Page:Biographical catalogue of the principal Italian painters.djvu/155

 124 PERUGINO— PEEUZZI. fresco in the Sistine Chftpel, at Borne, representing the Baptism of Christ and the Delivery of the Keys to Peter, is also of that period, and in the composition, grouping, and drapery, decidedly Tus- can. It was after this period, however, that with increased powers he returned to his first style, and produced his greatest works. At this time, also, he developed that grace and softness, that delicate yet, enthusiastic earnestness, which give so great a charm to his best pictures. The Infant Christ adored by the Virgin (1491), in the Palazzo Albani at Bome; the Ascension of Christ, in the Museum at Lyons, termed by Vasari, Perugino's best oil picture in Perugia (1495) (other por- tions of this work are in the Vatican and at Bouen) ; the frescoes in the chapter-house of Santa Maria Madda- lena de* Pazzi at Florence, represent- ing the Crucifixion ; and the celebrated Pieta or Deposition in the Pitti Palace (1495), are all fhiits of this second period. The last picture is generally admitted to be Perugino's master-piece ; even the drawing of the heads leaves nothing to be desired, they possess a fullness and beauty worthy of Baphael. The expression and the technical exe- cution are generally admirable, yet even this picture is not free from that littleness of style in the accessory forms, which was almost as much the fault of the age as of the man, and the figure of Christ more especially suffers £rom it. The Madonna enthroned, with four Saints beneath, in the Gallery at Bologna, is also among his best works executed at this time. But he had not been long established at Pe- rugia, before he gave himself up to a mere mechanical proficiency, and he now worked principally for gain ; hence uniformity of design, weakness, man- nerism, and considerable inequality of execution, according as he was as- sisted by scholars of more or less talent. Even those which Pietro exe- cuted with his own hand at this later period, such as the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian in. San Francesco de' Con- ventuali at Perugia (1518), are strik- ingly weak. Works. Bome, Vatican Gallery, the Besurrection of Christ; the Madonna, with four Saints; three Saints. Flo- rence, church of La Calza, the Cruci- fixion: the Academy, the Assumption of the Virgin (1500); Christ on the Mount of Olives ; the Pieta, a master- piece: Uffizj, his own Portrait (1494). Fano, Santa Maria Nuova, an altar- piece, the centre of which represents the Virgin with Saints (1497). Peru- gia, in the CoUegio del Cambio, frescoes on the walls of the principal hall; also the vaulted ceiling of the hall (1500): convent of San Francesco del Monte, in an inner chapel, a fresco of the Birth of Christ : Sant' Agostino, in the sacristy, eight half-length pictures of Saints, on wood. Bologna, Gallery, Madonna enthroned in the Clouds, with four Saints below. Citta della Pieve, Santa Maria de' Bianchi, the Adoration of the Kings (1504). Ber- lin Gallery, a Madonna with two ador- ing Angels; and a Madonna and Child, with Saints. Lyons Museum, Ascen- sion of Christ. Caen, the Marriage of the Virgin. Louvre, the Nativity; the Virgin and Child, two Angels and two Saints adoring ; and three other sacred subjects. London, National Galleiy, the Virgin and Infant Christ, with St John, marked Petrtu Perugintu^ in gold, on the hem of the mantle of the Virgin. {Vasari, MezzanoUe^ Ver* nUglioli.) PEBUZZI, Baldassabe, called Bal- DASSARE DA SiENA, b, at Sicua, March 7, 1481, d. at Bome, January 6, 1537. His family was originally of Volterra. Baldassare was more eminent as an architect than as a painter; his early education is obscure* His early pic-