such repute that he was almost forced to go to Siena, where he
painted a large panel, which was held very beautiful, in S.
Francesco; and he painted another in S. Agostino, containing a
Crucifix with some saints. A little time after this, for the Church
of S. Gallo in Florence, he painted a panel-picture of S. Jerome in
Penitence, which is now in S. Jacopo tra Fossi, where the aforesaid
friars live, near the Canto degli Alberti. He was commissioned to
paint a Dead Christ, with the Madonna and S. John, above the steps
of the side-door of S. Pietro Maggiore; and this he wrought in such
a manner, that it has been preserved, although exposed to rain and
wind, as fresh as if it had only just been finished by Pietro's
hand. Truly intelligent was Pietro's understanding of colour, both
in fresco and in oil; wherefore all experienced craftsmen are
indebted to him, for it is through him that they have knowledge of
the lights that are seen throughout his works.
[Illustration: CHRIST GIVING THE KEYS TO S. PETER
(_After the fresco by =Pietro Perugino=. Rome: Sistine Chapel_)
_Alinari_]
In S. Croce, in the same city, he made a Pietà--that is, Our Lady
with the Dead Christ in her arms--and two figures, which are
marvellous to behold, not so much for their excellence, as for the
fact that they have remained so fresh and vivid in colouring,
painted as they are in fresco. He was commissioned by Bernardino de'
Rossi, a citizen of Florence, to paint a S. Sebastian to be
sent into France, the price agreed on being one hundred gold crowns;
but this work was sold by Bernardino to the King of France for four
hundred gold ducats. At Vallombrosa he painted a panel for the
high-altar; and in the Certosa of Pavia, likewise, he executed a
panel for the friars of that place. At the command of Cardinal
Caraffa of Naples he painted an Assumption of Our Lady, with the
Apostles marvelling round the tomb, for the high-altar of the
Piscopio; and for Abbot Simone de' Graziani of Borgo a San Sepolcro
he executed a large panel, which was painted in Florence, and then
borne to S. Gilio in the Borgo on the shoulders of porters, at very
great expense. To S. Giovanni in Monte at Bologna he sent a panel
with certain figures standing upright, and a Madonna in the sky.
[Illustration: FORTITUDE AND TEMPERANCE, WITH WARRIORS
(_After the fresco by =Pietro Perugino=. Perugia: Collegio del
Cambio_)
_Alinari_]
Thereupon the fame of Pietro spread so widely throughout Italy and
abroad, that to his great glory he was summoned to Rome by Pope
Sixtus IV to work in his chapel in company with the other excellent
craftsmen. There, in company with Don Bartolommeo della Gatta, Abbot
of S. Clemente at Arezzo, he painted the scene of Christ giving the
keys to S. Peter; and likewise the Nativity and Baptism of Christ,
and the Birth of Moses, with the daughter of Pharaoh finding him in
the little ark. And on the same wall where the altar is he painted a
mural picture of the Assumption of Our Lady, with a portrait of Pope
Sixtus on his knees. But these works were thrown to the ground in
preparing the wall for the Judgment of the divine Michelagnolo, in
the time of Pope Paul III. On a vault of the Borgia Tower in the
Papal Palace he painted certain stories of Christ, with some foliage
in chiaroscuro, which had an extraordinary name for excellence in
his time. In S. Marco, likewise in Rome, he painted a story of two
martyrs beside the Sacrament--one of the best works that he made in
Rome. For Sciarra Colonna, also, in the Palace of S. Apostolo, he
painted a loggia and certain rooms.
These works brought him a very great sum of money; wherefore, having
resolved to remain no longer in Rome, and having departed in good
favour with the whole Court, he returned to his native city of
Perugia, in many parts of which he executed panels and works in
fresco; and, in particular, a panel-picture painted in oils for the
Chapel of the Palace of the Signori, containing Our Lady and other
saints. In S. Francesco del Monte he painted two chapels in fresco,
one with the story of the Magi going to make offering to Christ, and
the other with the martyrdom of certain friars of S. Francis, who,
going to the Soldan of Babylon, were put to death. In S. Francesco
del Convento, likewise, he painted two panels in oil, one with the
Resurrection of Christ, and the other with S. John the Baptist and
other saints. For the Church of the Servi he also painted two
panels, one of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, and in the other,
which is beside the sacristy, the Story of the Magi; but, since
these are not of the same excellence as the other works of Pietro,
it is held to be certain that they are among the first that he made.
