particularly
some Madonnas, which are preserved in various collections. I have seen
one in the possession of the accomplished Sig. Auditor Frigeri in
Perugia; and there is another in the ducal gallery in Florence. The
reputation of the younger Alfani has injured that of the other; and even
in Perugia some fine pieces were long considered to be by Orazio, which
have since been restored to Domenico. An account of these, and other
works of eminent artists, may be found in modern writers; and
particularly in Mariotti, who mentions the altarpiece of the
Crucifixion, between S. Apollonia and S. Jerome, at the church of the
Conventuals, a work by the two Alfanis, father and son. In commendation
of the latter he adds, that he was the chief of the academy for design,
which was founded in 1573, and which, after many honourable struggles,
has been revived in our own time.
There are other artists of less celebrity in Perugia, though not omitted
by Vasari. Eusebio da S. Giorgio painted in the church of S. Francesco
di Matelica, a picture with several saints, and on the grado, part of
the history of S. Anthony, with his name, and the year 1512. We may
recognize in it the drawing of Perugino, but the colouring is feeble.
His picture of the Magi at S. Agostino is better coloured, and in this
he followed Paris. The works of Giannicola da Perugia, a good colourist,
and therefore willingly received by Pietro to assist him in his labours,
however inferior to that artist in design and perspective, are
recognized in the Cappella del Cambio, which is near the celebrated sala
of Perugino, and was painted by him with the life of John the Baptist.
In the church of S. Thomas, is his picture of that Apostle about to
touch the wounds of our Saviour, and excepting a degree of sameness in
the heads, it possesses much of the character of Perugino. Giambatista
Caporali, erroneously called Benedetto by Vasari, Baldinucci, and
others, holds likewise a moderate rank in this school, and is more
celebrated among the architects. Giulio, his natural son, afterwards
legitimatized, also cultivated the same profession.
The succeeding names belonging to this school are not mentioned by
Vasari; a circumstance which does not prove the impropriety of their
admission, as there are many deserving of notice. Mariotti, our guide in
the chronology of this age, and a correct judge of the conformity of
style, notices Mariano di Ser Eusterio, whom Vasari calls Mariano da
Perugia (tom. iv. p. 162), referring to a picture in the church of S.
Agostino in Ancona, which is "not of much interest." In opposition to
this opinion of Vasari, however, Mariotti adduces another picture, of a
respectable class, by Mariano, to be found in S. Domenico di Perugia;
whence we may conclude that this painting is deserving of a place in the
history of art. He also mentions Berto di Giovanni, whom Raffaello
engaged as his assistant to paint a picture for the monks of Monteluci
(of which we shall speak in our notice of Penni) and who was appointed
in this contract by Raphael himself to paint the grado. This grado is in
the sacristy, and is so entirely in the manner of Raffaello, in the
history of the virgin which it represents, that we may conclude either
that Raffaello made the design, or that it was painted by one of his
school. If it was by Berto, it proves him to have been one of those who
exchanged the school of Perugino for that of Raffaello; and if he did
not paint it, he must always be held in consideration for the regard he
received from the master of the art. Of this artist more information may
be obtained from Bianconi, in the Antologia Romana, vol. iii. p. 121.
Mariotti enumerates also Sinibaldo da Perugia, who must be esteemed an
excellent painter from his works in his native place, and more so from
those in the cathedral at Gubbio, where he painted a fine picture in
1505, and a gonfalon still more beautiful, which would rank him among
the first artists of the ancient school. To the above painters Pascoli
adds a female artist of the name of Teodora Danti, who painted cabinet
pictures in the style of Perugino and his scholars.
