rudiments of art as well as he could; but when the boy had reached the
age of eleven, he was forced to seek for him some master better than
himself. And so, having a straight friendship with Ridolfo, the son of
Domenico Ghirlandajo, who, as will be related, was held to be able and
well practised in painting, Andrea de' Ceri placed Perino with him, to
the end that he might give his attention to design, and strive with all
the zeal and love at his command to make in that art the proficience of
which his great genius gave promise. Whereupon, pursuing his studies,
among the many young men whom Ridolfo had in his workshop, all engaged
in learning art, in a short time Perino came to surpass all the rest, so
great were his ardour and his eagerness. Among them was one named Toto
del Nunziata, who was to him as a spur to urge him on continually; which
Toto, likewise attaining in time to equality with the finest intellects,
departed from Florence and made his way with some Florentine merchants
to England, where he executed all his works, and was very richly
rewarded by the King of that country, whom he also served in
architecture, erecting, in particular, his principal palace. He and
Perino, then, working in emulation of one another, and pursuing the
studies of art with supreme diligence, after no long time became very
excellent. And Perino, drawing from the cartoon of Michelagnolo
Buonarroti in company with other young men, both Florentines and
strangers, won and held the first place among them all, insomuch that he
was regarded with that expectation which was afterwards fulfilled in the
beautiful works that he executed with so much excellence and art.
There came to Florence at that time the Florentine painter Vaga, a
master of no great excellence, who was executing commonplace works at
Toscanella in the province of Rome. Having a superabundance of work, he
was in need of assistance, and he desired to take back with him a
companion and also a young man who might help him in design, in which he
was wanting, and in the other matters of art. Now this painter, having
seen Perino drawing in the workshop of Ridolfo together with the other
young men, found him so superior to them all, that he was astonished;
and, what is more, he was pleased with his appearance and his ways, for
Perino was a very beautiful youth, most courteous, modest, and gentle,
and every part of his body was in keeping with the nobility of his mind;
wherefore Vaga was so charmed with him, that he asked him whether he
would go with him to Rome, saying that he would not fail to assist him
in his studies, and promising him such benefits and conditions as he
might demand. So great was the desire that Perino had to attain to
excellence in his profession, that, when he heard Rome mentioned,
through his eagerness to see that city, he was deeply moved; but he told
him that he must speak to Andrea de' Ceri, who had supported him up to
that time, so that he was loth to abandon him. And so Vaga, having
persuaded Ridolfo, Perino's master, and Andrea, who maintained him, so
contrived that in the end he took Perino, with the companion, to
Toscanella. There Perino began to work and to assist them, and they
finished not only the work that Vaga had undertaken, but also many that
they undertook afterwards. But Perino complained that the promise of
seeing Rome, by which he had been brought from Florence, was not being
fulfilled, in consequence of the profit and advantage that Vaga was
drawing from his services, and he resolved to go thither by himself;
which was the reason that Vaga, leaving all his works, took him to Rome.
And there, through the love that he bore to art, Perino returned to his
former work of drawing and continued at it many weeks, growing more
ardent every day. But Vaga wished to return to Toscanella, and therefore
made him known, as one belonging to himself, to many commonplace
painters, and also recommended him to all the friends that he had there,
to the end that they might assist and favour him in his absence; from
which circumstance he was always called from that day onward Perino del
Vaga.
[Illustration: THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA
(_After the fresco by =Perino del Vaga=. Rome: The Vatican, Loggia_)
_Anderson_]
Thus left in Rome, and seeing the ancient works of sculpture and the
marvellous masses of buildings, reduced for the most part to ruins,
Perino stood lost in admiration at the greatness of the many renowned
and illustrious men who had executed those works. And so, becoming ever
more and more aflame with love of art, he burned unceasingly to
attain to a height not too far distant from those masters, in order
to win fame and profit for himself with his works, even as had been done
by those at whom he marvelled as he beheld their beautiful creations.
