throughout Lombardy, that even from Tuscany men sent for something
by his hand, as they did from Lucca, whither there went a panel
containing a S. Anne and a Madonna, with many other figures, and a
Dead Christ above in the lap of His Mother; which work is set up in
the Church of S. Fridiano, and is held in great price by the people
of Lucca. For the Church of the Nunziata in Bologna he painted two
other panels, which were wrought with much diligence; and in the
Misericordia, likewise, without the Porta a Strà Castione, at the
request of a lady of the Manzuoli family, he painted another,
wherein he depicted the Madonna with the Child in her arms, S.
George, S. John the Baptist, S. Stephen, and S. Augustine, with an
angel below, who has his hands clasped with such grace, that he
appears truly to belong to Paradise. He executed another for the
Company of S. Francesco in the same city, and likewise one for the
Company of S. Gieronimo. He lived in close intimacy with Messer Polo
Zambeccaro, who, being much his friend, and wishing to have some
memorial of him, caused him to paint a rather large picture of the
Nativity of Christ, which is one of the most celebrated works that
he ever made; and for this reason Messer Polo commissioned him to
paint at his villa two figures in fresco, which are very beautiful.
He also executed a most charming scene in fresco in the house of
Messer Gieronimo Bolognino, with many varied and very beautiful
figures.
All these works together had won him such veneration in that city,
that he was held in the light of a god; and what made this
infinitely greater was that the Duke of Urbino caused him to paint a
set of horse's caparisons, in which he made a vast forest of trees
that had caught fire, from which there were issuing great numbers of
all sorts of animals, both of the air and of the earth, and certain
figures--a terrible, awful, and truly beautiful thing, which was
held in no little esteem by reason of the time spent in painting the
plumage of the birds, and the various sorts of terrestrial animals,
to say nothing of the diversity of foliage and the variety of
branches that were seen in the different trees. For this work
Francia was rewarded with gifts of great value as a recompense for
his labours, not to mention that the Duke ever held himself indebted
to him for the praises that he received for it. Duke Guido Baldo,
also, has in his guardaroba a picture of the Roman Lucretia, which
he esteems very highly, by the same man's hand, together with many
other pictures, of which mention will be made when the time comes.
After these things he painted a panel for the altar of the Madonna
in SS. Vitale e Agricola; in which panel are two very beautiful
angels, who are playing on the lute. I will not enumerate the
pictures that are scattered throughout Bologna in the houses of
gentlemen of that city, and still less the infinite number of
portraits that he made from life, for it would be too wearisome. Let
it be enough to say that while he was living in such glory and
enjoying the fruits of his labours in peace, Raffaello da Urbino was
in Rome, and all day long there flocked round him many strangers,
among them many gentlemen of Bologna, eager to see his works. And
since it generally comes to pass that every man extols most
willingly the intellects of his native place, these Bolognese began
to praise the works, the life, and the talents of Francia in the
presence of Raffaello, and they established such a friendship
between them with these words, that Francia and Raffaello sent
letters of greeting to each other. And Francia, hearing such great
praise spoken of the divine pictures of Raffaello, desired to see
his works; but he was now old, and too fond of his comfortable life
in Bologna. Now after this it came about that Raffaello painted in
Rome for Cardinal Santi Quattro, of the Pucci family, a
panel-picture of S. Cecilia, which had to be sent to Bologna to be
placed in a chapel of S. Giovanni in Monte, where there is the tomb
of the Blessed Elena dall' Olio. This he packed up and addressed to
Francia, who, as his friend, was to have it placed on the altar of
that chapel, with the ornament, just as he had prepared it himself.
Right readily did Francia accept this charge, which gave him a
chance of seeing a work by Raffaello, as he had so much desired. And
having opened the letter that Raffaello had written to him, in which
he besought Francia, if there were any scratch in the work, to put
it right, and likewise, as a friend, to correct any error that he
might notice, with the greatest joy he had the said panel taken from
its case into a good light. But such was the amazement that it
caused him, and so great his marvel, that, recognizing his own error
and the foolish presumption of his own rash confidence, he took it
greatly to heart, and in a very short time died of grief.