From tradition, as well as conjecture, we may notice in Citta di
Castello a Francesco of that city, a scholar of Perugino, who, in an
altarpiece in the church of the Conventuals, left an Annunciation with a
fine landscape. He is named in the Guida di Roma, in the account of the
chapel of S. Bernardino in Ara Caeli, where he is supposed to have
worked with Pinturicchio and Signorelli. There is a conjecture, though
no decided proof, that a Giacomo di Guglielmo was a pupil of Pietro,
who, at Castel della Pieve, his native place, painted a gonfalon,
estimated by good judges in Perugia at sixty-five florins; and also a
Tiberio di Assisi, who, in many of the coloured lunettes in the convent
degli Angeli, containing the history of the Life of S. Francis, shews
clearly that Perugino was his prototype, though he had not talent enough
to imitate him. Besides Tiberio, some have assigned to the instructions
of Perugino, the most eminent painter of Assisi, Adone (or Dono) Doni,
not unknown to Vasari, who often mentions him, and particularly in his
life of Gherardi (vol. v. p. 142). He is there called of Ascoli, an
opinion which Bottari maintains against Orlandi, who, on the best
grounds, changed it to Assisi. In Ascoli he is not at all known, but he
is well known in Perugia by a large picture of the Last Judgment in the
church of S. Francis, and still better in Assisi, where he painted in
fresco, in the church of the Angeli, the life of the founder, and of S.
Stephen, and many other pieces, which, for a long period, served as a
school for youth. He had very little of the ancient manner; the truth of
his portraits is occasionally wonderful; his colouring is that of the
latest of the scholars of Perugino; and he appears to be an artist of
more correctness than spirit. I find also a Lattanzio della Marca, of
the school of Perugino, commemorated by Vasari in the above mentioned
life. He is thought to be the same as Lattanzio da Rimino, of whom
Ridolfi makes mention, among the scholars of Giovanni Bellino, as
painting a picture in Venice in rivalship with Conegliano.[24] We are
enabled more correctly to ascertain this from a document in the
possession of Mariotti, of which we shall shortly speak, from which we
not only learn to a certainty his native place, but further, that he was
the son of Vincenzo Pagani, a celebrated painter, as will hereafter be
seen, and that both were living in the year 1553. It appears, therefore,
very probable that Lattanzio was instructed by his father, and that we
may doubt of his being under Bellini, who died about 1516, or under
Perugino, among whose disciples he is not enumerated by the very
accurate Mariotti. It seems certain, that on the death of Vannucci he
succeeded to his fame, and obtained for himself some of the most
important orders in Perugia, as, for instance, the great work of
painting the chambers in the castle. He accomplished this task by the
assistance of Raffaellino del Colle, Gherardi, Doni, and Paperello. He
there commenced the picture of S. Maria del Popolo, and executed the
lower part, where there is a great number of persons in the attitude of
prayer; a fine expression is observable in the countenances, the figures
are well disposed, the landscape beautiful, and there is a strength and
clearness in the colouring, and a taste which, on the whole, is
different from that of Perugino. The upper part of the picture, which is
by Gherardi, has not an equal degree of force. Lattanzio finished his
career by being sheriff of his native city; and of this office, a more
honourable distinction than at the present day, it appears he took
possession in the year 1553, and at that time renounced the art. It is
certain, that, in the before mentioned paper, the Capitano Lattanzio di
Vincenzo Pagani da Monte Rubbiano acknowledges to have received six
scudi of gold from Sforza degli Oddi, as earnest money for a picture
representing the Trinity, with four saints; and engages that in the
ensuing August it should be executed by his father Vincenzo and Tommaso
da Cortona, and this must be the picture still existing in the chapel of
the Oddi in S. Francesco, since the figures particularized in the
agreement are found there; we shall have an opportunity of noticing it
again.