In the Chapel of the Crocifisso in S. Lorenzo, the Duomo of the same
city, there are by the hand of Pietro the Madonna, the other Maries,
S. John, S. Laurence, S. James, and other saints. And for the Altar
of the Sacrament, where there is preserved the ring with which the
Virgin Mary was married, he painted the Marriage of the Virgin.
[Illustration: PIETRO PERUGINO: TRIPTYCH
(_London: National Gallery, 288. Panel_)]
Afterwards he painted in fresco the whole of the Audience Chamber of
the Cambio,[4] adorning the compartments of the vaulting with the
seven planets, drawn in certain cars by diverse animals, according
to the old usage; on the wall opposite to the door of entrance he
painted the Nativity and Resurrection of Christ, with a panel
containing S. John the Baptist in the midst of certain other saints.
The side-walls he painted in his own manner; one with figures of
Fabius Maximus, Socrates, Numa Pompilius, F. Camillus, Pythagoras,
Trajan, L. Sicinius, the Spartan Leonidas, Horatius Cocles, Fabius,
Sempronius, the Athenian Pericles, and Cincinnatus. On the other
wall he made the Prophets, Isaiah, Moses, Daniel, David, Jeremiah,
and Solomon; and the Sibyls, the Erythræan, the Libyan, the
Tiburtine, the Delphic, and the others. Below each of the said
figures he placed, in the form of a written motto, something said by
them, and appropriate to that place. And in one of the ornaments he
made his own portrait, which appears absolutely alive, and he wrote
his own name below it in the following manner:
PETRUS PERUSINUS EGREGIUS PICTOR.
PERDITA SI FUERAT, PINGENDO HIC RETULIT ARTEM;
SI NUNQUAM INVENTA ESSET HACTENUS, IPSE DEDIT.
ANNO D. 1500.
This work, which was very beautiful and more highly extolled than
any other that was executed by Pietro in Perugia, is now held in
great price by the men of that city in memory of so famous a
craftsman of their own country. Afterwards, in the principal chapel
of the Church of S. Agostino, the same man executed a large panel
standing by itself and surrounded by a rich ornament, with S. John
baptizing Christ on the front part, and on the back--that is, on the
side that faces the choir--the Nativity of Christ, with certain
saints in the upper parts, and in the predella many scenes wrought
very diligently with little figures. And in the Chapel of S.
Niccolò, in the said church, he painted a panel for Messer Benedetto
Calera.
After this, returning to Florence, he painted a S. Bernard on a
panel for the Monks of Cestello, and in the chapter-house a
Crucifix, the Madonna, S. Benedict, S. Bernard, and S. John. And in
S. Domenico da Fiesole, in the second chapel on the right hand, he
painted a panel containing Our Lady and three figures, among which
is a S. Sebastian worthy of the highest praise. Now Pietro had done
so much work, and he always had so many works in hand, that he would
very often use the same subjects; and he had reduced the theory of
his art to a manner so fixed, that he made all his figures with the
same expression. By that time Michelagnolo Buonarroti had already
come to the front, and Pietro greatly desired to see his figures, by
reason of the praise bestowed on him by craftsmen; and seeing the
greatness of his own name, which he had acquired in every place
through so grand a beginning, being obscured, he was ever seeking to
wound his fellow-workers with biting words. For this reason, besides
certain insults aimed at him by the craftsmen, he had only himself
to blame when Michelagnolo told him in public that he was a clumsy
fool at his art. But Pietro being unable to swallow such an affront,
they both appeared before the Tribunal of Eight, where Pietro came
off with little honour. Meanwhile the Servite Friars of Florence,
wishing to have the altar-piece of their high-altar painted by some
famous master, had handed it over, by reason of the departure of
Leonardo da Vinci, who had gone off to France, to Filippino; but he,
when he had finished half of one of two panels that were to adorn
the altar, passed from this life to the next; wherefore the friars,
by reason of the faith that they had in Pietro, entrusted him with
the whole work. In that panel, wherein he was painting the