Raffaello's panel was divine, not so much painted as alive, and so
well wrought and coloured by him, that among all the beautiful
pictures that he painted while he lived, although they are all
miraculous, it could well be called most rare. Wherefore Francia,
half dead with terror at the beauty of the picture, which lay before
his eyes challenging comparison with those by his own hand that he
saw around him, felt all confounded, and had it placed with great
diligence in that chapel of S. Giovanni in Monte for which it was
destined; and taking to his bed in a few days almost beside himself,
thinking that he was now almost of no account in his art in
comparison with the opinion held both by himself and by others, he
died of grief and melancholy, so some believe, overtaken by the same
fate, through contemplating too attentively that most lifelike
picture of Raffaello's, as befell Fivizzano from feasting his eyes
with his own beautiful Death, about which the following epigram was
written:
Me veram pictor divinus mente recepit;
Admota est operi deinde perita manus.
Dumque opere in facto defigit lumina pictor,
Intentus nimium, palluit et moritur.
Viva igitur sum mors, non mortua mortis imago,
Si fungor quo mors fungitur officio.
However, certain others say that his death was so sudden, that from
many symptoms it appeared to be due rather to poison or apoplexy
than to anything else. Francia was a prudent man, most regular in
his way of life, and very robust. After his death, in the year 1518,
he was honourably buried by his sons in Bologna.
FOOTNOTE:
[3] The text says "Messer Bart...."
PIETRO PERUGINO
LIFE OF PIETRO PERUGINO
[_PIETRO VANNUCCI, OR PIETRO DA CASTEL DELLA PIEVE_]
PAINTER
How great a benefit poverty may be to men of genius, and how potent
a force it may be to make them become excellent--nay, perfect--in
the exercise of any faculty whatsoever, can be seen clearly enough
in the actions of Pietro Perugino, who, flying from the extremity of
distress at Perugia, and betaking himself to Florence in the desire
to attain to some distinction by means of his talent, remained for
many months without any other bed than a miserable chest to sleep
in, turning night into day, and devoting himself with the greatest
ardour to the unceasing study of his profession. And, having made a
habit of this, he knew no other pleasure than to labour continually
at his art, and to be for ever painting; for with the fear of
poverty constantly before his eyes, he would do for gain such work
as he would probably not have looked at if he had possessed the
wherewithal to live. Riches, indeed, might perchance have closed the
path on which his talent should advance towards excellence, no less
effectually than poverty opened it to him, while necessity spurred
him on in his desire to rise from so low and miserable a condition,
if not to supreme eminence, at least to a rank in which he might
have the means of life. For this reason he never took heed of cold,
of hunger, of hardship, of discomfort, of fatigue, or of ridicule,
if only he might one day live in ease and repose; ever saying, as it
were by way of proverb, that after bad weather there must come the
good, and that during the good men build the houses that are to
shelter them when there is need.
