,,masterpieces ,,in ,,colour ,,edited ,,by ,t4 ,,leman ,,hare ,,pietro ,,perugino 7#addf-aebd7 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,i4--,,virgin ,,and ,,child ,,with ,,adoring ,,angels 7,in the ,national ,gallery1 ,london7 ,this is the centre panel from the great altar-piece commissioned by ,duke ,lodovico of ,milan1 from ,perugino1 for the ,certosa of ,pavia1 and completed in #adii4 ,the three lower panels are replaced in the church by copies1 the originals having been purchased from the ,certosa by the ,melzi family in #aghf1 and sold by ,duke ,melzi to the ,national ,gallery in #ahef4 ,a masterpiece of ,pietro's religious art1 painted in his best method and best period4 ,perugino ,,by ,,selwyn ,,brinton1 ,m4,a4 ,,illustrated ,,with ,,eight ,,reproductions ,,in ,,colour ,illustration3 ,,in ,,sempiternum ,,london3 ,t4 ,c4 ,e4 ,c4 ,,jack ,,new ,,york3 ,,frederick ,a4 ,,stokes ,,co4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,plate ,i4 ,virgin and ,child with ,adoring ,angels ,frontispiece ,in the ,national ,gallery1 ,london ,page ,,ii4 ,st4 ,sebastian #ad ,in the ,muse du ,louvre1 ,paris ,,iii4 ,the ,deposition from the ,cross #bd ,in the ,pitti ,palace1 ,florence ,,iv4 ,st4 ,mary ,magdalen #cd ,in the ,pitti ,palace1 ,florence ,v4 ,virgin with ,little ,st4 ,john adoring the ,infant ,christ #dj ,in the ,pitti ,palace1 ,florence ,,vi4 ,francesco delle ,opere #ej ,in the ,uffizi ,gallery1 ,florence ,,vii4 ,the ,dead ,christ #fj ,in the ,academy of ,fine ,arts1 ,florence ,,viii4 ,virgin and ,child with ,two ,male ,saints #gj ,in the ,national ,gallery1 ,london 99 99 99 99 99 ,i ,illustration ,in considering the work of one of the greatest of the masters of the ,renaissance1 we have to go further back than the disputed question as to who was the first teacher of ,pietro di ,cristofano ,vannucci--surnamed by his contemporaries il ,perugino1 the ,perugian--and to inquire into the more interesting story of his predecessors in that wonderful ,school of ,umbria1 on which his art puts1 in a certain sense1 the seal and completion4 ,in an earlier work on this subject ,i traced this school1 in its first definite inception1 to that grand old religious painter ,niccolo da ,foligno1 whose art may be studied within his native city of ,foligno--in his great altar-piece of the church of ,s4 ,niccolo--in ,perugia1 ,paris1 ,london1 and his fine paintings in the ,vatican ,gallery at ,rome2 and in all these works ,i traced in ,niccolo a great master1 archaic but strong in drawing and full of character1 possessing just the qualities of the founder of a great school4 ,but upon that school many influences were to stream in1 and to affect its progress4 ,the earlier art of ,siena1 the city of ,mary ,virgin1 intensely emotional and religious in its character1 the dignity of ,duccio and the ,lorenzetti1 the grace and delicate beauty of ,simone ,memmi were among these4 ,close to ,niccolo himself1 in the hill-town of ,montefalco1 the ,florentine1 ,benozzo ,gozzoli1 pupil of ,fra ,angelico1 had been busied on picture stories from ,st4 ,francis' legend1 which seem to find their continuation in the ,perugian miracle pictures of ,fiorenzo di ,lorenzo2 and yet nearer to ,florence1 in the ,umbrian ,borderland1 that ,king of ,painting1 ,piero della ,francesca1 was to combine the ,umbrian emotion with ,florentine intellectualism4 ,these are the influences which were to stream upon the young ,pietro as an eager and industrious student--some among them of course indirectly1 but others no doubt very directly and immediately4 ,vasari's account1 which is still of first value save where it is opposed by stronger evidence1 is that he was sent as a poor boy to grind colours and run errands in the bottega of some ,perugian painter4 ,the impression which is here given of his extreme poverty is probably exaggerated4 ,the ,vannucci family had enjoyed the citizenship of ,perugia since #adbg1 nor was it in ,perugia but in their native township of ,castel 7later ,citt7 della ,pieve that his son ,pietro was born to ,cristofano ,vannucci4 ,but we may take it that he left the paternal roof while yet a child 7he was probably not more than nine years old71 and was apprenticed1 as above stated1 in ,perugia--though to what artist ,vasari does not tell us4 ,here1 therefore1 conjecture is rife1 and ,buonfigli1--that delightful decorator of the ,perugian ,palazzo ,pubblico1--,fiorenzo di ,lorenzo1 and even ,niccolo da ,foligno himself have been assigned by various critics as his teacher4 ,personally1 ,i incline to ,fiorenzo di ,lorenzo1 whose easel paintings in the ,gallery of ,perugia seem to foreshadow the typical ,perugino background2 but it is yet more probable that either as a master or 7as suggested by ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle7 as a journeyman associate he may have come under the influence of ,piero della ,francesca1 and gained from him that intimate knowledge of perspective which appears in all his later works4 ,in any case this unknown master--if we are to believe ,vasari--was an inspiring influence2 for not only did he never cease to set before ,pietro the great advantages and honours that were to be obtained from painting 444 but when the boy was wont to frequently inquire of him in what city the best artists were formed 444 he constantly received the same reply1 namely1 that ,florence was the place above all others wherein men attain to perfection in all the arts1 but more especially in painting4 ,i spare to my reader the long harangue which ,vasari here puts into the mouth of young ,pietro's unknown teacher1 and which the critic pretty certainly evolved out of his own inner consciousness2 and come to his conclusion1 which is1 that our ,pietro1 with every goodwill to improve himself1 came to ,florence1 and entered the famous bottega of ,andrea del ,verrocchio4 ,nor do ,i see any sufficient ground to reject this statement1 though ,morelli in his ,italian ,painters 7vol4 i4 p4 #ajg7 emphasises very properly the importance of his earlier training1 in all probability at ,perugia1 under ,fiorenzo di ,lorenzo1 and then at ,arezzo under ,piero della ,francesca1 and will not have him described as unconditionally the pupil of ,verrocchio4 ,the point to notice here is that ,pietro must have been a fairly advanced artist when he went1 obviously to finish himself1 to ,florence1 and that in his earlier work it is not so much the direct influence of ,verrocchio which counts as that of his countrymen1 the ,umbrians4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,ii4--,,st4 ,,sebastian 7,in the ,muse du ,louvre1 ,paris7 ,perugino painted this ,saint many times1 there being more than six different renderings still existing4 ,the picture reproduced here is one of the best1 both in the modelling of the nude and the sentiment of the figure and the lovely ,umbrian landscape4 ,it came 7in #ahif7 from the ,sciarra ,colonna ,gallery4 ,underneath the figure will be seen the words1 ,sagitte tue infixe sunt michi4 ,but at ,florence he must certainly have been in these years1 going there 7as the author ,i have just quoted suggests7 soon after #adgj1 probably1 for a time at least1 within ,verrocchio's workshop1 and drinking in all the glorious message of ,florentine art in the company of the younger generation of her craftsmen1 among whom ,giovanni ,santi1 in his rhyming chronicle of art1 mentions directly another pupil of ,verrocchio1 the young ,leonardo da ,vinci1 as his friend and associate3 ,due giovin par d'etate e par d'amori ,leonardo da ,vinci e'l ,perusino ,pier della ,pieve4444 ,that he must have been already advanced in his art in those days is borne out by the fact that only ten years later 7#adha7 he was summoned by ,pope ,sixtus to ,rome1 to decorate1 in the company of the great ,florentine masters--,ghirlandajo1 ,cosimo ,rosselli1 and ,botticelli--the walls of the ,sistine ,chapel in fresco4 ,prior to this great commission1 ,milanesi notes 7#adge7 frescoes painted by him in the great hall of the ,perugian ,palazzo ,pubblico1 which have entirely disappeared1 and others 7#adgh7 in a chapel at ,cerqueto1 of which only a ,st4 ,sebastian1 very ,umbrian in character1 now survives4 ,whence it came about1 says ,vasari1 that the fame of ,pietro was so spread abroad within ,italy and without that1 to his great glory1 he was brought by ,pope ,sixtus to work at ,rome in his chapel1 in company with other excellent craftsmen3 in the which place he made the story of ,christ where he gives to ,st4 ,peter the keys1 and likewise the ',nativity' and ',baptism of ,christ' and the ',finding of ,moses' 444 and on the side where is the altar the mural painting of the ',assumption of ,madonna1' wherein he drew ,pope ,sixtus on his knees4 ,but these last-mentioned works were destroyed to make room for the ',last ,judgment' of the divine ,michelangelo1 in the time of ,pope ,paul ,,iii4 ,vasari here refers to the wall paintings in fresco of the ,nativity1 ,finding of ,moses1 and ,assumption4 ,all these have disappeared without a trace4 ,there remain the magnificent ,delivery of the ,keys and the frescoes of the ,journey of ,moses and the ,baptism of ,christ4 ,i made a careful study of these last two frescoes at ,rome ten years ago1 when writing the life of ,pinturicchio1 and that