AGE, INFIRMITY, DIGNITY, AND DEATH
Arrived in Perugia, Pietro's first work, as we are told by Mariotti and
Orsini, was to collect certain sums of money due to him for pictures he
had painted. From the town authorities for the "Cambio" he drew 350
ducats. From Città della Pieve he claimed twenty-five florins, but
accepted, on March 29th, 1507, a house from the municipality in
settlement of his claim. To the town of Panicale he wrote for payment of
the balance due to him for the "San Sebastian," but in his letter made a
generous offer to the authorities. Two years before, says Mariotti, he
had lent fourteen painted banners to Panicale for a Corpus Christi
procession, and he now wrote that the town might, if it desired so to
do, keep the banners as a gift from him, but that if that was done he
considered he ought to be paid the balance of the eleven florins that
was still due to him. The Priori accepted his kindly offer, and on
September 1st, 1507, sent him the eleven florins, for which he gave them
a receipt, and they accepted his gift of the banners.
An interesting commission reached him in Perugia in 1507. The executors
of one, Giovanni Schiavone, a master carpenter, commissioned an
altar-piece for Sta. Maria Nuova de Servi, and this commission Perugino
executed with great care.
The picture, which now hangs in the National Gallery, is a remarkable
one in many ways. The painter was over sixty years old; he had just
finished a very poor and slovenly work. He was, a little later, to
execute some works even more strange in their stiffness, formality, and
want of accurate drawing, but in this picture much of his old fire is to
be seen. The colouring is notable, as the picture is full of that living
golden haze or glow which marks his finest works, and is so typical of
them. It has caught and imprisoned the sunshine, and is forever
brightening the room in which it hangs. The composition, too, is
original; the two angels in the air do not appear in other pictures. As
far as I know never did Perugino, save in this picture, represent the
Madonna being crowned by angels, nor did his angels bear palms. In the
figure of St. Francis he does not follow his usual type or pose, and the
divine Child possesses far more vigour of life, and is far better drawn
and proportioned than is generally the case. Is it possible that the
master's old studies and cartoons were still in Florence or _en route_
for Perugia, and that in their absence he was compelled to design a work
of unusual character, and on original lines?
The Schiavone picture completed, Perugino left for Foligno, where a
"Baptism of Christ" had been commissioned for the church of SS.
Annunziata. It was commissioned by one Giovanni Batista, whose name
appears upon it, and who was probably Giambattista Caporali of Perugia,
but the church is now disused and neglected, and the fresco is in very
damaged condition.
[Illustration:
_Hanfstaengl photo_] [_National Gallery, London_
THE SCHIAVONE ALTAR-PIECE, 1507]
While at Foligno, Perugino received orders to come to Rome. Pope
Julius II. desired him to decorate some ceilings in the Vatican, but it
is not very clear what the instructions really were. One ceiling we know
he decorated, that in the Camera dell' Incendio, because when Raphael
completed the decoration of the series of rooms he spared this ceiling
out of respect to his old master. The Holy Father, prior to Raphael's
arrival in Rome in 1508, had been employing the chief well-known artists
of the day in his schemes; Piero della Francesca, Bramantino, Sodoma,
Luca Signorelli, and others had received commissions. Raphael, who, then
only in his twenty-fifth year, was heard of through Bramante, was
summoned to Rome to assist the others, but his work so delighted the
Pope that the other artists were dismissed, and Raphael was ordered to
destroy their frescoes and to replace them with his own. One, however,
of Perugino's ceilings Raphael spared as just recorded.
This ceiling decoration consists of three tondi within borders and
decoration of flowing arabesque design, and both composition and figures
are marked by the master's early methods, and do not reveal the power of
his more mature work. Their composition is more crowded than was
Perugino's wont, but the exquisite beauty of the figures is
unmistakable, and it was a graceful act on the part of Raphael to spare
this fine ceiling as a memorial of his master's work in the Vatican
stanze.
Two at least of the Uffizi drawings were prepared, I believe, for this
ceiling. What else Perugino did in Rome on this his second visit, or how
long he stayed, is not known. We are, however, told that he lodged in
the Palazzo San Clemento, that he met Luca Signorelli and Pinturicchio,
and that they dined together at Bramante's house, and the scene is
described by Giambattista Caporali in his comments on Vitruvius.
Perugino at this time introduced his pupil Caporali to the artists in
Rome.
Crowe thinks that from Rome Perugino went to Assisi, where, at the
church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, on the rear wall of the portiuncula,
facing east, he painted a fine "Crucifixion."