And while he contemplated their greatness and the depths of his own
lowliness and poverty, reflecting that he possessed nothing save the
desire to rise to their height, and that, having no one who might
maintain him and provide him with the means to live, he was forced, if
he wished to remain alive, to labour at work for those ordinary shops,
now with one painter and now with another, after the manner of the
day-labourers in the fields, a mode of life which so hindered his
studies, he felt infinite grief and pain in his heart at not being able
to make as soon as he would have liked that proficience to which his
mind, his will, and his necessities were urging him. He made the
resolve, therefore, to divide his time equally, working half the week at
day work, and during the other half devoting his attention to design;
and to this second half he added all the feast-days, together with a
great part of the nights, thus stealing time from time itself, in order
to become famous and to escape from the hands of others so far as it
might be possible.
Having carried this intention into execution, he began to draw in the
Chapel of Pope Julius, where the vaulting had been painted by
Michelagnolo Buonarroti, following both his methods and the manner of
Raffaello da Urbino. And then, going on to the ancient works in marble
and also to the grotesques in the grottoes under the ground, which
pleased him through their novelty, he learned the methods of working in
stucco, gaining his bread meanwhile by grievous labour, and enduring
every hardship in order to become excellent in his profession. Nor had
any long time passed before he became the best and most finished
draughtsman that there was among all who were drawing in Rome, for the
reason that he had, perhaps, a better knowledge of muscles and of the
difficult art of depicting the nude than many others who were held to be
among the best masters at that time; which was the reason that he became
known not only to the men of his profession, but also to many lords and
prelates. And, in particular, Giulio Romano and Giovan Francesco, called
Il Fattore, disciples of Raffaello da Urbino, having praised him not a
little to their master, roused in him a desire to know Perino and to see
his works in drawing; which having pleased him, and together with his
work his manner, his spirit, and his ways of life, he declared that
among all the young men that he had known, Perino would attain to the
highest perfection in that art.
Meanwhile Raffaello da Urbino had built the Papal Loggie, by the command
of Leo X; and the same Pope ordered that Raffaello should also have them
adorned with stucco, painted, and gilded, according as it should seem
best to him. Thereupon Raffaello placed at the head of that enterprise,
for the stucco-work and the grotesques, Giovanni da Udine, who was very
excellent and without an equal in such works, but mostly in executing
animals, fruits, and other little things. And since he had chosen in
Rome and summoned from other parts a great number of masters, he had
assembled together a company of men each very able at his own work, one
in stucco, another in grotesques, a third in foliage, a fourth in
festoons, another in scenes, and others in other things; and according
as they improved they were brought forward and paid higher salaries, so
that by competing in that work many young men attained to great
perfection, who were afterwards held to be excellent in their various
fields of art. Among that company Perino was assigned to Giovanni da
Udine by Raffaello, to the end that he might execute grotesques and
scenes together with the others; and he was told that according as he
should acquit himself, so he would be employed by Giovanni. And thus,
labouring out of emulation and in order to prove his powers and make
proficience, before many months had passed Perino was held to be the
first among all those who were working there, both in drawing and in
colouring; the best, I say, the most perfect in grace and finish, and he
who could execute both figures and grotesques in the most delicate and
beautiful manner; to which clear testimony and witness are borne by the
grotesques, festoons, and scenes by his hand that are in that work,
which, besides surpassing the others, are executed in much more faithful
accord with the designs and sketches that Raffaello made for them. This
may be seen from a part of those scenes in the centre of the loggia, on
the vaulting, where the Hebrews are depicted crossing over the Jordan
with the sacred Ark, and also marching round the walls of Jericho, which
fall into ruin; and the other scenes that follow, such as that of Joshua
causing the sun to stand still during the combat with the Amorites.
Among those painted in imitation of bronze on the base the best are
likewise those by the hand of Perino--namely, Abraham sacrificing his
son, Jacob wrestling with the Angel, Joseph receiving his twelve
brethren, the fire descending from Heaven and consuming the sons of
Levi, and many others which there is no need to name, for their number
is very great, and they can be distinguished from the rest. At the
beginning of the loggia, also, where one enters, he painted scenes from
the New Testament, the Nativity and the Baptism of Christ, and His Last
Supper with the Apostles, which are very beautiful; besides which, below
the windows, as has been said, are the best scenes painted in the colour
of bronze that there are in the whole work. These labours cause every
man to marvel, both the paintings and the many works in stucco that he
executed there with his own hand; and his colouring, moreover, is much
more pleasing and more highly finished than that of any of the others.