study led me to the conclusion that here we have ,pinturicchio working under ,perugino himself4 ,the ,moses1 for instance1 ,i wrote of the ,journey of ,moses in ,egypt1 who appears here is thoroughly ,peruginesque 7he is to be compared with the ,christ and the ,baptist in the fresco opposite71 but is painted probably by ,pinturicchio under ,perugino's instructions4 ,the ,zipporah1 too1 when she is seen advancing1 or again where the child in her lap undergoes the rite of circumcision1 and the female attendant in white in the corner of the fresco are creations of ,vannucci's very type and mould4 ,the beautiful landscape1 however1 with its palm-trees and overhanging rocks1 is thoroughly in ,pinturicchio's manner1 and the fresco is full of grouped portraits--a ,florentine trait4444 ,now1 if we turn about1 we can examine the fresco opposite 7right wall next the altar7 of the ',baptism of ,christ'3 here again ,i find the two ,umbrians to have been working in collaboration4 ,in support of this attribution it is interesting to compare the ',baptism' here with the undoubted ',baptism' by ,perugino at ,foligno4 ,i have seen both the ,foligno painting and that of the ,sistina this month1 and have photographs of each before me as ,i correct these notes2 and ,i find the two groups absolutely identical save for the slight variations in type and drapery of the ,st4 ,john1 caused1 as ,i think1 by his having been painted by ,pinturicchio1 but under the elder master's guidance4 ,i have here quoted from my notes1 written within the ,sistine ,chapel itself1 at some length1 because they lead me to some extent to differ from the conclusions of ,senator ,morelli1 who1 insisting on the poetry of ,pinturicchio's landscapes1 is disposed to give both these frescoes to that great master4 ,pinturicchio was undoubtedly working in ,rome as ,perugino's assistant during this pontificate of ,pope ,sixtus4 ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle say of this artist3 ,he was a ,perugian by birth and education1 had followed with moderate talent the lessons of ,buonfigli and ,fiorenzo di ,lorenzo1 and afterwards joined the atelier of ,perugino4 ,he had all the qualities that should be sought in a subordinate1 and might have become indispensable to one who undertook large commissions and required an orderly superintendent for his apprentices4 ,it was natural that ,perugino should take him into partnership and give him a third of his profits4 ,nor do the ,sixtine frescoes discountenance the belief that the two men stood in this relation to each other in #adhd4 ,when ,perugino left ,rome for ,florence in #adhf1 ,pinturicchio remained there1 obtained commissions from the great families of the ,della ,rovere and ,cibo1 and from the ,borgia ,pope ,alexander ,,vi41 for whom he decorated the famous ,appartamento ,borgia within the ,vatican4 ,he thus began to assume the position of an independent master2 but if we trace his hand 7especially in the children and landscape backgrounds7 in the two ,sistine wall paintings which ,i have just mentioned--though working still under the elder master's supervision and assistance--it is ,perugino alone who comes before us1 in his full strength1 in the ,delivery to ,st4 ,peter of the ,keys4 ,the subject1 it has been well said1 was a simple incident1 but demanded from the deep meaning attached to it as related to the history of the ,roman church a certain grandeur and solemnity of treatment2 and here at once we see the full influence upon ,pietro of his ,florentine training1 combined1 in a very interesting way1 with those earlier ,umbrian elements which still remained with him as the strongest impulse1 and which he had learnt from his earlier ,perugian master1 or later1 not improbably1 from the great ,piero della ,francesca4 ,no writer upon ,umbrian art can afford to neglect its wonderful landscape backgrounds1 often poetic and fantastic1 as in the art of ,pinturicchio1 but always with this sense of roominess1 of vastness1 and spaciousness1 which ,mr4 ,berenson has very happily defined by the phrase of space-composition2 and1 writing of this very fresco in an earlier work1 ,i compared within the ,sistina the crowded frescoes and stir of movement of ,botticelli or ,cosimo ,rosselli with those wide spaces of ,perugino's ,granting of the ,keys1 where our eyes are carried onwards from the central group far away to the distant temple with its roomy porticoes4 ,but if the background with its ,bramantesque temple and the middle distance is still purely ,umbrian1 and seems to foreshadow the ,sposalizio at ,caen1 or at the ,brera1 in those noble figures grouped upon the front plane of the composition--many of them obviously contemporary portraits 7one of them in a skullcap being suggested as the master himself7--we may trace the dominant influence of the great ,florentines1 of ,masaccio within the ,brancacci ,chapel of the ,carmine1 and of the noble fresco art of ,domenico ,ghirlandajo4 ,and thus ,pietro ,perugino combines within himself already the two most important currents of the art of the ,italian ,renaissance--that art of ,florence1 with its intellectualism1 its masterly drawing1 its sense of form1 and that lovely devotional spirit of ,umbrian art1 developed and inherited from the earlier ,sienese4 ,he is at least for us here the precursor--the forerunner2 and what his divinely gifted pupil1 the young ,raphael of ,urbino1 was to complete he already foreshadows4 ,another point which has not been brought out very fully by our master's critics is the predominance of fresco painting in his earlier work4 ,the value of fresco painting to these ,italian masters as a training for eye and hand cannot be too much insisted upon4 ,it needed both a sure eye and a quick hand1 for the painting had to be done at once when the plaster was ready to receive it2 and there can be no doubt that ,pietro's absolute mastery1 at this period1 of this difficult art had prepared him for the wonderful series of altar-pieces in the tempera and oil mediums which we are now about to study4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,iii4--,,the ,,deposition ,,from ,,the ,,cross 7,in the ,pitti ,palace1 ,florence7 ,this is the famous painting of the dead ,christ for the nuns of ,s4 ,chiara1 of which ,vasari speaks with such enthusiasm1 and tells us the nuns were offered 7and refused7 three times the contract price for the picture4 ,it certainly is a masterpiece of ,italian devotional art4 ,it is fully signed and dated--,petrus ,perusinus ,pinxit ,a4 ,d4 ,,mcccclxxxxv4--and there are studies for it in the ,uffizi collection of drawings and at ,christ ,church1 ,oxford4 ,perugino1 as we have noticed1 had returned to ,florence in the autumn of #adhf1 when the frescoes of the ,sistine ,chapel were no doubt completed1 and soon after this 7#adhi7 received an invitation to visit ,orvieto--his altar-piece for ,s4 ,domenico at ,fiesole having been completed in the year previous4 ,the frescoes in the ,capella di ,s4 ,brizio within ,orvieto ,cathedral had been left unfinished through the death of ,fra ,angelico1 and our ,perugino1 as a master whose fame had been spread throughout ,italy1 was now requested to examine the chapel and tender for the completion of its decoration4 ,he did so1 but his price was a high one--#aejj ducats and all materials to be found him--and we shall trace later how the negotiations1 protracted for several years1 came eventually to nothing4 ,for the moment ,florence attracted him1 for here1 in ,january of #adia1 under the presidency of ,lorenzo de' ,medici1 called the ,magnificent1 the foremost artists of the day were gathered to consider the decoration of the faade of the ,florentine ,duomo2 and here ,perugino was present1 beside such masters as ,domenico ,ghirlandajo1 ,cosimo ,rosselli1 ,andrea della ,robbia1 ,botticelli1 ,baldovinetti1 ,pollajuolo--a long list of names now world-famed in the story of art4 ,from ,florence1 in ,march of this same year1 our master made his way to ,perugia1 where he drew the balance of his pay for the ,sistine frescoes2 and then1 prudently avoiding ,orvieto1 went on south to ,rome1 where we have seen that ,pinturicchio had now established himself1 together with the ,florentine ,filippino ,lippi1 and had found many commissions4 ,but ,perugino soon found a patron in the ,cardinal ,giuliano della ,rovere1 later to become famous in history as ,pope ,julius ,,ii42 and this powerful prelate protected our artist from the importunities of the ,orvietans1 who were pressing him to fulfil his contract1 and threatening1 if he delayed longer1 to appoint another artist in his place4 ,cardinal ,giuliano1 the imperious patron later of ,michelangelo1 took the matter with a characteristically high hand4 ,we laboured under the impression--thus he writes to the ,council of ,orvieto--that you were to be compliant1 as best suits the love we have ever borne to your community4 ,and so we now again exhort and pray that you do reserve the place which is his due to ,maestro ,pietro1 and refrain from molesting him4444 ,the fact was that the great prelate wanted ,pietro for a time for himself1 and to this time 7#adia7 belongs the lovely altar-piece1 formerly in the ,cardinal's ,palace1 and now in the ,villa ,albani at ,rome4 ,all our master's devotional