Few events in his life show the very high reputation enjoyed by the
master more clearly than is shown by this commission. To be called in to
decorate the very wall of the sacred little house that in the sixth
century had sheltered St. Benedict and in the thirteenth century St.
Francis, and which even at that period had become one of the great
shrines of Christendom, was honour indeed. The "Crucifixion" somewhat
closely resembled the one in the Accademia painted for the monastery of
St. Jerome, but hardly anything of the artist's work now remains. The
upper part of the fresco was destroyed in 1700 during the demolition of
the old choir to make way for the present building, and the lower part
which remains was entirely restored by Castellani in 1830. From Assisi
Perugino went to Siena and painted a picture for the Vieri family for
the church of San Francesco which was completed September 5th, 1510,[N]
and which was burnt in 1655. One fragment only remains of this picture,
a face of very considerable beauty, which belongs now to Miss Hertz,
and is in her home in Rome.
[Illustration:
_Alinari photo_] [_St. Augustine's, Siena_
THE CRUCIFIXION, 1510]
In Siena, also, Perugino painted a "Crucifixion" for the Chigi altar in
San Agostino, for which he was paid 200 ducats. This is still in
existence, but is a stiff and formal piece, especially if compared with
his earlier renderings of the same dread scene. Two features distinguish
it from other crucifixions. The pelican in its piety with its three
young in their nest surmounts the Cross, a piece of symbolism used
nowhere else by the artist, and the floating angels carry with them
double twisted ribbons instead of a single one. Orsini, at this stage,
says that Perugino went to Florence, but he was soon back in Perugia
(1512), where he purchased two farms and a house.
Mariotti records the transaction. The total sum was 1600 florins, but
Perugino could not pay the entire sum at once, and paid down a deposit
and gave over a house in Porta Santa Anna which he had received in
payment for a picture, and promised to pay other sums at fixed times
till he had cleared off the amount.
In this same year we find the wandering artist at the little hill town
of Bettona, so difficult of access, and situate near to Assisi, and the
pictures which remain in proof of his visit are extraordinary and
remarkable ones.
The chief one is a votive picture commissioned by one Boto da Maraglia
who had been taken prisoner by the French but released. The picture
represents a gigantic figure of St. Anthony, calm and almost
expressionless, and then a curious dwarfish figure of Boto, kneeling at
his feet, in full armour, gazing up into the face of his patron saint
to whom he renders his thanks. The other one is a Madonna, who is also
of abnormal size, gathering under her ample cloak kneeling figures of
San Manno and San Girolamo, together with much smaller figures of the
man and his wife who commissioned the picture. These pictures are in
very bad condition, but distinctly interesting, as they differ so much
from Perugino's ordinary work. Still journeying around Perugia, we find
our artist visiting in 1512 and in 1513 his native town of Città della
Pieve.[O] How long he stayed there is not clear, nor whether he went
again and again to the town or remained there for a year or two. There
are two pictures at Città dated 1513, another done in 1514, and a fourth
in 1517, and a fifth without date. The "Virgin and Child with four
saints," St. Protasius, St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Gervasius, painted
for the cathedral of St. Gervasius, is marked by that formal, and,
although sweet, yet sickly sentimentality that distinguished much of
Perugino's later work. It is terribly formal and stiff, and only
detached parts of it, such as the faces of Our Lady, the Child, and St.
Peter, are really beautiful.
It was ordered by the Prior, and is signed and dated. The other one in
the Duomo, bearing the same date, is of the "Virgin and Child with four
saints," and then in a chapel is one of the "Baptism," which clearly
belongs to the same period and is as formal and superficial as the other
two.
In the church of St. Peter, over the altar, is the picture which was
painted in the following year, and is in far better condition than are
the other three, and distinguished by a grace that is absent from the
others. The face of St. Anthony is benevolent and expressive, but little
more can be said in favour of this picture. There is, however, some
strength and some tenderness in what remains of the ruined fresco in the
church of St. Servi. Nearly all the fresco is gone. Part has been cut
away to make a door, part has faded, part has crumbled away, part has
been picked off the wall, but what remains is wonderfully beautiful. It
is but a fragment, a ruined, faded bit, but it differs entirely from
every other "Crucifixion" that Perugino ever painted and is full of
graceful figures. The chief part that is left is the group of the holy
women assisting the Virgin as she sinks to the earth in a swoon, and it
is worth all the journey to Città to see this group. There is life and
vigour here, this is real anguish of spirit and bitter grief depicted in
the faces, and we do not in the least wonder that not only M.
