Page:Biographical catalogue of the principal Italian painters.djvu/159

 128 PINTURICCHIO— PIOMBO. the Assumption of the Virgin, formerly in the church of Monte Oliveto: San Severino, in the sacristy of Sant' Agostino, a Madonna and Child, and the Donor. Spello, Sant' Andrea, the paintings of a chapel (1508); traces of his later mechanical manner are here very evident, says Rumohr: in the cathedral of that place, in a cha- pel, is his own Portrait, marked — Ber- nardinus Pictoricius Perujinus, 1501. Siena, in the library of the cathedral, the celebrated series of ten large his- torical representations from the Life of Enea Silvio Piccolomini, afterwards Pope Pius II., the chief merit of which has been unjustly given to Raphael. Berlin Gallery, Adoration of the Kings. ( Vnsariy Rumohr^ VermigliolL) PIOLA, DoMBNico, ft. at Genoa, 1628, d. 1703. Genoese School. He studied under Gio. Domenico Capel- Uni, and imitated the manner of Pietro da Oortona. He painted in conjunc- tion with Yalerio Gastelli for the churches at Genoa, and painted some decorative friezes in the palaces; he excelled in representing children. His brother Pellegro, who had shown great talent, was assassinated in 1640 in his twenty-third year only. Domenico en- graved a few plates. {Ratti. ) PIOMBO, Era Sebastiano del, 6. at Venice, 1485, d, at ^ Rome, 1547. Venetian School. Sebastiano's family name was Luciani, and he was originally a musician. His taste for painting, however, led him to enter the school of Gio. Bellini, which he afterwards left for that of Giorgione, whose most dis- tinguished scholar he became, and completely mastered Giorgione's style, especially shown in some portraits he painted at this lime at Venibe. Such was Sebastiano's reputation, that Ago- stino Chigi, about 1512, invited him to Rome, to decorate his villa on the Tiber, known afterwards as the Fame- sina. In Rome he contracted an in- timacy with Michelangelo, and painted subsequently some oil pictures from the designs of that great master. In the works executed at this period, Sebastiano adopted more of Michel- angelo's mode of composition, and style of form; he endeavoured to com- bine grandeur of form with the rich Venetian colouring, by the instance, it is supposed, of Michelangelo himself, who by combining the grand with the ornamental style, hoped to establish a counterpoise to the then all -engrossing school of Raphael ; and he availed himself of the talents of Sebastiano, the Venetian, to efTect this object He accordingly assisted him in his de- signs; and in the celebrated Raising of Lazarus, painted in 1519, in rivaliy with Raphael's Transfiguration, for the same patron, Giulio de' Medici, Bishop of Narbonne, and afterwards Clement VII., Michelangelo is said to have supplied the drawing of the La- zarus, and part of the group imme- diately around him. Sebastiano, though a fine colourist, and more conspicuous at Rome than he would have been at Venice, produced but few historical works ; he adhered to his original taste for portraits ; but after he was ap- pointed Frate del Piombo (Keeper of the Leaden Seals), by Clement VEL, he became idle, and gave himself up to a life of ease. Some of his por- traits are admirable, in their style, the severe and grand, but notwith- standing the eulogy of Vasari, his style, while well suited for males, was un- fitted for female portraits ; this is sufficiently shown in two celebrated pictures — the Portrait of Andrea Doria, in the Doria Palace, at Rome, and that supposed to be GiuUa Gonzaga, in the National Gallery, London. Vasari says Sebastiano surpassed all others in his portraits ; they are boldly de- signed, full of animation and character; the heads and hands are of great de-