Deposition of Christ from the Cross, Filippino had finished the
figures of Nicodemus that are taking Him down; and Pietro continued
the lower part with the Swooning of the Madonna, and certain other
figures. Now this work was to be composed of two panels, one facing
towards the choir of the friars, and the other towards the body of
the church, and the Deposition from the Cross was to be placed
behind, facing the choir, with the Assumption of Our Lady in front;
but Pietro made the latter so commonplace, that the Deposition of
Christ was placed in front, and the Assumption on the side of the
choir. These panels have now been removed, both one and the other,
and replaced by the Tabernacle of the Sacrament; they have been set
up over certain other altars in that church, and out of the whole
work there only remain six pictures, wherein are some saints painted
by Pietro in certain niches. It is said that when the work was
unveiled, it received no little censure from all the new craftsmen,
particularly because Pietro had availed himself of those figures
that he had been wont to use in other pictures; with which his
friends twitted him, saying that he had taken no pains, and that he
had abandoned the good method of working, either through avarice or
to save time. To this Pietro would answer: "I have used the figures
that you have at other times praised, and which have given you
infinite pleasure; if now they do not please you, and you do not
praise them, what can I do?" But they kept assailing him bitterly
with sonnets and open insults; whereupon, although now old, he
departed from Florence and returned to Perugia.
There he executed certain works in fresco in the Church of S.
Severo, a place belonging to the Monks of the Order of Camaldoli,
wherein Raffaello da Urbino, when quite young and still the disciple
of Pietro, had painted certain figures, as will be told in his Life.
Pietro likewise worked at Montone, at La Fratta, and in many other
places in the district of Perugia; more particularly in S. Maria
degli Angeli at Assisi, where he painted in fresco a Christ on the
Cross, with many figures, on the wall at the back of the Chapel of
the Madonna, which faces the choir of the monks. And for the
high-altar of the Church of S. Pietro, an abbey of Black Friars in
Perugia, he painted a large panel containing the Ascension, with the
Apostles below gazing up to Heaven; in the predella of which panel
are three stories, wrought with much diligence--namely, that of the
Magi, the Baptism of Christ, and His Resurrection. The whole of this
picture is seen to be full of beautiful and careful work, insomuch
that it is the best of those wrought in oil by the hand of Pietro
which are in Perugia. The same man began a work in fresco of no
small importance at Castello della Pieve, but did not finish it.
It was ever Pietro's custom on his going and coming between the said
Castello and Perugia, like a man who trusted nobody, to carry all
the money that he possessed about his person. Wherefore certain men,
lying in wait for him at a pass, robbed him, but at his earnest
entreaty they spared his life for the love of God; and afterwards,
by means of the services of his friends, who were numerous enough,
he also recovered a great part of the money that had been taken from
him; but none the less he came near dying of vexation. Pietro was a
man of very little religion, and he could never be made to believe
in the immortality of the soul--nay, with words in keeping with his
head of granite, he rejected most obstinately every good suggestion.
He placed all his hopes in the goods of fortune, and he would have
sold his soul for money. He earned great riches; and he both bought
and built houses in Florence, and acquired much settled property
both at Perugia and at Castello della Pieve. He took a most
beautiful young woman to wife, and had children by her; and he
delighted so greatly in seeing her wearing beautiful head-dresses,
both abroad and at home, that it is said that he would often tire
her head with his own hand. Finally, having reached the age of
seventy-eight, Pietro finished the course of his life at Castello
della Pieve, where he was honourably buried, in the year 1524.