feeling1 his refinement and beauty of type1 his wealth of golden colour1 is found already in this wonderful altar-piece1 which is divided into six compartments1 the central panel being occupied by the ,nativity1 with above the ,crucifixion and ,annunciation1 and at the sides the figures of four adoring saints4 ,the landscape background is here of extraordinary beauty1 reflecting the quiet serenity of the kneeling figures1 and on the pillars of the colonnade behind the ,nativity the master has signed his work-- ,,petrus ,,de ,,perusia ,,pinxit #adia4 ,the ,albani altar-piece had always ranked as one of ,perugino's loveliest and most typical creations1 worthy to stand beside the beautiful altar-piece of the ,certosa of ,pavia1 of which ,england is now the fortunate possessor in her ,national ,gallery2 but to this busy and fertile period in the master's career belong a number of attractive and interesting works1 which we must now endeavour in some measure to classify and analyse4 ,i have already alluded to the altar-piece of ,s4 ,domenico at ,fiesole2 but ,pietro painted another altar-piece for the same church in #adic1 which is now in the ,uffizi ,gallery1 a ,virgin ,enthroned1 between ,saints ,sebastian and ,john ,baptist1 dated and signed1 as usual1 ,petrus ,perusinus4 ,the ,crucifixion of ,la ,calza 7,florence71 showing very markedly the influence of ,luca ,signorelli1 may have probably preceded this2 but to the same year of #adic belongs the beautiful ,piet 7,dead ,christ7 of the ,florence ,accademia1 and the wonderful and most impressive ,crucifixion of ,s4 ,maria ,maddalena de' ,pazzi 7,florence7 was commissioned by ,pietro ,pucci in #adic1 though it was not completed till ,april of #adif4 ,unsurpassed here is the master in the solemnity1 the sense of aloofness from earthly things1 which he conveys to us in these six figures--the ,crucified1 with as spectators ,his mother1 the beloved disciple1 and kneeling saints1 seen against the wide stretch of such an ,umbrian background as we may see from ,perugia or ,cortona or ,assisi2 and next in importance to this masterpiece of religious art is the famous ,piet of ,s4 ,chiara1 of which ,vasari speaks with such enthusiasm4 ,he worked out for the ladies of ,santa ,chiara a painting of the dead ,christ1 with colouring so lovely and so fresh that by good craftsmen it was held a thing marvellous and excellent4 ,in this work certain very lovely heads of old men are to be seen1 and likewise certain ,maries who1 with weeping faces1 regard the dead man with reverence and wondrous love2 and moreover he made a landscape which was then highly esteemed4 ,it is said that ,francesco del ,pugliese would fain have given to the aforesaid nuns three times as much money as they had paid to ,pietro1 and in addition offered to give them a similar painting made by the artist's own hand2 and they would not agree1 because ,pietro said that he could never equal that original4 ,this noble creation of religious art is now in the ,pitti ,palace at ,florence1 and fully bears out ,vasari's appreciative criticism3 in composition1 in beauty of type in the mourning women and men1 in the lax body of the dead ,saviour1 in the exquisite landscape with its trees defined against the far sky1 our master touches here a very high level in religious art4 ,as usual with works of this importance he fully signed it1 on the rock on which the ,christ is laid-- ,,petrus ,,perusinus ,,pinxit ,a4,d4 ,,mcccclxxxxv2 and the very careful studies which he made for the groups in this picture may be seen among the drawings of the ,uffizi collection4 ,when we consider that the magnificently virile portrait of ,francesco delle ,opere 7#adid71 now in the ,tribuna of the ,uffizi1 belongs to this same period1 as well as the lovely ,madonna with ,saints of ,s4 ,agostino at ,cremona 7#adid1 signed and dated71 the ,ascension of ,christ1 painted for ,s4 ,pietro at ,perugia 7#adie1 now at ,lyons ,htel de ,ville71 and the grand altar-piece of the ,vatican 7#adif71 which ,i shall describe more fully later1 we shall agree with the critics 7,crowe and ,cavalcaselle71 who describe the year #adie as remarkable in the career of ,vannucci4 ,it was that in which an ,umbrian 444 successfully applied the laws of composition and added a calm tenderness to the gravity of the ,florentine school2 and through his influence on ,fra ,bartolommeo and ,raphael replaced1 as far as it was possible1 the pious mysticism that had perished with ,angelico4 ,the master's influence on ,fra ,bartolommeo may be clearly traced in the ,piet of ,s4 ,chiara1 the forerunner of the ,frate's own noble work2 and it was not far from this very time 7#adie7 that the young ,rafaelle ,sanzio must have entered his ,perugian workshop4 ,,ii ,we have now traced the art of ,pietro ,vannucci from its first beginnings in the workshop of some unknown teacher at ,perugia to the time when he was one of the accepted masters of ,italian art1 as much at home in ,florence--that glowing centre of artistic impulse and creation--as in his own ,perugia1 or in the ,rome of the ,renaissance ,popes4 ,here1 then1 before we proceed further with the story of his art1 which is practically the story of his busy life1 there are some points on which we shall not waste time in lingering4 ,we saw how ,perugino1 like ,giotto himself and almost every great master of ,italian painting1 had perfected his knowledge and trained his eye and hand in the practice of fresco-painting2 and we have next to notice that he obtained fame among his contemporaries1 as well as patronage1 from his knowledge and use of the new oil medium4 ,vasari on this point is most explicit3 ,certainly colouring was a matter which ,pietro thoroughly understood1 and this both in fresco as well as in oil 444 and again he mentions certain pictures specially as being painted in oil4 ,of course one cannot set up even such direct evidence from ,vasari as conclusive1 for we know there are many slips in his invaluable chronicle2 and this very point of the master's medium for his panel pictures has been questioned by modern critics4 ,dr4 ,g4 ,c4 ,williamson in his excellent monograph on ,perugino refers to ,mr4 ,herbert ,horne--a critic whose opinion on ,italian art carries great weight--as saying that all ,perugino's pictures were painted in tempera on a gesso background1 and suggests at least that an entirely different technique can be traced in the ,albani altar-piece and that of the ,certosa4 ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle1 in their notice of ,perugino1 have analysed very carefully his technique1 and shown how his flesh tints were worked up from a warm brown undertone1 through a succession of glazes1 each lighter in colour and fuller in body than the last1 receiving light from without and transparency from within1 till the highest light was reached4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,iv4--,,st4 ,,mary ,,magdalen 7,in the ,pitti ,palace1 ,florence7 ,a very lovely figure idealised in type1 and recalling1 though younger1 the ,virgin of the great ,crucifixion in ,s4 ,maria ,maddalena dei ,pazzi at ,florence4 ,across the bosom1 embroidered1 runs the legend ,s4 ,maria ,maddalena4 ,in this analysis the authors have obviously and entirely the oil medium in view2 but there is another view which1 as it seems to me1 may throw light upon the question4 ,experiments have1 as ,i understand1 been made in late years in ,germany to combine the use of tempera with that of oil-painting--the object being to combine the brilliancy and richness of oil with the lasting colour of tempera1 in which yolk of egg was used with the pure colours--and ,i believe that certain results have been attained4 ,now this was just the position of painting in ,perugino's day1 when upon the old tempera panels of the ,giottesques and their successors the oil technique of the ,van ,eycks was asserting its advantages2 and ,i would suggest that our master in this period of transition used both mediums1 and perhaps sometimes in the same picture may have passed from one to the other4 ,here1 too1 his connection with the ,gesuati may have aided him materially1 for ,vasari tells us expressly how these friars1 for whom he worked very frequently1 were practised in the art of colours as well as enamel and glass-painting1 and it was perhaps from them that he had learned the secret which makes his altar-pieces still so transparent and so pure in colour4 ,another point which we cannot fail to notice at this period of ,pietro's life is his immense activity1 his careful business relations in contracts for his work1 and his continual industry4 ,he is so constantly on the move that we begin to wonder how he found time for his paintings3 he is so continually productive that we wonder no less that he found it possible to travel4 ,his wanderings might be normal in these days of ,pullman-cars and express trains1 but in an age when any journey was a matter of difficulty and often personal danger they seem almost phenomenal4 ,from ,orvieto 7#adij7 he goes to ,florence1 from ,florence to ,perugia1 and thence to ,rome2 in #adic he is married at ,fiesole to ,chiara ,fancelli2 in #adid he is at ,venice1 and probably at ,cremona1 painting there his altar-piece at ,s4 ,agostino2 then back again to ,florence1 at ,perugia in ,march of #adif1 making his contract for the famous ,vatican ,madonna1 and at ,pavia in ,october of the same year1 working at his no less famous altar-piece of the ,certosa4 ,in all these visits he was either arranging for fresh work or leaving some lovely altar-piece as a memorial of his presence2 and next we shall notice that the two real points of attraction in all this busy life are ,perugia1 his native city1 if not actually his birthplace1 and ,florence4 ,rome1 though he spent some time there1 and completed much important work1 never1 ,i think1 had the same hold upon him2 but between ,florence and ,perugia he often seems to hesitate4 ,and this is really important1 because the two tendencies1 the ,umbrian and the ,florentine1 are always present in his art4 ,he had completed1 as we saw1 his training in the city of ,arno1 had married later 7#adic7 a beautiful ,florentine girl1 the daughter of ,luca ,fancelli1 who brought with her a dowry of #ejj golden florins1 and on his return from ,perugia in #adif had invested part of the money he had received for his altar-piece of the ,magistrates' ,chapel in land at ,florence4 ,in fact1 during the whole of these years1 after his return from ,rome at the time of ,alexander ,borgia's accession 7#adib7 to nearly #aejj1 ,i take our master's real centre of activity as being ,florence2 there he had his workshop1 painted panels for distant customers1 undertook frescoes for the ,florentine convents1 and returned after his business visits to other parts of ,italy4 ,the year #adii marks a change in all this1 for this was the year in which the master definitely threw over the offer of the ,orvietans to decorate their ,capella di ,s4 ,brizio in ,orvieto ,duomo1 and accepted his great commission from the ,perugian guild of bankers to adorn with fresco paintings their audience-hall--the ,sala del ,cambio4 ,this great commission necessitated a long stay at ,perugia1 and therefore the master broke up his ,florentine workshop1 or bottega4 ,but ,florence had evidently a very deep hold on his affections1 for we find that in #aejd he gave up his ,perugian establishment for the purpose of returning to ,florence1 and on arriving there took a lodging in the ,pinti suburb4 ,at ,florence ,perugino was justly esteemed as one of the great master-craftsmen of the city1 and as such was invariably consulted--as in the great meeting held 7,january of #adia7 to consider the new faade of ,s4 ,maria del ,fiore2 or again when 7in ,january of #adig7 he was invited with ,benozzo ,gozzoli1 ,cosimo ,rosselli1 and ,filippino ,lippi to value the frescoes of ,alessio ,baldovinetti in ,s4 ,trinit of ,florence2 or yet again when 7,june of #adih71 after the destruction of the lantern of ,s4 ,maria del ,fiore by lightning1 he tendered his advice along with ,filippino and ,lorenzo di ,credi4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,v4--,,virgin ,,with ,,little ,,st4 ,,john ,,adoring ,,the ,,infant ,,christ 7,in the ,pitti ,palace1 ,florence7 ,the centre of the painting is filled by the figure of the ,virgin1 who1 on her knees with hands clasped1 adores the little ,jesus1 seen seated upon a sack1 supported by an angel4 ,he is balanced on the other side by the kneeling baby ,st4 ,john4 ,the ,umbrian landscape is of great beauty4 ,but while ,pietro had been busied at ,perugia1 in those years of absence 7#adii-aejd7 a new spirit1 of dmonic power1 had come to fascinate the ,florentines1 and give them a new conception of the art of the human form2 and1 in fact1 hardly had our master reached ,florence and secured his lodging than he was invited to give his verdict as to the best site for ,michelangelo's gigantic marble ,david4 ,feeling ran high in the city both as to the site and the work itself4 ,as to the former1 the ,loggia de' ,signori was suggested1 but ,michelangelo himself preferred the left-hand side of the doorway of the ,palazzo ,vecchio1 and his wish was respected4 ,yet the feeling against this figure among some of the citizens was such that1 when it was exposed1 it became a mark for missiles1 and the watchmen set to guard it were assaulted4 ,we may imagine that there were frequent gatherings and many heated discussions among the artistic confraternity1 who were wont to meet in the shop of ,baccio d',agnolo2 and it may have been in one of these discussions that ,michelangelo declared to ,perugino that his art was absurd and antiquated4 ,goffo nell' arte--a bungler in his art--that is the precise phrase quoted by ,vasari1 and which so rankled in the breast of the elder man that1 ,pietro being unable to support such an insult1 they both carried their plaint before the magistracy of the ,eight2 in the which affair ,pietro remained with but little credit4 ,it would have been better1 we feel1 and more dignified1 to have passed over the slighting word with the contempt which it deserved4 ,the master of the ,sistine fresco which we have described1 of the ,albani altar-piece and its younger sister of the ,certosa1 of the altar-piece of the ,magistrates' ,chapel at ,perugia1 and the superb frescoes of the ,cambio1 stood far above such criticism in his own or any later age2 and this appreciation of the ,perugian's work in art does not imply any depreciation of ,buonarroti's genius1 of which1 in its own sublime and individual path1 the present writer is an enthusiastic admirer4 ,but ,pietro was a strong-tempered and revengeful man1 as is shown by the earlier records of ,florentine justice1 when he had appeared 7in ,july of #adhg7 before the ,eight--the ,otto di ,custodia--for having1 with a notorious ruffian1 one ,aulista di ,angelo of ,perugia1 waylaid a private enemy more than once with the intention of beating him--pluries et pluries nocturno tempore accesserunt armati quibusdam bastonibus4 ,on that occasion he had escaped with a fine of ten florins of gold2 and this later appearance does not seem1 in its issue1 to have been to the master's credit4 ,there was1 besides this1 much of truth in ,buonarroti's criticism--a truth which added to the sting--that by this time ,pietro's art had already begun to show old motives carelessly repeated4 ,pietro1 says our ,vasari1 had worked so much1 and had always such abundance of work in hand1 that he often put the same things into his works2 and had so reduced his art to a system that he gave to all his figures the same appearance4 ,if this tendency appears even in his work before #aejj1 it becomes much more apparent later on2 but to dwell on this point here would carry me too far1 and for the present we are concerned with the master in his full strength at the date just mentioned4 ,for the year #aejj dates the completion of the ,cambio frescoes1 and may be taken roughly as the great central date in ,pietro's art4 ,before describing in detail those frescoes1 let us consider what other commissions had preceded that of the ,perugian bankers4 ,foremost among these must come the great altar-piece of the ,certosa of ,pavia1 to which ,i have frequently alluded4 ,it had been commissioned by ,duke ,lodovico ,sforza of ,milan soon after the artist left ,venice--the great ,certosa monastery being always under the personal patronage of the ,dukes of ,milan4 ,pietro seems to have been working at it already in #adif1 and it was completed1 on the ,duke's pressing instance1 by the end of #adii4 ,it has only remained partially in its original place--in the second chapel on the left of the great ,carthusian church4 ,the upper central painting--that of the ,eternal ,father--is still by ,perugino1 the three lower panels are copies from the originals1 now in the ,national ,gallery of ,london1 and the panels at the side are by ,borgognone4 ,nothing that the master of ,perugia has left us exceeds in tranquil beauty these central panels of the ,london ,national ,gallery4 ,orsini tells us that from #agie the ,certosa painting with its six panels had passed into the possession of the ducal family of ,melzi at ,milan2 but this is not quite correct1 for we have seen that the panel of the ,eternal ,father is still in place4 ,in #ahef ,duke ,melzi parted with his three panels to the ,london ,gallery4 ,in the centre panel the sweet1 pensive ,virgin is adoring the child ,jesus1 who is watched over by an angel1 as in ,leonardo's famous ,madonna of the ,rocks1 while three angels make music in the sky above2 on the right of this is the ,archangel ,raphael with the young ,tobias2 on the left the lovely figure of the ,archangel ,michael1 fully armed1 with legs apart set firmly on the ground1 and left hand resting on his shield--a figure which the master repeated more than once1 notably in the great ,assumption of the ,virgin in the ,florence ,academy4 ,perugino was married at this time to the beautiful ,chiara ,fancelli1 and there is little doubt that she appears in more than one of his pictures2 in particular1 she is said to have posed for the ,archangel ,raphael of this ,certosa altar-piece4 ,next to the beauty of type in this and other figures1 we have to notice the pure rich colouring and the extraordinary beauty1 in the central panel1 of the landscape background4 ,all the ,umbrian sense of space is there1 in this valley with its winding stream and blue distances1 while in the middle distance the delicately drawn trees are