In the _Antichita Picene_, tom. xxi. p. 148, Ercole Ramazzani di
Roccacontrada is recorded as a scholar of Pietro Perugino, and for some
time of Raffaello. A picture of the circumcision, by him, is there
mentioned to be at Castel Planio, with his name and the date of 1588;
and in speaking of the artist it is added, that he possessed a beautiful
style of colour, a charming invention, and a manner approaching to
Barocci. I have never seen the above mentioned picture, nor the others
which he left in his native city, mentioned in the _Memorie_ of
Abbondanziere: but only one by a Ramazzani di Roccacontrada, painted in
the church of S. Francesco, in Matelica, in 1573. Although I cannot
affirm to a certainty that this painter called himself Ercole, I still
suspect him to be the same. It represents the conception of the Virgin,
in which the idea of the subject is taken from Vasari, where Adam, and
others of the Old Testament, are seen bound to the tree of knowledge of
good and evil, as the heirs of sin, while the Virgin triumphs over them
in her exemption from the penalty of the first parents. Ramazzani has
adopted this design, which he had probably seen, but he has executed his
picture on a much larger scale, with better colouring, and much more
expression in the countenances. To conclude, we do not see a trace of
the manner of Perugino, and the period at which he lived seems too late
for him to have received instructions from that artist; and it is most
probable that he was taught by some of his latter scholars, in whom, if
I mistake not, that more fascinating than correct style of colouring had
its origin, before it was adopted by Barocci.
I may further observe, that as Perugino was the most celebrated name at
the beginning of the sixteenth century, many other artists of the Roman
States, who studied the art about his time, are given to his school
without any sufficient authority; and particularly those who retained a
share of the old style. Such was a Palmerini of Urbino, a contemporary
of Raphael, and probably his fellow scholar in early life, of whom there
remains at S. Antonio, a picture of various saints, truly beautiful, and
approaching to a more modern style. In the same style I found, in the
Borghese Gallery at Rome, the Woman of Samaria at the Well, painted by a
Pietro Giulianello, or perhaps _da_ Giulianello, a little district not
far from Rome; an artist deserving to be placed in the first rank of
_quattrocentisti_, although not mentioned by any writer. There are
besides, some pictures by Pietro Paolo Agabiti, who in tom. xx. of the
_Ant. Pic._ is said to be of Masaccio, where he painted in 1531, and
some time afterwards. But I have seen a work by him in the church of S.
Agostino in Sassoferrato, a series of small histories, with an
inscription in which he names Sassoferrato as his native place, with the
date of 1514; a date that will carry him from the moderns to the better
class of the old school. Lorenzo Pittori da Macerata painted in the
church of the Virgin, highly esteemed for its architecture, a picture of
Christ in 1533, in a manner which has been called _antico moderno_. Two
artists, Bartolommeo, and Pompeo his son, flourished in Fano, and
painted in 1534 in conjunction, in the church of S. Michele, the
resurrection of Lazarus. It is wonderful to observe how little they
regarded the reform which the art had undergone. These artists strictly
followed the dry style of the quattrocentisti, with a thorough contempt
of the modern style. Nor was the son at all modernized on leaving his
father's studio. I found at S. Andrea di Pesaro a picture by him of
various saints, which might have done him honour in the preceding age.
Civalli mentions other works by him in a better style: and he certainly
in his lifetime enjoyed a degree of reputation, and was one of the
masters of Taddeo Zuccaro. There are a number of painters of this class,
of whom a long list might be compiled; they are generally represented to
be pupils of some well known master, and in such cases Pietro Perugino
is selected; though it would be more candid to confess our ignorance on
the subject.