[Illustration: PIETRO PERUGINO: APOLLO AND MARSYAS
(_Paris: Louvre, 1509. Panel_)]
But in order that the rise of this craftsman may be better known, let
me begin with his origin, and relate that, according to common report,
there was born in the city of Perugia, to a poor man of Castello
della Pieve, named Cristofano, a son who was baptized with the name of
Pietro. This son, brought up amid misery and distress, was given by
his father as a shop-boy to a painter of Perugia, who was no great
master of his profession, but held in great veneration both the art
and the men who were excellent therein; nor did he ever cease to tell
Pietro how much gain and honour painting brought to those who
practised it well, and he would urge the boy to the study of that art
by recounting to him the rewards won by ancient and modern masters;
wherefore he fired his mind in such a manner, that Pietro took it into
his head to try, if only fortune would assist him, to become one of
these. For this reason he was often wont to ask any man whom he knew
to have seen the world, in what part the best craftsmen in that
calling were formed; particularly his master, who always gave him one
and the same answer--namely, that it was in Florence more than in any
other place that men became perfect in all the arts, especially in
painting, since in that city men are spurred by three things. The
first is censure, which is uttered freely and by many, seeing that the
air of that city makes men's intellects so free by nature, that they
do not content themselves, like a flock of sheep, with mediocre works,
but ever consider them with regard to the honour of the good and the
beautiful rather than out of respect for the craftsman. The second is
that, if a man wishes to live there, he must be industrious, which is
naught else than to say that he must continually exercise his
intelligence and his judgment, must be ready and adroit in his
affairs, and, finally, must know how to make money, seeing that the
territory of Florence is not so wide or abundant as to enable her to
support at little cost all who live there, as can be done in countries
that are rich enough. The third, which is perchance no less potent
than the others, is an eager desire for glory and honour, which is
generated mightily by that air in the men of all professions; and this
desire, in all persons of spirit, will not let them stay content with
being equal, much less inferior, to those whom they see to be men like
themselves, although they may recognize them as masters--nay, it
forces them very often to desire their own advancement so eagerly,
that, if they are not kindly or wise by nature, they turn out
evil-speakers, ungrateful, and unthankful for benefits. It is true,
indeed, that when a man has learnt there as much as suffices him, he
must, if he wishes to do more than live from day to day like an
animal, and desires to become rich, take his departure from that place
and find a sale abroad for the excellence of his works and for the
repute conferred on him by that city, as the doctors do with the fame
derived from their studies. For Florence treats her craftsmen as time
treats its own works, which when perfected, it destroys and consumes
little by little.
Moved by these counsels, therefore, and by the persuasions of many
others, Pietro came to Florence, minded to become excellent; and
well did he succeed, for the reason that in those times works in his
manner were held in very great price. He studied under the
discipline of Andrea Verrocchio, and his first figures were painted
without the Porta a Prato, in the Nunnery of S. Martino, now in
ruins by reason of the wars. In Camaldoli he made a S. Jerome on a
wall, which was then much esteemed by the Florentines and celebrated
with great praise, for the reason that he made that Saint old, lean,
and emaciated, with his eyes fixed on the Crucifix, and so wasted
away, that he seems like an anatomical model, as may be seen from a
copy of that picture which is in the hands of the aforesaid
Bartolommeo Gondi. In a few years, then, he came into such credit,
that his works filled not only Florence and all Italy, but also
France, Spain, and many other countries to which they were sent.
Wherefore, his paintings being held in very great price and repute,
merchants began to buy them up wholesale and to send them abroad to
various countries, to their own great gain and profit.
For the Nuns of S. Chiara he painted a Dead Christ on a panel, with
such lovely and novel colouring, that he made the craftsmen believe
that he would become excellent and marvellous. In this work there
are seen some most beautiful heads of old men, and likewise certain
figures of the Maries, who, having ceased to weep, are contemplating
the Dead Jesus with extraordinary awe and love; not to mention that
he made therein a landscape that was then held most beautiful,
because the true method of making them, such as it appeared later,
had not yet been seen. It is said that Francesco del Pugliese
offered to give to the aforesaid nuns three times as much money as
they had paid to Pietro, and to have a similar one made for them by
the same man's hand, but that they would not consent, because Pietro
said that he did not believe he could equal it.
There were also many things by the hand of Pietro in the Convent of
the Frati Gesuati, without the Porta a Pinti; and since the said
church and convent are now in ruins, I do not wish, with this
occasion, and before I proceed further with this Life, to grudge the
labour of giving some little account of them. This church, then, the
architect of which was Antonio di Giorgio of Settignano, was forty
braccia long and twenty wide. At the upper end one ascended by four
treads, or rather steps, to a platform six braccia in extent, on
which stood the high-altar, with many ornaments carved in stone; and
on the said altar was a panel with a rich ornament, by the hand, as
has been related, of Domenico Ghirlandajo. In the centre of the
church was a partition-wall, with a door wrought in open-work from
the middle upwards, on either side of which was an altar, while over
either altar, as will be told, there stood a panel by the hand of
Pietro Perugino. Over the said door was a most beautiful Crucifix by
the hand of Benedetto da Maiano, with a Madonna on one side and a S.