mirrored against the clear sky4 ,it is a picture one would love to live with1 and1 without possessing the rapt devotion1 the deep inner spirit1 which pervades the paintings of ,angelico1 its atmosphere is calm1 restful1 and in that sense prayerful4 ,a whole group of other paintings1 attractive and interesting1 though of lesser interest1 belongs to this splendidly fertile period of ,pietro's genius4 ,the ,fano altar-piece--a ,virgin and ,child with ,saints--dates from a visit in #adig1 and an ,annunciation followed in the next year1 while at ,sinigaglia and ,cantiano there are very similar works4 ,both the ,fano pictures1 which ,i have not seen1 have been carefully described by ,dr4 ,williamson in his monograph on this artist4 ,the ,madonna ,crowned1 with the ,child on her knee and a group of kneeling penitents behind1 now in the ,perugian ,gallery1 was painted for the confraternity of ,san ,pietro ,martire in #adig2 and there is in the same gallery a somewhat similar work1 painted for another confraternity1 with two saints 7one of whom is ,st4 ,bernardino7 kneeling in the foreground1 and in the distance ,perugia1 with the yet untouched towers of the ,baglioni4 ,to the same period have been attributed the ,family of ,st4 ,anne1 at ,marseilles1 and the ,virgin in ,glory1 of the ,bologna ,gallery1 with its armed ,st4 ,michael and its lovely female figure of ,st4 ,apollonia2 and now we come to a creation which1 in its fine drawing and composition and its atmosphere of tranquil beauty1 takes a place beside the ,certosa altar-piece or that of the ,perugian ,magistrates' ,chapel4 ,i refer to the ,virgin appearing to ,st4 ,bernard1 now in the ,munich ,gallery4 ,the theme was a favourite one at this period of ,italian art1 for it has been treated with great beauty by ,filippino ,lippi in his painting in the ,badia at ,florence4 ,the ,munich picture was destined by our master for ,s4 ,spirito at ,florence1 and was acquired 7in #ahbi7 by ,king ,ludwig of ,bavaria from the ,capponi family1 who held the rights over the chapel where it hung4 ,as in ,filippino's rendering1 the monastic saint is seated in study or adoration1 and looks up1 with a startled gesture1 to see the ,virgin enter with a train of lovely angels2 but what ,filippino fails to equal--even with his delicious angels1 who might be taken from ,florentine urchins--is the sense of tranquil beauty which comes to us in these figures of the ,perugian master1 and is continued in that wonderful sweep of distant landscape seen through the open colonnade4 ,a study for this fine painting is among the drawings in the ,uffizi ,gallery4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,vi4--,,francesco ,,delle ,,opere 7,in the ,uffizi ,gallery1 ,florence7 ,an interesting portrait1 once thought a self-portrait of the master1 but now considered to be of ,francesco delle ,opere4 ,a powerful face1 small dark eyes1 a well-cut nose1 and thick bull-neck4 ,we see that ,perugino was a fine portraitist of men1 both in this and his genuine self-portrait 7in the ,sala del ,cambio7 and the two ,vallombrosan monks in the ,florence ,academy4 ,on the back of this picture is inscribed3 #adid ,d',luglio ,pietro ,perugino ,pinse ,franco del ,ope 7i4e4 delle ,opere74 ,i have already had occasion to mention the great ,crucifixion of ,s4 ,maria ,maddalena de' ,pazzi 7completed #adif71 and a very similar treatment of this subject appears in a later ,crucifixion painted for the ,convent of ,s4 ,jerome in ,florence1 and now in the ,accademia of that city4 ,here1 in the three figures introduced1 the ,christ and the ,virgin mother are almost reproduced from those in the larger fresco of ,s4 ,maria ,maddalena1 but are coarser and more careless in the painting4 ,the city here in the distance has been traced to be ,florence1 and the date suggested is about #adih4 ,closer yet to this central date of the ,perugian master's work is the great ,vallombrosa ,assumption 7dated #aejj72 but this very probably succeeded immediately in order of time to the ,sala del ,cambio frescoes1 and therefore ,i leave it for the moment to speak of the earlier1 but most important1 commission of the altar-piece of the ,magistrates' ,chapel at ,perugia4 ,a painting to decorate this chapel1 and which was to include the portraits of the ,priori1 the governing body then in office1 had been commissioned from ,pietro as early as #adhc1 and the contract actually signed2 but the master had more important work on hand--notably his frescoes for the chapel of ,pope ,sixtus--and it was not till twelve years later1 in #adie1 that1 being again in ,perugia and at the summit of his fame1 he was successfully captured by the magistrates of that city1 and signed a fresh contract on far higher terms 7one hundred golden ducats1 but with a time limit of six months for the work7 to paint the altar-piece of their chapel4 ,the result was the masterpiece which now hangs in the ,vatican ,gallery1 and shows us the ,virgin enthroned with the ,child standing upright on her knee1 beneath such an open portico as appears in the ,vision of ,st4 ,bernard1 and with beside her four grave attendant saints1 as robed and mitred bishops4 ,here the master varies a little his frequent signature--for ,petrus de ,chastro ,plebis pinxit gives as his birthplace the little ,umbrian city of ,citt della ,pieve4 ,the great altar-piece1 which possesses all the devotional beauty and repose of his best period1 was this time completed within the time agreed1 and took its honoured place within the ,magistrates' ,chapel at ,perugia1 whence it was torn away by the invading ,french in #agig1 and found its way back1 not to ,perugia1 but to the ,vatican collection at ,rome4 ,perugia1 especially in the person of her greatest master1 ,pietro ,vannucci1 suffered terribly at the hands of ,napoleon2 and here ,i must express my appreciation of the able description given by my friend ,dr4 ,g4 ,c4 ,williamson of what he very aptly calls the story of the pillage4 ,perugia in #agif was very rich in the works of her master1 ,pietro ,perugino4 ,almost every church possessed pictures by the master4 ,the altar-piece painted in #adie for the ,magistrates' ,chapel was still in situ1 and public buildings were full of rich decoration4 ,but ,napoleon1 a man whose life was steeped in battle and human bloodshed1 seems by a strange contrast to have had a particular fancy for the quiet devotional art of the ,umbrian master4 ,his commissioner1 one ,tinet by name1 had orders to ransack ,perugia1 and six cartloads of her treasured paintings1 drawn by oxen1 left the city for ,paris4 ,one altar-piece1 that of the ,magistrates' ,chapel1 was nearly forgotten1 but remembered at the last moment1 and included4 ,but even so1 the terrible conqueror who held ,italy beneath his feet was not contented1 and a fresh decree1 of #ahaa1 ordered more pictures to be sent for his ,paris collection4 ,a certain ,tofanelli was now the agent for further spoliation1 and by diligent search forty-eight more pictures were squeezed out of unlucky ,perugia1 and in ,november of #ahac forwarded1 vi ,rome1 to ,paris4 ,napoleon had now more works of ,perugino than he could find place for in his gallery of the ,louvre1 and gave many of them away to the provincial museums of ,france2 and thus it happens that the works of our master are distributed1 in fragmentary condition in panels from his famous altar-pieces1 among the ,french provincial cities--such towns as ,bordeaux1 ,marseilles1 ,lyons1 ,grenoble1 ,nantes1 ,rouen1 and ,caen1 where they are practically inaccessible to the average student--while only a small portion of the once rich collection of his works remains within the ,perugian ,pinacoteca4 ,but fortunately his masterpiece in fresco painting within the ,sala del ,cambio could not be so easily torn from the walls4 ,i have already alluded to the acceptance by the master in #adii of this commission1 for which he had refused the decoration of ,orvieto ,duomo4 ,the actual space offered him to decorate by the ,perugian bankers in their ,sala del ,cambio was not very great1 but the result was a thing of perfect beauty--a little gem 7,i called it in my notes written at ,perugia1 and published some years ago7 of decorative ,renaissance art4 ,it is a small room1 panelled with the loveliest tarsia work 7this too from ,vannucci's design71 and above these panels the master's frescoes4 ,the ',nativity' and ',transfiguration' at the end of the room are among his finest1 ripest works1 and on each side are the ,prophets and ,sibyls1 or heroes1 kings1 and sages of antiquity--,leonidas the ,spartan1 ,trajan the wise ,roman emperor1 ,fabius ',cunctator1' ,socrates1 ,horatius1 who kept the bridge1 and the ,roman ,camillus4 ,it is most probable that the whole scheme of decoration1 and of these classic sages and heroes in particular1 with their guiding virtues above1 was supplied to the artist by the humanist ,maturanzio1 ,secretary to the ,priori of ,perugia1 and acting under their orders2 while ,maturanzio himself may have drawn his inspiration from a ,,ms4 ,cicero in the ,perugian ,library1 in whose miniatures the four cardinal virtues appear beside the heroes who displayed them in their lives4 ,such a dictation was quite in the traditions of the best ,italian art4 ,i have shown in an earlier