It would be improper to pass on to another epoch of art, without
adverting to the grotesque. This branch of the art is censured by
Vitruvius[25] as a creation of portentous monsters beyond the reign of
nature, transferring to canvas the dreams and ravings of a disordered
fancy, as wild as the waves of a convulsed sea, lashed into a thousand
varying forms by the fury of the tempest. This style took its name from
the _grotte_, for so those beautiful antique edifices may be called,
where paintings of this kind are found, covered with earth, and with
buildings of a later period. This style was revived in Rome, where a
greater proportion of these ancient specimens is found, and was restored
at this epoch. Vasari ascribes the revival of them to Morto da Feltro,
and the perfecting of the style to Giovanni da Udine. But he himself,
notwithstanding the little esteem he had for Pinturicchio, calls him the
friend of Morto da Feltro, and allows that he executed many works in the
same manner in Castel S. Angelo. Before him too Pietro his master had
painted some of the same kind in the Sala del Cambio, which Orsini says
are well conceived, and to him likewise a precedent had been afforded by
Benedetto Bonfigli, of whom Taja, in his description of the Vatican
palace, says, that he painted for Innocent VIII. in Rome some singularly
beautiful grotesques. This branch of art was afterwards cultivated in
many of the schools of Italy, particularly in that of Siena. Peruzzi
approved of it in architecture, and adopted it in his painting, and gave
occasion to Lomazzo to offer a defence of it, and precepts, as I before
noticed, and as may be seen in the sixth book of his Trattato della
Pittura, chapter forty-eight.
[Footnote 4: _Dell'errore, che persiste_, &c. see the second index. It
was opposed by Crespi, in his _Dissertazione Anticritica_, referred to
in the same index. It was also opposed by P. dell'Aquila, in the
_Dizionario portatile della Bibbia, tradotto dal francese_, in a note of
some length, on the article S. Luca.]
[Footnote 5: See the _Opuscoli Calogeriani_, tom. xliii. where a learned
dissertation is inserted, which shews that this custom was introduced
about the middle of the fifth century, on occasion of the Council of
Ephesus.]
[Footnote 6: Engraved by command of the learned Cardinal Borgia. The
artists began about the middle of the fifth century, to represent her
with the Infant in her arms. See _Opuscoli Calogeriani_, as above.]
[Footnote 7: "The painter was a man of holy life, and a Florentine,
whose name was Luca, and who was honoured by the common people with the
title of saint." Lami, Deliciae Eruditorum, tom. xv.]
[Footnote 8: So says Vasari, who writes his life, but Padre della Valle
thinks it highly probable that he was the scholar of Cosimati, and not
of Giotto; as Cavallini was contemporary with Giotto. I agree that he
was only a very few years younger, and might have received some
instructions in the school of Cosimati: but who, except Giotto himself,
could have taught him that Giottesque and improved style scarcely
inferior to Gaddi?]
[Footnote 9: In the archives of the Collegiate Church of S. Niccolo, in
Fabriano, is preserved a catalogue of the pictures of the city, which
has been communicated to me by Sig. Can. Claudio Serafini. This picture,
which is divided into five compartments, is there mentioned; and it is
added, that "many celebrated painters visited the place to view this
excellent work, and in particular, the illustrious Raffaello."]
[Footnote 10: In the archives before alluded to, are also mentioned two
ancient pictures of a Giuliano da Fabriano, the one in the church of the
Domenicans, the other in the Church of the Capuchins.]
[Footnote 11: Tom. xxiii. page 83, &c. By the first, is the ancient
picture of S. Maria della Consolazione in that church, erected in 1442.
By the second, are the pictures in the church of S. Rocco, painted about
the year 1463. The third artist painted a picture in the church of S.
Liberato, in 1494.]
[Footnote 12: Galeazzo Sanzio and his sons will be noticed in the second
epoch.]
[Footnote 13: See Vasari, Bologna edition, p. 260.]
[Footnote 14: The commentators of Vasari remark, that when he uses this
phrase, he refers to the year of the death of the artist, or to the
period when he relinquished his art. Pietro must therefore have become
blind about the year 1458, in the sixtieth year of his age, and must
have died about 1484, aged eighty-six. This painter was intimately
connected with the family of Vasari. Lazaro the great-grandfather of
Vasari, who died in 1452, was the friend and imitator of Pietro, and
some time before his death assigned him his nephew Signorelli as a
scholar. We must, therefore, give credit to Vasari's account of
Borghese; for if we discredit him on this occasion, as some have done,
when are we to believe him? It is true, indeed, that he is guilty of a
strange anachronism in mentioning Guidubaldo, the old Duke of Urbino, as
his first patron; but this kind of error is frequent in him, and not to
be regarded.]