This work was the reason that he became famous beyond all belief, yet
this great praise did not send him to sleep, but rather, since genius
grows with praise, inspired him with even more zeal, and made him almost
certain that by persisting he would come to win those fruits and honours
that he saw every day in the possession of Raffaello da Urbino and
Michelagnolo Buonarroti. And he laboured all the more willingly, because
he saw that he was held in estimation by Giovanni da Udine and by
Raffaello, and was employed in works of importance. He always showed
extraordinary deference and obedience towards Raffaello, honouring him
in such a manner that he was beloved by Raffaello as a son.
There was executed at this time, by order of Pope Leo, the vaulting of
the Hall of the Pontiffs, which is that through which one passes by way
of the Loggie into the apartments of Pope Alexander VI, formerly painted
by Pinturicchio; and that vaulting was painted by Giovanni da Udine and
Perino. They executed in company the stucco-work and all those
ornaments, grotesques, and animals that are to be seen there, in
addition to the varied and beautiful inventions that were depicted by
them in the compartments of the ceiling, which they had divided into
certain circles and ovals to contain the seven Planets of Heaven drawn
by their appropriate animals, such as Jupiter drawn by Eagles, Venus by
Doves, the Moon by Women, Mars by Wolves, Mercury by Cocks, the Sun by
Horses, and Saturn by Serpents; besides the twelve Signs of the Zodiac,
and some figures from the forty-eight Constellations of Heaven, such as
the Great Bear, the Dog Star, and many others, which, by reason of their
number, we must pass over in silence, without recounting them all in
their order, since anyone may see the work; which figures are almost all
by the hand of Perino. In the centre of the vaulting is a circle with
four figures representing Victories, seen foreshortened from below
upwards, who are holding the Pope's Crown and the Keys; and these are
very well conceived and wrought with masterly art, to say nothing of the
delicacy with which he painted their vestments, veiling the nude with
certain light draperies that partly reveal the naked legs and arms, a
truly graceful and beautiful effect. This work was justly held, as it
still is at the present day, to be very magnificent and rich in
craftsmanship, and also cheerful and pleasing; worthy, in short, of that
Pontiff, who did not fail to reward their labours, which truly deserved
some signal remuneration.
Perino decorated a façade in chiaroscuro--a method brought into use at
that time by the example of Polidoro and Maturino--which is opposite to
the house of the Marchioness of Massa, near Maestro Pasquino, executing
it with great boldness of design and with supreme diligence.
In the third year of his pontificate Pope Leo paid a visit to Florence,
for which many triumphal preparations were made in that city, and Perino
went thither before the Court, partly in order to see the pomps of the
city, and partly from a wish to revisit his native country; and on a
triumphal arch at S. Trinità he made a large and very beautiful figure,
seven braccia high, while another was executed in competition with him
by Toto del Nunziata, who had already been his rival in boyhood. But to
Perino every hour seemed a thousand years until he could return to Rome,
for he perceived that the rules and methods of the Florentine craftsmen
were very different from those that were customary in Rome; wherefore he
departed from Florence and returned to Rome, where he resumed his usual
course of work. And in S. Eustachio dalla Dogana he painted a S. Peter
in fresco, which is a figure that has very strong relief, executed with
a simple flow of folds, and yet wrought with much design and judgment.