work--,the ,renaissance in ,italian ,art--how this was probably the case in the famous frescoes of the ,spanish chapel at ,florence1 where ,ruskin had pictured the artist himself as giving his message of religious dogmatic teaching to the world2 and later we shall see how the ,marchioness of ,mantua1 ,isabella d',este1 ties down our ,pietro most mercilessly in the allegorical painting which she commissions4 ,but here1 in the rendering at least1 ,perugino is entirely himself1 and all these figures1 whether heroes of heathendom or sages or prophets--,isaiah1 ,moses1 ,david1 and ,daniel--or virtues or lovely sibyls1 are painted in one key of tranquil1 devotional beauty4 ,obliged1 says ,addington ,symonds1 to treat in the ,sala del ,cambio the representative heroes of ,greek and ,roman story1 he adopted the manner of his religious paintings4 ,leonidas1 the lion-hearted ,spartan1 and ,cato1 the austere ,roman1 bend their mild heads like flowers in ,perugino's frescoes1 and gather up their drapery in studied folds with celestial delicacy4 ,in the ceiling1 which1 if not painted by himself1 is undoubtedly from his design1 he had perhaps a freer hand in the arrangement1 and has created a very lovely piece of decoration4 ,here the deities of the old heathen world appear as imaged in that delicious sentiment of the earlier ,renaissance4 ,venus is wafted through the sky1 drawn by two doves2 ,luna1 nude to the waist1 sits in a chariot with her nymphs in harness2 ,mercury holds his caduceus1 the serpent wand2 ,apollo drives his four-horsed chariot2 and--loveliest group of all--,jupiter receives the cup of nectar from young ,ganymede1 such a cup-bearer 7,i wrote in my ,perugian notes7 as the tyrants of the ,visconti or the ,baglioni may have had--a slim young page with long floating curls1 his limbs clad in tight red hose1 and long ribbons twining around him1 as on bent knee he offers the cup to his master4 ,his fellow-citizens wished the master to include his own portrait in the frescoes of their ,cambio1 and here it is1 for us1 a square1 solid-looking face of middle life1 whose hair escapes from the tight red cap--a face not perhaps attractive1 but of intellectuality and power1 and with great determination in the lines of mouth and chin4 ,the ,latin lines of compliment beneath are probably due to the scholarly pen of ,maturanzio1 and on the other side the words ,anno ,salut4 ,,md give the date of the work's completion--the central date1 as we may fairly take it1 of ,perugino's genius1 and his life-work in art4 ,it is the moment when he climbs the hill-top--this fateful year that divides the century--and stands upon the highest ground2 henceforth for him too1 as for his country1 the slow years mark the footsteps of decline4 ,,iii ,rafaelle ,sanzio of ,urbino had lost his mother1 ,magia ,ciarla1 in #adia1 and his father1 ,giovanni ,santi1 three years later4 ,it was not long after this that he was placed by his relatives for instruction in ,perugino's famous workshop at ,perugia1 and we may safely assume that he was there during part of the master's richly creative period which we have just traversed1 and that his hand was busied1 along with those of other pupils1 in the paintings of the frescoes of the ,sala del ,cambio4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,vii4--,,the ,,dead ,,christ 7,in the ,academy of ,fine ,arts1 ,florence7 ,vasari mentions at some length ,pietro's work for the ,convent of the ,gesuati1 and in doing so describes this picture3 ,a ,piet--that is to say1 ,christ in the lap of ,our ,lady with four figures around--as good as any painted in his manner4 ,the convent seems to have suffered much from its position without the ,porta a ,pinti in the siege of ,florence1 and both this painting and the ,christ in the ,garden eventually found their way to the ,academy4 ,pietro was a good friend of the ,gesuati monks1 and was a good deal at one time at the convent4 ,date of this work1 about #adic4 ,among these pupils ,vasari mentions1 beside ,rafaelle1 the ,florentines--,rocco ,zoppo1 ,baccio1 and ,francesco ,ubertino 7the latter best known by his surname of ,bacchiacca71 ,giovanni di ,pietro 7called ,lo ,spagna71 ,andrea di ,luigi 7called ,l',ingegno71 ,eusebio di ,san ,giorgio1 ,benedetto ,caporali1 and others4 ,we have already noted ,bernardino di ,betto1 called ,pinturicchio1 as his assistant1 and later as a sort of partner and superintendent of these young apprentices2 and there seems little doubt that1 after the completion of the ,cambio frescoes and ,perugino's subsequent return to ,florence1 ,pinturicchio took young ,rafaelle with him to ,siena1 as an assistant in his great commission there 7#aejb7 to decorate the library of ,cardinal ,piccolomini4 ,in ,perugino the brilliant but most assimilative young student found just the master he needed4 ,he would have been crushed under the masterful force1 the relentless nudities1 of such a master as ,luca ,signorelli1 whereas in ,pietro's devotional art1 with its accurate training in drawing1 colour1 and perspective1 his sunny nature found room to expand1 and his first visit to ,florence 7#aejd7 proved as inspiring to him as it had been to his master4 ,meanwhile that busy master1 his decorative commission of the ,sala del ,cambio completed1 had gone back at once to purely religious art in a great painting for the high altar at ,vallombrosa1 which is now in the ,florence ,accademia4 ,the subject is the ,assumption of ,mary ,virgin1 who appears in a mandorla surrounded by angels1 while ,god the ,father bends to bless from heaven1 and four saints on earth beneath await in adoration4 ,this was probably painted at the monastery1 for ,vasari says distinctly1 ,at ,vallombrosa he painted a picture for the high altar2 and this is quite likely1 as well as that his two grand profile portraits of the ,abbot ,baldasarre and of ,don ,biagio ,milanesi date from the same visit4 ,we have already noticed his finely virile portrait of ,francesco delle ,opere in the ,uffizi collection1 and this1 combined with the two monastic portraits just mentioned1 now in the ,florentine ,accademia1 proves that1 if our master had devoted himself to portrait work1 he might have been one of the greatest portraitists of all time4 ,in the two last portraits the technique is of extreme simplicity4 ,it is simply the bare shaven head1 seen in profile against a brown background4 ,but the drawing is faultless1 the man himself is there1 and there is not a touch more than is needed to reveal the bones of the skull beneath an upper surface covering of flesh and skin4 ,the ,vallombrosan altar-piece dates from #aejj1 and in #aeja ,perugino was one of the ,priors 7,priori71 and1 being obliged to reside in the ,communal ,palace and give the most of his time to magisterial and civic duties1 he probably had little time left for painting4 ,but he took occasion to contract for future work 7#aejb7--;for saints and angels to be painted around a fine crucifix in wood for the ,convent of ,s4 ,francesco al ,monte1 which is now in the ,perugian ,gallery2 for designs for the intarsia work of ,s4 ,agostino1 and a double altar-piece for the same church1 as well as a ,sposalizio 7,marriage of ,mary7 for the ,duomo4 ,in #aejc we have seen that ,pietro had returned to ,florence1 and taken lodgings in the ,pinti quarter4 ,there followed the quarrel with ,michelangelo which ,i have mentioned1 and very shortly after this he left ,florence again for ,perugia4 ,while here1 he received a letter from the ,priors of his birthplace1 ,citt della ,pieve1 inviting him to paint a fresco there4 ,this was on ,february #bj1 #aejd1 and1 after some correspondence as to terms1 in ,march following the contract was concluded1 and the fresco painted in the same year4 ,the subject of this fine fresco is the ,adoration of the ,magi4 ,hidden away in its little township1 it is not easily accessible to visitors1 and escaped the plunder of the ,french4 ,i have not yet been able to visit it1 but my friend ,dr4 ,g4 ,c4 ,williamson1 who drove to ,citt across the mountains from ,perugia1 was deeply impressed by the painting and the place1 and writes1 ,the town is strangely beautiful--like a petrified city1 left high and dry by the moving waters of civilisation1 untouched and unspoiled4 ,at ,panicale1 another township near there1 is a ,st4 ,sebastian by our master1 signed and dated #aeje4 ,these were works which he probably painted rapidly and for a comparatively low price--the ,pieve ,adoration having been reduced to seventy-five florins--and ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle trace the hand of his assistant1 ,lo ,spagna1 in the ,panicale ,st4 ,sebastian and an ,assumption in that city4 ,but ,perugino had by no means abandoned ,florence as yet1 for we find him writing from there in ,june of #aeje to the ,marchioness of ,mantua to acknowledge the receipt of eighty ducats for his tempera painting of the ,combat of ,love and ,chastity4 ,isabella d',este da ,gonzaga1 ,marchioness of ,mantua1 an enthusiastic collector and art patron1 and one of the most cultivated women of her time1 was at that moment forming within her palace at ,mantua the famous ,studio della ,grotta1 which she adorned with paintings by ,mantegna1 ,costa1 and ,perugino4 ,these paintings1 which ,i have