Broussolle, but Mrs. Vaughan and Miss Duff Gordon, who are amongst the
few who have penetrated to this remote town and absorbed its spirit and
its beauty, speak in words of reverence of the pathos of this scene.
In all his life Perugino never painted anything more tender and sweet
than he did at St. Servi in his old home, and the fragment that remains
should be guarded with infinite care, for, damaged as it is, it is most
precious.
One work only remains that can be definitely attributed to the next
year, 1518, and then for two years we know nothing of Perugino, although
we are able to surmise as to the work that engaged his time. The 1518
picture was painted in Perugia for the great church of San Francesco al
Prato. It represents San Sebastian bound to a column and attacked by
archers, and is signed and dated. During the next two years, it may well
be imagined that Perugino was hard at work at the great altar-piece for
St. Agostino, which had been ordered before 1512.
One of the most puzzling questions which arises in a book about Perugino
is how this ancona is to be reconstructed. It is scattered far and wide
over Europe, and only important parts of it are now in Perugia.
One altar-piece, which is stated to have come from San Agostino, must
have, I think, belonged to another altar and had nothing to do with that
double ancona. It represents the Madonna with St. Nicolas, St. Bernard,
St. Jerome, and St. Sebastian, and had the space below left for the
tabernacle, the mark of which can still be seen.
[Illustration:
_Private photo_] [_Grenoble Gallery_
ST. SEBASTIAN AND ST. APOLLONIA
(_From the S. Agostino (Perugia) altar-piece_)]
Perhaps to this same period belongs the fantastic "St. John Baptist,
with St. Anthony of Padua, St. Sebastian, St. Jerome, and St. Francis,"
painted for San Francesco al Prato. The St. Sebastian here has
degenerated into a girlish fop, with elaborate head-dress and boots, and
although the faces of the other three saints are pleasing and
thoughtful, yet the picture is terribly degenerate, and the landscape in
the rear hardly exists at all. The same faults are to be found in the
typical late pictures to be found at Spello, in the church of Sta.
Maria Maggiore. They are both signed and dated, and belong to 1521, and
can only be admired for their colour and for the knowledge that even
they reveal of the possibilities of space.
[Illustration:
_Anderson photo_] [_San Severo, Perugia_
THE HOLY TRINITY AND VARIOUS SAINTS
(Raphael and Perugino), 1505 and 1521]
The tale of the 1521 pictures is not yet, however, nearly complete, but
in the works now coming under consideration an improvement will be
perceptible.
The six figures of St. Scholastica, St. Jerome, St. John, St. Gregory,
St. Boniface, and St. Martha, which Perugino added in the church of San
Severo, below the fresco painted by his great pupil in 1505, are
dignified and impressive. They are far removed from the power of early
work; there is a cumbersomeness about their draperies, and a sameness in
pose and style, but the face of St. Boniface is lovely, and those of St.
Jerome and St. John solemn and grand, while all the figures are
well-proportioned, and stand well on their feet.
It was a melancholy duty to complete the unfinished and early work of
the great pupil who had so far surpassed his master, but evidently the
old master did it as well as he could, lingered lovingly over its
details, and proudly recorded his name upon his work. The whole fresco
is of notable interest, as the combination of the works of master and
pupil, with the inscriptions recording the names of the artists and of
the patrons who employed them, is unique. Sixteen years had passed since
the upper fresco was painted. Raphael had mounted on from glory to
glory, leaving behind him all his contemporaries, and had been reckoned
as the king of them now; and now, in the year after his death, his old
master is called up to complete the work, and he gives to the
commission the best abilities of a fading old age.
Perhaps his neighbours commiserated too much with him, or taunted him
with the decay of his powers. Whatever may have been the cause, it is
quite clear that, rising superior to the quaintness, stiffness, and
formality of Spello, Perugino suddenly wakened up into some old vigour,
and much of the old spirit is to be seen in his last works.
In the church of San Francesco at Montefalco is his Presepio, which it
is absurd to give to Tiberio d' Assisi, Lo Spagna, or Manni. Works by
all these men hang close by in the deserted church, which now forms a
wonderful picture gallery, and the comparison can easily be made.