John on the other, both in relief. Before the said platform of the
high-altar, and against the said partition-wall, was a choir of the
Doric Order, very well wrought in walnut-wood; and over the
principal door of the church there was another choir, which rested
on well-strengthened woodwork, with the under part forming a
ceiling, or rather soffit, beautifully partitioned, and with a row
of balusters acting as parapet to the front of the choir, which
faced towards the high-altar. This choir was very convenient to the
friars of that convent for holding their night services, for saying
their individual prayers, and likewise for week-days. Over the
principal door of the church--which was made with most beautiful
ornaments of stone, and had a portico in front raised on columns,
which made a covered way as far as the door of the convent--was a
lunette with a very beautiful figure of S. Giusto, the Bishop, and
an angel on either side, by the hand of the illuminator Gherardo;
and this because that church was dedicated to the said S. Giusto,
and within it those friars preserved a relic of that Saint--that is,
an arm. At the entrance of the convent was a little cloister of
exactly the same size as the church--namely, forty braccia long and
twenty wide--with arches and vaulting going right round and
supported by columns of stone, thus making a spacious and most
commodious loggia on every side. In the centre of the court of this
cloister, which was all neatly paved with squared stone, was a very
beautiful well, with a loggia above, which likewise rested on
columns of stone, and made a rich and beautiful ornament. In this
cloister were the chapter-house of the friars, the side-door of
entrance into the church, and the stairs that ascended to the
dormitory and other rooms for the use of the friars. On the farther
side of this cloister, in a straight line with the principal door of
the convent, was a passage as long as the chapter-house and the
steward's room put together, leading into another cloister larger
and more beautiful than the first; and the whole of this straight
line--that is, the forty braccia of the loggia of the first
cloister, the passage, and the line of the second cloister--made a
very long enfilade, more beautiful than words can tell, and the
rather as from that farther cloister, in the same straight line,
there issued a garden-walk two hundred braccia in length; and all
this, as one came from the principal door of the convent, made a
marvellous view. In the said second cloister was a refectory, sixty
braccia long and eighteen wide, with all those well-appointed rooms,
and, as the friars call them, offices, which were required in such a
convent. Over this was a dormitory in the shape of a =T=, one part
of which--namely, the principal part in the direct line, which was
sixty braccia long--was double--that is to say, it had cells on
either side, and at the upper end, in a space of fifteen braccia,
was an oratory, over the altar of which there was a panel by the
hand of Pietro Perugino; and over the door of this oratory was
another work by the same man's hand, in fresco, as will be told. And
on the same floor, above the chapter-house, was a large room where
those fathers worked at making glass windows, with the little
furnaces and other conveniences that were necessary for such an
industry; and since while Pietro lived he made the cartoons for many
of their works, those that they executed in his time were all
excellent. Then the garden of this convent was so beautiful and so
well kept, and the vines were trained round the cloister and in
every place with such good order, that nothing better could be seen
in the neighbourhood of Florence. In like manner the room wherein
they distilled scented waters and medicines, as was their custom,
had all the best conveniences that could possibly be imagined. In
short, that convent was one of the most beautiful and best appointed
that there were in the State of Florence; and it is for this reason
that I have wished to make this record of it, and the rather as the
greater part of the pictures that were therein were by the hand of
our Pietro Perugino.