described in my own work on ,mantua1 and elsewhere1 were still in the ,grotta in #afbg1 but after the terrible sack of ,mantua in #afcj they were sold to ,cardinal ,richelieu1 and are now in the ,muse du ,louvre4 ,they were all of allegorical subjects1 dictated by the ,marchesa herself1 and the ,parnassus of her court painter1 ,andrea ,mantegna1 is a masterpiece4 ,but that of the ,perugian master is far less satisfactory1 and was indeed found so by that very keen critic1 the ,marchesa ,isabella herself4 ,she wrote to him on ,june #cj of the year #aeje3 ,the picture has reached me safely1 and1 as it is well drawn and coloured1 pleases me2 but if it had been more carefully finished1 it would have been more to your honour and our satisfaction4 ,she here goes straight to the point in noting--as we shall do later--that the master was becoming careless and hasty in his execution4 ,on the other hand1 it is fair to remember that the subject was not probably congenial1 that he was tied hand and foot in his treatment by the learned lady's written instructions 7on hearing that he had represented ,venus as nude1 she declared that if one single figure were altered the whole fable would be ruined71 and it is only in the wide sweep of clear sky and hills and river that the artist really finds himself again4 ,another commission of this time in ,florence was to complete the ,descent from the ,cross begun in #aejc by ,filippino ,lippi1 and left unfinished at his death in #aeje4 ,this picture1 which was destined for the ,,ss4 ,annunziata at ,florence1 was completed by ,perugino1 and is now in the ,accademia4 ,the lower portion is here by our master1 and1 considering the initial difficulty of working upon another man's conception1 the result is to be praised4 ,crowe1 indeed1 calls the ,virgin fainting in the arms of the three ,maries one of the noblest conceptions of his brush4 ,but the same cannot be said of his joint commission of the ,assumption1 painted also for the ,,ss4 ,annunziata in this summer of #aeje4 ,dr4 ,williamson1 whose monograph ,i have already mentioned1 and who went to the pains of visiting all these works of ,perugino scattered by ,napoleon through the small provincial museums of ,france1 noted that the resemblance between the ,assumption and the ,ascension of ,lyons1 which had been painted in #adie for ,s4 ,pietro at ,perugia1 is so close as to show the artist had hardly troubled to make any change4 ,not only this1 but the ,coronation of the ,virgin1 of the ,perugian ,gallery1 shows groups identical with both the above paintings1 and this ,assumption1 for which1 as ,crowe says1 he fell back on the model of the ,lyons ,ascension1 is painted in a slovenly and careless manner4 ,when we remember what ,florence was in this early sixteenth century--a city keenly intellectual1 alive to art as perhaps no city1 save ,athens1 has ever been before or since1 and highly critical and censorious--we need not be surprised that the master1 thus openly convicted of plagiarism from his earlier works and of careless technique1 was censured by his friends and attacked by his enemies4 ,vasari tells us that when the aforesaid work 7the ,assumption7 was uncovered1 it was freely blamed by all the younger craftsmen1 and1 in particular1 because ,pietro had made use of those figures which had already appeared in his other works2 and his friends replied that it was not that his powers had failed1 but that he had acted so either from greed of money or from haste4 ,to whom ,pietro answered3 ',i have put into this work the figures praised before by you1 and with which you were infinitely pleased4 ,if now they displease you and are not praised1 what can ,i do to help it8' ,but these men continued to assail him with sonnets and public insults4 ,whence he1 already old1 left ,florence1 and returned to ,perugia4 ,there is something pathetic in the old man's reply1 and it must have cost him a heart-pang to thus turn his back on ,florence4 ,he had loved the city1 had gained there his first inspiration in art1 his first successes1 had wedded there1 bought a house and property1 and purchased in this noble ,church of the ,,ss4 ,annunziata a burial-place for himself and his descendants4 ,but he never returned4 ,his name disappears from the rolls of the painters' guild in ,florence1 and in #aejf appears in that of ,perugia4 ,umbria welcomed back her great master with reverent appreciation4 ,that divided impulse of his life was ended1 and from henceforth he was all her own4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,viii4--,,virgin ,,and ,,child ,,with ,,two ,,male ,,saints 7,in the ,national ,gallery1 ,london7 ,this fine painting1 very individual in treatment1 was painted by ,pietro in #aejg for the executors of ,giovanni ,schiavone1 a master-carpenter of ,perugia4 ,in #ahbb ,baron delle ,penna1 by whose family it had been inherited1 removed the painting to his palace at ,perugia1 and thence it passed to the ,london ,gallery in #ahgi4 ,always a good man of business1 ,perugino's first step on reaching ,perugia was to collect the debts still due to him4 ,from the authorities of ,citt della ,pieve he demanded the balance 7,march of #aejg7 of #be florins1 which was liquidated by the conveyance of a house1 from ,panicale #aa florins1 and for his work in the ,cambio he drew #cej ducats4 ,then the commissions began to come in again1 and an altar-piece of this very time 7#aejg71 representing ,madonna between ,,ss4 ,jerome and ,francis1 has recently come to the ,london ,national ,gallery from the ,palazzo ,penna at ,perugia1 and is a work of charm and great merit4 ,it had been ordered in #aejg by the executors of ,giovanni ,schiavone1 a master-carpenter of ,perugia1 to be set over the altar of a chapel in ,s4 ,maria de' ,servi in that city4 ,this work completed1 he left for ,foligno1 where ,i found still in place his fresco of ,the ,baptism of ,christ in the ,church of ,la ,nunziatella1 and from ,foligno 7#aejg-h7 he was summoned by ,pope ,julius to ,rome to decorate the ceilings of his ,vatican ,palace4 ,bazzi 7,sodoma7 and ,peruzzi were already being employed on the same work1 and at ,rome ,perugino met his old friends and rivals in art--,signorelli1 ,bramantino1 and others--and introduced to them his own pupil ,caporali4 ,when ,rafaelle was accepted by ,julius ,,ii4 as his final and only master in the ,vatican1 and bidden by the impetuous ,pontiff to destroy all work of other artists1 he spared--with that gentilezza which was in his character--the ceiling paintings of his old master ,perugino1 which yet remain to us in the ,camera dell' ,incendio4 ,but1 eclipsed by his brilliant young pupil1 there was clearly no room for old ,pietro at ,rome1 and he journeyed northward with ,signorelli1 breaking his journey to paint a ,crucifixion for ,s4 ,maria degli ,angeli at ,assisi1 and another painting at ,siena of the same subject for the ,church of ,s4 ,agostino4 ,a fragment which is in the collection of ,miss ,hertz at ,rome may belong to another picture due to this ,siena visit2 and later we find him painting at ,bettona1 and 7#aeab-ac7 in his own birthplace of ,citt della ,pieve4 ,vasari has a gossiping story that ,pietro1 who trusted no one1 and1 in going and returning from ,castello della ,pieve1 carried all the money he had about him always on his person1 was robbed on the way1 and lost his money and nearly his life4 ,and he adds next3 ,pietro was a person of very little religion1 and could never be made to believe in the immortality of the soul2 nay1 with words adapted to his evil mind1 he did most obstinately refuse every good path4 ,he placed all his hopes in the goods of fortune1 and for money would have made every bad contract4 ,there were two reasons why ,vasari should have been unfair to ,perugino--one1 that he was an ,umbrian1 even though long resident in ,florence1 the other1 that he had come1 as we have seen1 into collision with his admired ,michelangelo4 ,even so1 ,vasari is much too good a judge to depreciate his art1 but he attacks the ,perugian master personally1 and his remarks about religion do not count for much4 ,vasari lived in an age--that of the counter-,reformation--which combined in ,italy the lowest level of morals with apparent orthodoxy1 and1 under the shadow of the ,inquisition1 religion became a good stone to throw at your enemy4 ,but we cannot say there is nothing behind his charge1 because1 with regret1 we have seen within these pages this master of the tender virgins and calm saints of ,god as being vindictive 7that affair before the ,eight with ,aulista di ,angelo comes to our thought71 disloyal1 and shifty in his business dealings 7here the ,orvietans and their ,chapel of ,s4 ,brizio are an instance71 and always consistently keen on getting the best side of a bargain4 ,it does come as something of a shock--at any rate to me--to turn from this serenely devotional art to this record of the man's personality1 and we feel inclined to echo the words of ,symonds1 who asks1 ,how could such a man have endured to pass a long life in the fabrication of devotional pictures8 ,the answer perhaps lies in the fact that ,pietro did not create this lovely art of devotion1 of which he was such a supreme interpreter4 ,he found it all around him1 in the aspirations of thousands of