Pintoricchio

by Evelyn March Phillipps

Anderson photo] [Borgia Apartments, Vatican, Rome
THE MADONNA AND CHILD, WITH ANGELS

“Geometry” holds her square and compasses, and the inventor, the bald-headed Euclid, sits at her feet, engaged in drawing a diagram. On the left, in the corner, is a youth who has evidently painted his own portrait in a looking-glass. The cloak of “Geometry” and the red dress of Euclid show the hand of a pupil of Fiorenzo, but none of the attendant figures nor the landscape have much trace of Pintoricchio’s own work, though Schmarsow allots to him besides the figure of “Geometry,” the turbaned man on her right, the youth standing by him, and the one at the edge of the group. None of the seven sisters is so beautiful as “Arithmetic.” Here Pintoricchio trusts in his own inspiration, and we have a finely-drawn head with all his freshness of pose and expression. This dreamy face, with its transparent veil half covering the flowing hair, the gold embossed robe, over-sleeves, mantle hanging in very softly accentuated folds, and the beautifully proportioned figures standing by, have a larger share than almost any other of the lunettes of the master’s hand, and here, more than in any, we have the many coloured garments, rich pinks, harmonious greens, that Pintoricchio loved. The light and shade in this and the preceding group is massed with an eye to effect which is quite absent from the rest.

“Music” is in some respects the most beautiful group of all, though the principal figure can hardly compare with that of “Arithmetic.” This again is strongly reminiscent of Perugino. With drooped eyelids the symbolic sister daintily plays a violin; of four beautiful putti, two hold back the splendid dark green curtain, and two play the flute at “Music’s” feet. Two old men are grouped together with Tubal Cain, who, as in the Spanish Chapel, forges musical instruments and keeps time with his swinging hammer. On the left is a charming group of boys—one playing the harp, another singing, a third, in rich dark robe and a student’s cap upon his square out-flowing locks, touches a lute. In the spontaneity and unity that runs through all these figures, the suggestion of music and the sense of pleasure in it is rendered as in few other paintings of the Renaissance. We almost hear the strain, soft, fresh, heart-stirring, given without exaggeration or self-consciousness, to which the little putti above seem to lean and listen, and we feel little doubt that this, the most lovingly painted, the most homogeneous of all the scenes, was painted entirely, or almost entirely, by Pintoricchio himself.

Anderson photo] [Borgia Apartments, Vatican, Rome
FIGURE REPRESENTING ARITHMETIC

“Astrology” is the most damaged of any. The principal figure, which has been badly restored, must at any time have been entirely unworthy of the Umbrian master. The four putti, holding wands tipped with heavenly bodies, are much heavier and less dainty than his children. The groups at the sides, in one of which is a figure intended for Ptolemy, have no connection with the presiding patroness. That on the left, which is far the best, has, however, some admirable figures, Umbrian in character, and due to a pupil of Pintoricchio, who was thoroughly imbued with his master’s spirit, and probably working straight from his sketches—indeed, a careful comparison of the hair and drapery of the youth who stands foremost, with extended arm, and holds an astral globe in the other hand, and the kneeling saint in the “Assumption,” of the Hall of Mysteries, may persuade us that Pintoricchio is himself responsible for this delightful figure.

The figures of “Grammar” and “Dialectics” in the following scenes are so much retouched that we can hardly tell what they were like originally, but we may feel almost certain that no part of them is by Pintoricchio. The architecture of the thrones differs too. We surmise that this room, the last of the series actually occupied by the Pope, was finished hurriedly, and that this accounts for the very marked falling off in the quality of the work of the last three scenes. The arch and the five octagons here are entirely repainted; they refer to the virtue of “Justice,” who holds the sword and balance. The others are sacred or legendary scenes. The period of their wholesale restoration can be judged by a dragon at the side of the central octagon, which we take to be the crest of Buoncompagni, and therefore of the time of Gregory XIII.

The most beautiful decorative figures in the entire range of rooms are the three full-length angels who support the Borgia scutcheon surmounted by the keys and tiara, set in a stucco frame between “Rhetoric” and “Geometry.” In freedom of gesture, grace of flying drapery, and excellence of drawing, they must be ascribed to Pintoricchio himself, and may be compared with those he has executed in the Buffalini Chapel.