There is a record of a visit from Perugino to the town _en route_ for
Trevi in this very year, and with him came two at least of these pupils,
but no pupil ever painted this Presepio, although it is most probable
that the lunette above it is by Tiberio d' Assisi. The lower picture,
however, glows with golden sunshine, and the landscape is full of
beauty, and represents, as was so often the case, the view to be seen
from the very walls of this wonderful old city. Some of the faces are
formal, the draperies are coarse and stiff, and show signs of hurried
work, but the sense of distance proclaims the author of the fresco, and
the faces of St. Joseph and of the Virgin and the dainty decoration of
the columns are with the landscape really good pieces of work, and a
wonderful improvement upon the pictures at Spello, Bettona, or in the
Duomo at Città della Pieve.
[Illustration:
_Alinari photo_] [_Sta. Maria, Trevi_
THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI, 1521]
Outside Montefalco is San Fortunato, where Tiberio d' Assisi painted the
cloisters, and here probably Perugino stopped, and one figure in the
ceiling is certainly his work, perhaps done to show Tiberio a suggestion
as to the decoration, or put in at the pupil's own request. Then he
journeyed on to Trevi, another delightful hill town, full of charm and
beauty, and there, an old man of seventy-five, in the church of Sta.
Maria della Lacrime, outside the town, he painted his "Adoration of the
Magi." It is the old, old design. There is the wooden erection, the
enthroned Madonna and Child, the kneeling Magi, the crowd of attendants.
In the distance are the servants with horses and camels, and away beyond
are the blue hills, the river, and the sky.
Certainly it is degenerate work; but which of the men of his time could
do such work? No one else could so present the continuous space of
nature, the spaciousness and vastness of the distance, or bathe his
pictures in the dreamy sunlight of summer. I lingered long before this
fresco, loth to leave it, its tranquillity is so marked, its airiness is
so impressive.
It was while completing this picture that the message as to the San
Agostino ancona reached Pietro. Back he came to Perugia in 1522, painted
the "Transfiguration" for Sta. Maria Nuova, and its three predella
panels now in the Perugia Gallery, and the frescoes in the Nunnery of S.
Agnese (where he had relations), which I have not been able to see, as
the Nunnery is now strictly cloistered.
Three more frescoes only remain for mention. A harsh and hurried one in
the cathedral of Perugia, in which the Magdalen's face is the redeeming
feature, a faded but lovely "Nativity" in the Alfani Rooms (Room 13) in
the Perugia Gallery, which is full of exquisite feeling and tender,
reverent grace, and finally, the last and unfinished work which now
hangs in the National Gallery. This is a huge fresco transferred to
canvas, and measures 19 ft. 6 in. long. It was executed at Fontignano in
1523, and is said to have been the last work of the artist. The hand had
not lost its cunning, and there is much of the early sweetness in this
huge fresco. There is the charm of its faded blues and purples, the haze
of its shimmering sunshine, and the tender reverence of the kneeling
figures.
There are just the same accessories as were adopted by Perugino in
earlier "Adorations," very much the same grouping, and almost identical
figures, and in these respects the two last pictures that the artist
painted are almost copies, one of the other, differing only in
proportions. The Perugia fresco is small, the London one very large; but
both are really lovely compositions, full of mysterious charm, and it is
pleasant to know that the artist's last works were not the queer, quaint
ones of Spello and Bettona, but the wonderful, scenes of the
"Adoration," painted with much of his old vigour and with all his
earlier charm.
Mariotti tells us that Perugino died at the Ospedale of Fontignano, and
Orsini suggests that it was of plague. There were various traditions as
to his burial; even in Mariotti's time, Vasari states, he was honourably
buried at Città della Pieve, but there is absolutely nothing to support
this statement. The artist was, according to local account hurriedly
buried in a field, as at that time all town funerals were forbidden on
account of the violence of the epidemic. In the following year, his
sons, desirous of affording him an honourable burial, according to the
rites of Holy Church, tried to make arrangement for the removal of the
body.
On December 30th, 1524, they entered into a contract with the monks of
San Agostino, who were still in their father's debt 50 scudi, that they
should remove his body from Fontignano and bury him in their church, and
the sons agreed to pay for the Mass. Mariotti says that there was in his
time no proof that that ever was done, but the very fact of the contract
proves that nothing could be said to the discredit of Perugino's life or
character, and refutes idle rumour as to his atheism.