Pietro made many masters in his own manner, and one among them, who
was truly most excellent, devoted himself heart and soul to the
honourable studies of painting, and surpassed his master by a great
measure; and this was the miraculous Raffaello Sanzio of Urbino, who
worked for many years under Pietro in company with his father,
Giovanni de' Santi. Another disciple of this man was Pinturicchio, a
painter of Perugia, who, as it has been said in his Life, ever held
to Pietro's manner. His disciple, likewise, was Rocco Zoppo, a
painter of Florence, by whose hand is a very beautiful Madonna in a
round picture, which is in the possession of Filippo Salviati;
although it is true that it was brought to completion by Pietro
himself. The same Rocco painted many pictures of Our Lady, and made
many portraits, of which there is no need to speak; I will only say
that in the Sistine Chapel in Rome he painted portraits of Girolamo
Riario and of F. Pietro, Cardinal of San Sisto. Another disciple of
Pietro was Montevarchi, who painted many pictures in San Giovanni di
Valdarno; more particularly, in the Madonna, the stories of the
Miracle of the Milk. He also left many works in Montevarchi, his
birth-place. Likewise a pupil of Pietro's, working with him for no
little time, was Gerino da Pistoia, of whom there has been mention
in the Life of Pinturicchio; and so also was Baccio Ubertino of
Florence, who was most diligent both in colouring and in drawing,
for which reason Pietro made much use of him. By this man's hand is
a drawing in our book, done with the pen, of Christ being scourged
at the Column, which is a very lovely thing.
[Illustration: MADONNA AND CHILD, WITH SAINTS
(_After the panel by =Giovanni (Lo Spagna)=. Assisi: Lower Church_)
_Anderson_]
A brother of this Baccio, and likewise a disciple of Pietro, was
Francesco, called Il Bacchiaccha by way of surname, who was a most
diligent master of little figures, as may be seen in many works
wrought by him in Florence, above all in the house of Giovan Maria
Benintendi and in that of Pier Francesco Borgherini. Bacchiaccha
delighted in painting grotesques, wherefore he covered a little
cabinet belonging to the Lord Duke Cosimo with animals and rare
plants, drawn from nature, which are held very beautiful. Besides
this, he made the cartoons for many tapestries, which were
afterwards woven in silk by the Flemish master, Giovanni Rosto, for
the apartments of his Excellency's Palace. Still another disciple of
Pietro was the Spaniard Giovanni, called Lo Spagna by way of
surname, who was a better colourist than any of the others whom
Pietro left behind him at his death; after which this Giovanni would
have settled in Perugia, if the envy of the painters of that city,
so hostile to strangers, had not persecuted him in such wise as to
force him to retire to Spoleto, where, by reason of his excellence
and virtue, he obtained a wife of good family and was made a citizen
of that city. He made many works in that place, and likewise in all
the other cities of Umbria; and at Assisi, in the lower Church of S.
Francesco, he painted the panel of the Chapel of S. Caterina, for
the Spanish Cardinal Egidio, and also one in S. Damiano. In S. Maria
degli Angeli, in the little chapel where S. Francis died, he painted
some half-length figures of the size of life--that is, certain
companions of S. Francis and other saints--all very lifelike, on
either side of a S. Francis in relief.
But the best master among all the aforesaid disciples of Pietro was
Andrea Luigi of Assisi, called L'Ingegno, who in his early youth
competed with Raffaello da Urbino under the discipline of Pietro,
who always employed him in the most important pictures that he made;
as may be seen in the Audience Chamber of the Cambio in Perugia,
where there are some very beautiful figures by his hand; in those
that he wrought at Assisi; and, finally, in the Chapel of Pope
Sixtus at Rome. In all these works Andrea gave such proof of his
worth, that he was expected to surpass his master by a great
measure, and so, without a doubt, it would have come to pass; but
fortune, which is almost always pleased to oppose herself to lofty
beginnings, did not allow L'Ingegno to reach perfection, for a flux
of catarrh fell upon his eyes, whence the poor fellow became wholly
blind, to the infinite grief of all who knew him. Hearing of this
most pitiful misfortune, Pope Sixtus, like a man who ever loved men
of talent, ordained that a yearly provision should be paid to Andrea
in Assisi during his lifetime by those who managed the revenues
there; and this was done until he died at the age of eighty-six.