[Illustration: THE DEPOSITION
(_After the panel by =Pietro Perugino=. Florence: Pitti, 164_)
_Anderson_]
Returning at length to this Pietro, I have to say that of the works
that he made in the said convent none have been preserved save the
panels, since those executed in fresco were thrown to the ground,
together with the whole of that building, by reason of the siege of
Florence, when the panels were carried to the Porta a S. Pier
Gattolini, where a home was given to those friars in the Church and
Convent of S. Giovannino. Now the two panels on the aforesaid
partition-wall were by the hand of Pietro; and in one was Christ in
the Garden, with the Apostles sleeping, in whom Pietro showed how
well sleep can prevail over pains and discomforts, having
represented them asleep in attitudes of perfect ease. In the other
he made a Pietà--that is, Christ in the lap of Our Lady--surrounded
by four figures no less excellent than any others in his manner;
and, to mention only one thing, he made the Dead Christ all
stiffened, as if He had been so long on the Cross that the length of
time and the cold had reduced Him to this; wherefore he painted Him
supported by John and the Magdalene, all sorrowful and weeping. In
another panel he painted the Crucifixion, with the Magdalene, and,
at the foot of the Cross, S. Jerome, S. John the Baptist, and the
Blessed Giovanni Colombini, founder of that Order; all with infinite
diligence. These three panels have suffered considerably, and they
are all cracked in the dark parts and where there are shadows; and
this comes to pass when the first coat of colour, which is laid on
the ground (for three coats of colour are used, one over the other),
is worked on before it is thoroughly dry; wherefore afterwards, with
time, in the drying, they draw through their thickness and come to
have the strength to make those cracks; which Pietro could not
know, seeing that in his time they were only just beginning to paint
well in oil.
Now, the works of Pietro being much commended by the Florentines, a
Prior of the same Convent of the Ingesuati, who took delight in art,
caused him to make a Nativity, with the Magi, on a wall in the first
cloister, after the manner of a miniature. This he brought to
perfect completion with great loveliness and a high finish, and it
contained an infinite number of different heads, many of them
portrayed from life, among which was the head of Andrea del
Verrocchio, his master. In the same court, over the arches of the
columns, he made a frieze with heads of the size of life, very well
executed, among which was one of the said Prior, so lifelike and
wrought in so good a manner, that it was judged by the most
experienced craftsmen to be the best thing that Pietro ever made. In
the other cloister, over the door that led into the refectory, he
was commissioned to paint a scene of Pope Boniface confirming the
habit of his Order to the Blessed Giovanni Colombino, wherein he
portrayed eight of the aforesaid friars, and made a most beautiful
view receding in perspective, which was much extolled, and rightly,
since Pietro made a particular profession of this. In another scene
below the first he began a Nativity of Christ, with certain angels
and shepherds, wrought with the freshest colouring. And in an arch
over the door of the aforesaid oratory he made three half-length
figures--Our Lady, S. Jerome, and the Blessed Giovanni--with so
beautiful a manner, that this was held to be one of the best mural
paintings that Pietro ever wrought.
The said Prior, so I once heard tell, was very excellent at making
ultramarine blues, and, therefore, having an abundance of them, he
desired that Pietro should use them freely in all the above-mentioned
works; but he was nevertheless so mean and suspicious that he would
never trust Pietro, and always insisted on being present when he was
using blue in the work. Wherefore Pietro, who had an honest and
upright nature, and had no desire for another man's goods save in
return for his own labour, took the Prior's distrust very ill, and
resolved to put him to shame; and so, having taken a basin of water,
and having laid on the ground for draperies or for anything else that
he wished to paint in blue and white, from time to time he caused the
Prior, who turned grudgingly to his little bag, to put some
ultramarine into the little vase that contained the tempera-water, and
then, setting to work, at every second stroke of the brush Pietro
would dip his brush in the basin, so that there remained more in the
water than he had used on the picture. The Prior, who saw his little
bag becoming empty without much to show for it in the work, kept
saying time after time: "Oh, what a quantity of ultramarine this
plaster consumes!" "Does it not?" Pietro would answer. After the
departure of the Prior, Pietro took the ultramarine from the bottom of
the basin, and gave it back to him when he thought the time had come,
saying: "Father, this is yours; learn to trust honest men, who never
cheat those who trust them, although, if they wished, they could cheat
such distrustful persons as yourself."