There was in Rome at this time the Archbishop of Cyprus, a man who was a
great lover of the arts, and particularly of painting; and he, having a
house near the Chiavica, where he had laid out a little garden with some
statues and other antiquities of truly noble beauty, and desiring to
enhance their effect with some fine decorations, sent for Perino, who
was very much his friend, and they came to the decision that he should
paint round the walls of that garden many stories of Bacchantes, Satyrs,
Fauns, and other wild things, in reference to an ancient statue of
Bacchus, seated beside a tiger, which the Archbishop had there. And so
Perino adorned that place with a variety of poetical fancies; and, among
other things, he painted there a little loggia with small figures,
various grotesques, and many landscapes, coloured with supreme grace and
diligence. This work has been held by craftsmen, as it always will be,
to be worthy of the highest praise; and it was the reason that he became
known to the Fugger family, merchants of Germany, who, having built a
house near the Banchi, on the way to the Church of the Florentines, and
having seen Perino's work and liked it, caused him to paint there a
courtyard and a loggia, with many figures, all worthy of the same praise
as the other works by his hand, for in them may be seen much delicacy
and grace and great beauty of manner.
At this same time M. Marchionne Baldassini, having caused a house to be
built for him near S. Agostino, as has been related, by Antonio da San
Gallo, who designed it very well, desired that a hall which Antonio had
constructed there should be painted all over; and after passing in
review many of the young painters, to the end that it might be well and
beautifully done, he finally resolved to give it to Perino. Having
agreed about the price, Perino set his hand to it, nor did he turn his
attention from that work to any other until he had brought it to a very
happy conclusion in fresco. In that hall he made compartments by means
of pilasters which have between them niches great and small; in the
larger niches are various figures of philosophers, two in each niche,
and in some one only, and in the smaller niches are little boys, partly
naked and partly draped in veiling, while above those small niches are
some heads of women, painted in imitation of marble. Above the cornice
that crowns the pilasters there follows a second series of pictures,
separated from the first series below, with scenes in figures of no
great size from the history of the Romans, beginning with Romulus and
ending with Numa Pompilius. There are likewise various ornaments in
imitation of different kinds of marble, and over the beautiful
chimney-piece of stone is a figure of Peace burning arms and trophies,
which is very lifelike. This work was held in much estimation during the
lifetime of M. Marchionne, as it has been ever since by all those who
work in painting, and also by many others not of the profession, who
give it extraordinary praise.
In the Convent of the Nuns of S. Anna, Perino painted a chapel in fresco
with many figures, which was executed by him with his usual diligence.
And on an altar in S. Stefano del Cacco he painted in fresco, for a
Roman lady, a Pietà with the Dead Christ in the lap of Our Lady, with a
portrait from life of that lady, which still has the appearance of a
living figure; and the whole work is very beautiful, and executed with
great mastery and facility.
In those days Antonio da San Gallo had built at the corner of a house in
Rome, which is known as the Imagine di Ponte, a tabernacle finely
adorned with travertine and very handsome, in which something beautiful
in the way of painting was to be executed; and he received a commission
from the owner of that house to give the work to one whom he should
consider capable of painting some noble picture there. Wherefore
Antonio, who knew Perino to be the best of the young men who were in
Rome, allotted it to him. And he, setting his hand to the work, painted
there a Christ in the act of crowning the Madonna, and in the background
he made a Glory, with a choir of Seraphim and Angels clothed in light
and delicate draperies, who are scattering flowers, and other children
of great beauty and variety; and on the sides of the tabernacle he
painted Saints, S. Sebastian on one side and S. Anthony on the other.
This work was executed truly well, and was equal to the others by his
hand, which were always full of grace and charm.
A certain protonotary had erected a chapel of marble on four columns in
the Minerva, and, desiring to leave an altar-piece there in memory of
himself, even if it were but a small one, he came to an agreement with
Perino, whose fame he had heard, and commissioned him to paint it in
oils. And he chose that the subject should be the Deposition of Christ
from the Cross, which Perino set himself to execute with the greatest
possible zeal and diligence. In this picture he represented Him as
already laid upon the ground, surrounded by the Maries weeping over Him,
in whose gestures and attitudes he portrayed a melting pity and sorrow;
besides which there are the Nicodemuses[28] and other figures that are
much admired, all woeful and afflicted at seeing the sinless Christ
lying dead. But the figures that he painted most divinely were those of
the two Thieves, left fixed upon the crosses, which, besides appearing
to be real dead bodies, reveal a very good mastery over muscles and
nerves, which this occasion enabled him to display; wherefore, to the
eyes of him who beholds them, their limbs present themselves all drawn
in that violent death by the nerves, and the muscles by the nails and
cords. There is, in addition, a landscape wrapped in darkness,
counterfeited with much judgment and art. And if the inundation which
came upon Rome after the sack had not done damage to this work, covering
more than half of it, its excellence would be clearly seen; but the
water so softened the gesso, and caused the wood to swell in such sort,
that all the lower part that was soaked has peeled off too much for the
picture to give any pleasure; nay, it is a grief and a truly
heartrending sorrow to behold it, for it would certainly have been one
of the most precious things in all Rome.