Likewise disciples of Pietro, and also natives of Perugia, were
Eusebio San Giorgio, who painted the panel of the Magi in S.
Agostino; Domenico di Paris, who made many works in Perugia and in
the neighbouring townships, being followed by his brother Orazio;
and also Gian Niccola, who painted Christ in the Garden on a panel
in S. Francesco, the panel of Ognissanti in the Chapel of the
Baglioni in S. Domenico, and stories of S. John the Baptist in
fresco in the Chapel of the Cambio. Benedetto Caporali, otherwise
called Bitti, was also a disciple of Pietro, and there are many
pictures by his hand in his native city of Perugia. And he occupied
himself so greatly with architecture, that he not only executed many
works, but also wrote a commentary on Vitruvius in the manner that
all can see, for it is printed; in which studies he was followed by
his son Giulio, a painter of Perugia.
But not one out of all these disciples ever equalled Pietro's
diligence, or the grace of colouring that he showed in that manner
of his own, which pleased his time so much, that many came from
France, from Spain, from Germany, and from other lands, to learn it.
And a trade was done in his works, as has been said, by many who
sent them to diverse places, until there came the manner of
Michelagnolo, which, having shown the true and good path to these
arts, has brought them to that perfection which will be seen in the
Third Part, about to follow, wherein we will treat of the excellence
and perfection of art, and show to craftsmen that he who labours and
studies continuously, and not in the way of fantasy or caprice,
leaves true works behind him and acquires fame, wealth, and
friends.
FOOTNOTE:
[4] Exchange or Bank.
VITTORE SCARPACCIA (CARPACCIO), AND OTHER VENETIAN AND LOMBARD
PAINTERS
LIVES OF VITTORE SCARPACCIA (CARPACCIO), AND OF OTHER VENETIAN AND
LOMBARD PAINTERS
It is very well known that when some of our craftsmen make a
beginning in some province, they are afterwards followed by many,
one after another; and very often there is an infinite number of
them at one and the same time, for the reason that rivalry,
emulation, and the fact that they have been dependent on others, one
on one excellent master, and one on another, bring it about that the
craftsmen seek with all the greater effort to surpass one another,
to the utmost of their ability. And even when many depend on one, no
sooner do they separate, either at the death of their master or for
some other reason, than they straightway also separate in aim;
whereupon each seeks to prove his own worth, in order to appear
better than the rest and a master by himself.
Of many, then, who flourished almost at one and the same time and in
one and the same province, and about whom I have not been able to
learn and am not able to write every particular, I will give some
brief account, to the end that, now that I find myself at the end of
the Second Part of this my work, I may not omit some who have
laboured to leave the world adorned by their works. Of these men, I
say, besides having been unable to discover their whole history, I
have not even been able to find the portraits, excepting that of
Scarpaccia, whom for this reason I have made head of the others. Let
my readers therefore accept what I can offer in this connection,
seeing that I cannot offer what I would wish. There lived, then, in
the March of Treviso and in Lombardy, during a period of many years,
Stefano Veronese, Aldigieri da Zevio, Jacopo Davanzo of Bologna,
Sebeto da Verona, Jacobello de Flore, Guerriero da Padova, Giusto,
Girolamo Campagnola and his son Giulio, and Vincenzio Bresciano;
Vittore, Sebastiano,[5] and Lazzaro[5] Scarpaccia, Venetians;
Vincenzio Catena, Luigi Vivarini, Giovan Battista da Conigliano,
Marco Basarini,[6] Giovanetto Cordegliaghi, Il Bassiti, Bartolommeo
Vivarini, Giovanni Mansueti, Vittore Bellini, Bartolommeo Montagna
of Vicenza, Benedetto Diana, and Giovanni Buonconsigli, with many
others, of whom there is no need to make mention here.
[Illustration: THE MADONNA AND CHILD WITH S. CATHARINE IN A ROSE
GARDEN
(_After the panel by =Stefano da Verona (da Zevio)=. Verona:
Gallery, 559_)
_Brogi_]