A spot was pointed to Mariotti half-a-mile from Fontignano as the place
of Perugino's burial, but he records that, although nothing was found
when this spot was examined, yet he could never find any proof that the
devout wishes of the three sons, Giovanni Batista, Francesco, and Michel
Angelo, were ever fulfilled. It is most probable that owing to the
plague and to the war, which at the time were raging in Perugia, the
removal of Perugino's body was delayed, and so eventually quite
forgotten. No man, therefore, knows where the great artist was buried,
and the burial-place he bought at SS. Annunziata in Florence, was
unoccupied. Mariotti states that his only descendant was a grandson, one
John Battista Vannucci, whose name appeared as a scholar in the
University of Città della Pieve. It is, therefore, quite possible that
the plague carried off not only the artist, but shortly afterwards his
three sons also. Pietro's wife was one Chiare Fancelli, a very beautiful
girl, whom he married, 1st September 1493, in the Canonica in Perugia.
She was the daughter of Luca, an architect and surveyor in the service
of the Marquis of Mantua. Tradition states that she was the model for
the angel with Tobias in the National Gallery. She brought him a dowry
of 500 gold ducats, and had in all seven children; and Vasari states
that Pietro was exceeding fond of her, and so proud of her beauty that
he loved to give her beautiful jewels and costly dresses, and to adorn
her with his own hands. After his death she wrote in 1524 to the
Marchioness of Mantua offering her a picture by her husband (not now
known) of "Mars and Venus discovered together by Vulcan," which was for
sale. This information Braghirolli discovered. She was still living in
1540.
Of Perugino's scholars who so closely followed their master, it will
suffice just to mention Lo Spagna, Eusebio di San Giorgio, Giovanni
Batta Caporali, Tiberio d'Assisi, Giannicola Manni, Rocco Zoppo, Baccio
Ubertini, but the glory of Raphael has overshadowed them all.
It may be well finally to review briefly the characteristics of the
artist, and of his work. Perugino appears to have been a man of great
determination, Lupatelli says of iron will. He had known poverty in his
early days, and had faced it. He was determined to push his way and make
a living, and, if possible, a great name; and he succeeded in his
purpose. Brunamonti speaks several times of his desire to go ahead, and
it is quite clear that he was ambitious and energetic, and hence his
success. There is no proof whatever that he was irreligious, or, as
Vasari implies, atheistic, but his face betokens a mind that would not
ordinarily be satisfied without argument and examination, and it was
perhaps his controversial habits that obtained for him the character
that Vasari has recorded. His employment by the Church, not only by the
Chief Pontiff but by numerous dignitaries and by many religious orders,
and the arrangement just mentioned and entered into by his sons as to
his burial, sufficiently refute Vasari's statements; but beyond this, it
is inconceivable that such pictures as the Pazzi "Crucifixion," the San
Severo "Deposition," the Vallambrosan "Assumption," to name but three
typical ones, could be painted by an irreligious man. I am disposed to
consider his portraits as his finest works, and to me the portraits of
the two monks of Vallombrosa reveal him as a great master, very skilful,
and possessed of wonderful power.
His more popular compositions are many of them of striking beauty,
especially in the delineation of faces, in the landscape, and in the
colouring, and, above all, in that wondrous genius for representing open
limitless space to which attention was given in Chapter I. Perugino is
never dramatic, he is always lyric, and the poetical charm of the
Umbrian school is at its very zenith in his hands. He is not passionate,
as is Botticelli, nor strong, moving, and forceful as is Signorelli.
The delights of movement, the extremes of rage or desire, did not appeal
to him. He was not as diversified as was Lippi; he never reached the
stolid impressiveness of Ghirlandajo, nor the ecstatic devotion of Fra
Angelico. He was not so purely illustrative as was Pinturicchio, but
very far exceeded him both in genius and in power. The emotions of
pathos were not beyond his reach, the stateliness of dignity he could
represent if he desired, but his charm is in the calm quiet of his
pictures, in their tender reverence and exquisite sweetness, in their
poetry rather than in their power. His creations are dreamy and
contemplative, full of faith, hope, and expectation, and they embody and
express the reality of a spiritual world of serene peace and
satisfaction which, in its contrast to the world around us, speaks of
the revelation of a faith that is true. His execution is masterly, his
colouring mystic and glorious, his compositions are complete and united,
his sense of decoration is excellent. He was himself sincere in his
work, and his pictures therefore embody this sincerity, and their
teaching is to lift the soul from sordid thoughts, and to raise it to
Heaven itself.
FOOTNOTES:
[N] In this same year 1510, Perugino painted a "Virgin and Child between
St. Peter and St. Paul," for Agostino Spinola of Savona, Bishop of
Perugia.
[O] A letter dated 30th March 1512, and written from Città della Pieve,
already mentioned, is in existence, and proves not only his presence in
the town in that year but that the St. Agostino altar-piece was at that
time in hand, although not finished till 1521.