There was being rebuilt at this time, under the direction of Jacopo
Sansovino, the Church of S. Marcello in Rome, a convent of Servite
Friars, which still remains unfinished; and when they had carried the
walls of some chapels to completion, and had roofed them, those friars
commissioned Perino to paint in one of these, as ornaments for a Madonna
that is worshipped in that church, two figures in separate niches, S.
Joseph and S. Filippo, a Servite friar and the founder of that Order,
one on either side of the Madonna. These finished, he painted above them
some little boys that are perfect, and in the centre of the wall he
placed another standing upon a dado, who has upon his shoulders the ends
of two festoons, which he directs towards the corners of the chapel,
where there are two other little boys who support them, being seated
upon them, with their legs in most beautiful attitudes. All this he
executed with such art, such grace, and so beautiful a manner, and gave
to the flesh a tint of colour so fresh and soft, that one might say that
it was real flesh rather than painted. And certainly these figures may
be held to be the most beautiful that ever any craftsman painted in
fresco, for the reason that there is life in their eyes and movement in
their attitudes, and with the mouth they make as if to break into speech
and say that art has conquered Nature, and that even art declares that
nothing more than this can be done in her. This work was so excellent in
the sight of all good judges of art, that he acquired a great name
thereby, although he had executed many works and what was known of his
great genius in his profession was well known; and he was therefore held
in much more account and greater estimation than ever before.
For this reason Lorenzo Pucci, Cardinal Santiquattro, who had taken over
a chapel on the left hand beside the principal chapel in the Trinità, a
convent of Calabrian and French Friars who wear the habit of S. Francis
of Paola, allotted it to Perino, to the end that he might paint there in
fresco the life of Our Lady. Which having begun, Perino finished all the
vaulting and a wall under an arch; and on the outer side, also, over an
arch of the chapel, he painted two Prophets four braccia and a half in
height, representing Isaiah and Daniel, who in their great proportions
reveal all the art, excellence of design, and beauty of colouring that
can be seen in their perfection only in a picture executed by a great
craftsman. This will be clearly evident to one who shall consider the
Isaiah, in whom, as he reads, may be perceived the thoughtfulness that
study infuses in him, and his eagerness in reading new things, for he
has his gaze fixed upon a book, with one hand to his head, exactly as a
man often is when he is studying; and Daniel, likewise, is motionless,
with his head upraised in celestial contemplation, in order to resolve
the doubts of his people. Between these figures are two little boys who
are upholding the escutcheon of the Cardinal, a shield of beautiful
shape: and these boys, besides being so painted as to seem to be of
flesh, also have the appearance of being in relief. The vaulting is
divided into four scenes, separated one from another by the cross--that
is, by the ribs of the vaulting. In the first is the Conception of Our
Lady, in the second her Nativity, in the third the scene when she
ascends the steps of the Temple, and in the fourth S. Joseph marrying
her. On a wall-space equal in extent to the arch of the vaulting is her
Visitation, in which are many figures that are very beautiful, but above
all some who have climbed on certain socles and are standing in very
spirited and natural attitudes, the better to see the ceremonious
meeting of those women; besides which, there is something of the good
and of the beautiful in the buildings and in every gesture of the other
figures. He pursued this work no further, illness coming upon him; and
when he was well, there began the plague of the year 1523, which raged
so violently in Rome, that, if he wished to save his life, it became
expedient for him to make up his mind to depart.