Pietro Vannucci, called Perugino

by George C. Williamson

The picture, which now hangs in the National Gallery, is a remarkable one in many ways. The painter was over sixty years old; he had just finished a very poor and slovenly work. He was, a little later, to execute some works even more strange in their stiffness, formality, and want of accurate drawing, but in this picture much of his old fire is to be seen. The colouring is notable, as the picture is full of that living golden haze or glow which marks his finest works, and is so typical of them. It has caught and imprisoned the sunshine, and is forever brightening the room in which it hangs. The composition, too, is original; the two angels in the air do not appear in other pictures. As far as I know never did Perugino, save in this picture, represent the Madonna being crowned by angels, nor did his angels bear palms. In the figure of St. Francis he does not follow his usual type or pose, and the divine Child possesses far more vigour of life, and is far better drawn and proportioned than is generally the case. Is it possible that the master's old studies and cartoons were still in Florence or en route for Perugia, and that in their absence he was compelled to design a work of unusual character, and on original lines?

The Schiavone picture completed, Perugino left for Foligno, where a "Baptism of Christ" had been commissioned for the church of SS. Annunziata. It was commissioned by one Giovanni Batista, whose name appears upon it, and who was probably Giambattista Caporali of Perugia, but the church is now disused and neglected, and the fresco is in very damaged condition.

Hanfstaengl photo] [National Gallery, London

THE SCHIAVONE ALTAR-PIECE, 1507

While at Foligno, Perugino received orders to come to Rome. Pope Julius II. desired him to decorate some ceilings in the Vatican, but it is not very clear what the instructions really were. One ceiling we know he decorated, that in the Camera dell' Incendio, because when Raphael completed the decoration of the series of rooms he spared this ceiling out of respect to his old master. The Holy Father, prior to Raphael's arrival in Rome in 1508, had been employing the chief well-known artists of the day in his schemes; Piero della Francesca, Bramantino, Sodoma, Luca Signorelli, and others had received commissions. Raphael, who, then only in his twenty-fifth year, was heard of through Bramante, was summoned to Rome to assist the others, but his work so delighted the Pope that the other artists were dismissed, and Raphael was ordered to destroy their frescoes and to replace them with his own. One, however, of Perugino's ceilings Raphael spared as just recorded.

This ceiling decoration consists of three tondi within borders and decoration of flowing arabesque design, and both composition and figures are marked by the master's early methods, and do not reveal the power of his more mature work. Their composition is more crowded than was Perugino's wont, but the exquisite beauty of the figures is unmistakable, and it was a graceful act on the part of Raphael to spare this fine ceiling as a memorial of his master's work in the Vatican stanze.

Two at least of the Uffizi drawings were prepared, I believe, for this ceiling. What else Perugino did in Rome on this his second visit, or how long he stayed, is not known. We are, however, told that he lodged in the Palazzo San Clemento, that he met Luca Signorelli and Pinturicchio, and that they dined together at Bramante's house, and the scene is described by Giambattista Caporali in his comments on Vitruvius. Perugino at this time introduced his pupil Caporali to the artists in Rome.

Crowe thinks that from Rome Perugino went to Assisi, where, at the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, on the rear wall of the portiuncula, facing east, he painted a fine "Crucifixion."