prayerful souls1 even in the very soil of this land of his1 where the ,etruscans had once quarried the tombs of their dead1 and as an art motive it absorbed his whole feeling4 ,when1 later in life1 material success came to invade his nature1 its influence as a corrosive at once appears in his art creation4 ,the touch of ideal beauty leaves his figures2 drawing1 colour1 composition become mere hasty repetition of his earlier efforts4 ,and yet we cannot but think of the old master with pleasure1 even in these later years1 as filling these little hill-towns of ,umbria1 ,bettona1 ,assisi1 ,montefalco1 ,spello1 ,trevi1 most of all his own birthplace1 ,castello della ,pieve1 with frescoes which are at least lovely shadows of his greatest works4 ,at ,bettona he had painted a ,st4 ,anthony1 and again in the ,church of ,s4 ,peter at ,citt della ,pieve1 and here1 too1 in the ,church of ,s4 ,maria de' ,servi is the fragment--but a beautiful fragment--of a ruined ,crucifixion4 ,the frescoes of ,s4 ,maria ,maggiore at ,spello 7signed and dated #aeba71 and the ,adoration of the ,magi in the ,church of ,s4 ,maria delle ,lagrime at ,trevi1 are important in this late period of his art1 as well as perhaps a ,nativity in the ,church of ,s4 ,francesco at ,montefalco1 which is filled with work of his pupils4 ,but a work of special interest is his completion of the frescoes of his greatest pupil1 ,rafaelle of ,urbino1 in the ,church of ,s4 ,severo at ,perugia4 ,sixteen years had elapsed since ,rafaelle in #aeje had1 as a youth of brilliant promise1 painted the upper fresco1 anticipating therein the composition of his great ,disputa del ,sacramento within the ,vatican4 ,since then he had gone on from strength to strength1 and now1 in his declining years1 his old master was called on to complete his pupil's work4 ,the six saints whom he painted there1 beneath ,rafaelle's fresco1 grouped on either side of terra-cotta figures of the ,virgin and ,child--,,ss4 ,jerome1 ,john1 ,gregory1 and ,boniface1 with ,,ss4 ,scolastica and ,martha--possess1 as far as can be now judged1 both dignity and beauty4 ,the fresco is signed by him1 and dated with the year of #aeba1 little more than a year before his death4 ,for to the last the old man was busy1 and after a long life of industry died almost with the brush within his hand4 ,this very year of #aeba he was at ,trevi as well as ,spello4 ,in #aebb he painted the ,transfiguration for ,s4 ,maria ,nuova at ,perugia1 and his frescoes for the ,convent of ,s4 ,agnese at ,perugia1 which are still in place--both the ,transfiguration and its three predella panels being now in the ,perugian ,gallery4 ,his last work 7#aebc71 the fresco of the ,adoration of the ,shepherds 7a fresco now transferred to canvas71 is now in the ,london ,national ,gallery1 where is also his charming ,virgin with the little ,jesus and ,st4 ,john1 a signed work from the late ,mr4 ,beckford's collection4 ,the child ,jesus stands1 naked and upright1 upon a stone balustrade1 and plays with a lock of ,his mother's hair1 who is herself of the pure virginal type imaged by ,rafaelle in his earlier creations1 notably the famous ,madonna del ,granduca2 while the ,adoration1 the master's last work1 was removed from the ,church of ,fontignano in #ahdc4 ,the landscape in both these works--in the ,beckford ,virgin blue hills and outlined trees1 in the ,fontignano fresco wide-sweeping uplands--is of great attraction4 ,as the aged artist1 says ,crowe1 laboured at ,fontignano1 industrious to the close1 a plague broke out in the ,perugia district and ravaged the country4 ,a disgraceful panic over-spread the land4 ,it was decreed that the ceremonies of religion should be omitted in all cases where death ensued from the contagion4 ,perugino died and was buried in a field at ,fontignano 444 and no one knows where lie the bones of ,pietro ,perugino4 ,later documentary evidence1 which is quoted by the above authors1 and at greater length by ,milanesi in his edition of ,vasari's ,lives1 has here overthrown the statement by ,vasari that ,pietro1 having come to the age of seventy-two years1 ended the course of his life in ,castello della ,pieve1 where he was honourably buried in the year #aebd4 ,we know now that his sons 7#aebd7 endeavoured to have their father's body brought from his hasty burial-place to be interred in ,s4 ,agostino at ,perugia2 but1 in the disturbed state of central ,italy during this epoch of foreign invasion1 the pious wish was never fulfilled4 ,when we think with what care and expense ,pietro had once prepared his last resting-place in ,s4 ,maria de' ,servi at ,florence1 this tragedy of his unknown and hurried burial seems the more sad4 ,he survives in his art2 and that is a complete vindication1 an undying memorial4 ,in these pages we have traced his progress from his first great commission of the ,sistine ,chapel1 with its dignified grouping and sense of air and space1 through the tender beauty of his altar-pieces1 the simplicity and breadth of his fresco work--the ,nativity of the ,villa ,albani1 the ,crucifixion of ,s4 ,maria ,maddalena de' ,pazzi1 the ,piet of the nuns of ,s4 ,chiara1 the altar-piece of the ,certosa of ,pavia--till1 in his great decorative commission at ,perugia of the ,sala del ,cambio1 in the year #aejj1 he seemed to reach the summit of his creative power1 and climb down from thence1 though by no means immediately or conclusively1 to these faded and yet exquisite frescoes1 with which1 in his own fading years1 he wreathed the little hill-cities of his native ,umbria4 ,and we noted him as a complete master of his art1 even though he might willingly abide within a certain religious convention2 we saw that the master of the ,delivery of the ,keys within the ,sistine1 the great portrait artist1 whose hand has left us those forceful heads of ,francesco delle ,opere1 of the ,abbot ,baldasarre1 and ,don ,biagio1 the painter of the ,albani and ,certosa altar-pieces1 the decorator of the ,cambio1 had nothing to fear in his powers of art creation from the very greatest of his time4 ,but after we have said all this1 we must own that his special place within that galaxy of genius of the greatest ,italian art is best described by a writer to whose appreciative criticism ,i have always given my sincere admiration2 for ,pietro's task it was to create for the soul amid the pomps and passions of this world a resting-place of contemplation1 tenanted by saintly and seraphic beings4 ,no pain comes near the folk of his celestial city2 no longing poisons their repose2 they are not weary1 and the wicked trouble them no more4 ,their cheerfulness is no less perfect than their serenity2 like the shades of ,hellas1 they have drunk ,lethan waters from the river of content1 and all remembrance of things sad or harsh has vanished from their minds4444 ,in the best work of ,perugino1 the ,renaissance set the seal of absolute perfection upon pietistic art4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,masterpieces ,,in ,,colour ,,series ,,artist4 ,,author4 ,,bellini4 ,,george ,,hay4 ,,botticelli4 ,,henry ,b4 ,,binns4 ,,boucher4 ,c4 ,,haldane ,,macfall4 ,,burne-,,jones4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,carlo ,,dolci4 ,,george ,,hay4 ,,chardin4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,,constable4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,corot4 ,,sidney ,,allnutt4 ,,da ,,vinci4 ,m4 ,w4 ,,brockwell4 ,,delacroix4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,d,,rer4 ,h4 ,e4 ,a4 ,,furst4 ,,fra ,,angelico4 ,,james ,,mason4 ,,fra ,,filippo ,,lippi4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,,fragonard4 ,c4 ,,haldane ,,macfall4 ,,franz ,,hals4 ,,edgcumbe ,,staley4 ,,gainsborough4 ,,max ,,rothschild4 ,,greuze4 ,,alys ,,eyre ,,macklin4 ,,hogarth4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,holbein4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,holman ,,hunt4 ,,mary ,e4 ,,coleridge4 ,,ingres4 ,a4 ,j4 ,,finberg4 ,,lawrence4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,le ,,brun1 ,,vig,e4 ,c4 ,,haldane ,,macfall4 ,,leighton4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,luini4 ,,james ,,mason4 ,,mantegna4 ,,mrs4 ,,arthur ,,bell4 ,,memlinc4 ,w4 ,h4 ,j4 ,j4 ,c4 ,,weale4 ,,millais4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,millet4 ,,percy ,m4 ,,turner4 ,,murillo4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,perugino4 ,,selwyn ,,brinton4 ,,raeburn4 ,,james ,l4 ,,caw4 ,,raphael4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,,rembrandt4 ,,josef ,,israels4 ,,reynolds4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,romney4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,rossetti4 ,,lucien ,,pissarro4 ,,rubens4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,sargent4 ,t4 ,,martin ,,wood4 ,,tintoretto4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,titian4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,turner4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,van ,,dyck4 ,,percy ,m4 ,,turner4 ,,van ,,eyck4 ,j4 ,,cyril ,m4 ,,weale4 ,,velazquez4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,watteau4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,watts4 ,w4 ,,loftus ,,hare4 ,,whistler4 ,t4 ,,martin ,,wood4 ,others in ,preparation4 99 99 99 99 99