[Footnote 15: "Fu eccellentissimo prospettivo, e il maggior geometra de'
suoi tempi." Romano Alberti, Trattato della nobilta della pittura, p.
32. See also Pascoli, Vite, tom. i. p. 90.]
[Footnote 16: It appears that in this art he was preceded by Van Eych of
Flanders. See tom. i. p. 81, &c.; and also the eulogium on him by
Bartolommeo Facio, p. 46, where he praises his skill in geometry, and
refers to several of his pictures, which prove him to have been highly
accomplished, and almost unrivalled in perspective.]
[Footnote 17: If there be any truth in Pietro having been blind for
twenty-four years, I do not know how he could have painted Sixtus IV. On
the other hand this tradition of his blindness comes from Vasari, whose
family was so intimately connected with that of Pietro della Francesca,
that there was less room for error in the life of that artist than in
any other. This excellent picture, of which I have seen a beautiful copy
in the possession of the Duke di Ceri, I should myself rather attribute
to Melozzo.]
[Footnote 18: He is favorably mentioned by Crispolti, in the _Perugia
Augusta_; by Ciatti, in the _Istorie di Perugia_; Alessi, in the _Elogi
de' Perugini illustri_; and by Pascoli, in the _Vite de' Pittori Sc.
Arch. Perugini_; with whom I can in no manner concur in opinion, that
"Benedetto was equal to the best artists of his time, and probably the
first among the early masters who contributed to the introduction of an
improved style," (p. 21). An assertion singularly unjust to Masaccio.]
[Footnote 19: He subscribed himself _de Castro Plebis_, now _Citta della
Pieve_. There, according to Pascoli, the father was born, who afterwards
removed to Perugia, where Pietro was born; but the greater probability
is, that Pietro also was born in Citta della Pieve. _Mariotti._]
[Footnote 20: This resemblance might have arisen from his imitation of
the works of Borghese, (Pietro della Francesca) which he saw in Perugia,
as it most assuredly cannot be proved that Perugino was ever in his
school. P. Valle and others express great doubts of it, and when I
reflect that Vannucci was only twelve years old when Borghese lost his
sight, I regard it as an absurd tradition.]
[Footnote 21: Vasari, at the close of his Life observes, "none of his
scholars ever equalled Pietro in application or in amenity of colour."
Padre della Valle asserts on the contrary, "that he was indebted for a
great portion of his celebrity to the talents displayed by his
scholars;" and says that he detected the touch of Raffaello in his
picture in the Grand Duke's collection; but we must have a stronger
testimony before we submit ourselves to this decision.]
[Footnote 22: Descrizione del Palazzo Vaticano, p. 36.]
[Footnote 23: Consisting of three subjects from the Life of Christ, in
the Chapel of the Holy Sacraments. The Annunciation, the Birth of
Christ, and the Dispute with the Doctors, the best of the three. In one
of these he introduced his own portrait. Vasari does not mention this
fine production.]
[Footnote 24: He probably came to Venice from Rimino, or resided there
for some time. We find other early painters assigned first to one
country and then to another, as Jacopo Davanzo, Pietro Vannucci, Lorenzo
Lotto, &c.]
[Footnote 25: It is said that Mengs, who was desirous of being
considered a philosophical painter, coincided with Vitruvius in opinion.
But this opinion should be restricted to some indifferent specimens; for
when he afterwards saw them painted in the true style of the ancients,
he regarded them with extraordinary pleasure; as in Genoa, which
possesses some beautiful arabesques by Vaga. So the defender of Ratti
assures us.]
ROMAN SCHOOL.
EPOCH II.
_Raffaello and his School._