Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/135

 PIONIUS

105

PIONIUS

no more of his intention to embrace an ecclesiastical career. His earlier paintings were executed in Venice, but he was invited to Rome by Agostino Chigi, who was then building the Farnesina Palace, and some of the decoration of the rooms was put in the hands of Luciani. His work attracted the attention of Michel- angelo, and the two men became warm friends. A little later Raphael saw his work and praised it highly, but they were never friends because of the jealousy existing between Michelangelo and Raphael and the friendship between Luciani and Michel- angelo. The works which Luciani executed in Rome and at Viterbo betrayed the strong influence of

Thb Raising of Laz.4RU3 Sebafltiano del Piombo, National Gallery, London

Michelangelo. Their grandeur of composition could have come from no other artist of the time, but their magnificence of colour has nothing to do with the great sculptor, and is the result of Luciani's genius. A special event in Luciani's career is con- nected with the commission given to Raphael to paint the picture of the Transfiguration. Cardinal de' Medici, who commissioned the picture, desired at the same time to give an altar-piece to his titular cathedral at Narbonne, and commissioned a painting to be called the "Raising of Lazarus", and to be of the same size as Raphael's "Transfiguration". The two works were finished at about the same time, and were exhibited. It was perfectly evident that Luciani owed a great deal to the influence and the assistance of Michelangelo, but the colouring was so magnifi- cent, and the effect so superb, that it created great excitement in Rome; notwithstanding that the "Transfiguration" by Raphael was regarded as the greater picture, Luciani's work was universally admired. The picture is now in the English National Gallery.

Luciani painted a great many portraits, one of Cardinal de' Medici, another of Aretino, more than one portrait of members of the Doria family, of the Farnese, and of the Gonzaga families, and a clever one of Baccio BandineUi the painter. His painting

was marked by vigour of colouring, sweetness, and grace; his portraits are exceedingly true and lifehke, the draperies well painted, and well drawn, but the feature of his work is the extraordinary quality of his colour and the atmosphere with all the delicate subtleties of colour value which it gives. In many of his pictures the colouring is as clear and fresh to-day as it was when it was first painted, and tliis more espe- cially applies to the carnations, in other men's work the first to fade. After the death of Raphael, he was regarded as the chief painter in Rome, and it was then that he acquired his position as keeper of the lead seals, an office which was lucrative and im- portant, and which enabled him to have more leisure than hitherto had been at his disposal. His death took place at the time that he was p.ainting the chapel of the Chigi family, a work which was to bo finished by Salviati. His pictures can be studied in Florence, Madrid, Naples, Parma, St. Petersburg, and Tra- vesio, three of his most notable portraits being those at Naples and Parma, and the fine portrait of Cardi- nal Pole, now at St. Petersburg.

See Vasari's Lives of the PaintPTS, various editions; and a work by Claudio Tolomei, cited by Lanzi, and known as Pitturi di Lendinara.

George Ch.\rles Williamson.

Pionius, Saint, martyred at Smyrna, 12 March, 2.50. Pionius, with Sabina and Asclepiades, was ar- rested on 23 February, the anniversary of St. Poly- carp's martyrdom. They had passed the previous night in prayer and fasting. Knowing of his impend- ing arrest, Pionius had fastened fetters round the necks of himself and his companions to signify that they were already condemned. People seeing them led off unbound might suppose that they were pre- pared, like so many other Christians in Smyrna, the bishop included, to sacrifice. Early in the morning, after they had partaken of the Holy Bread and of water, they were conducted to the forum. The place was thronged with Greeks and Jews, for it was a great Sahjjath and therefore a general holiday in the city — • an indication of the importance of the Jews in Smyrna. Pionius harangued the multitude. He begged the Greeks to remember what Homer bad said about not mocking the corpse of an enemy. Let them refrain therefore from mocking those Christians who had apostatized. He then turned to the Jews and quoted Moses and Solomon to the same effect. He ended with a vehement refusal to offer sacrifice. Then fol- lowed the usual interrogatories and threats, after which Pionius and his companions were relegated to prison, to await the arrival of the proconsul. Here they found other confessors, among them a Montanist. Many pagans visited them, and Christians who had sacrificed, lamenting their fall. The latter Pionius ex- horted to repentance. A further attempt before the arrival of the proconsul was made to force Pionius and his companions into an act of apostasy. They were carried off to a temple where every effort was made to compel them to participate in a sacrifice. On 12 March, Pionius was brought before the proconsul who first tried persuasion and then torture. Both having failed, Pionius was condemned to be burnt alive. He suffered in company with Metrodorus, a Marcionite priest. His feast is kept by the Latins on 1 Feb.; by the Greeks on 1 1 March. The true day of his martyr- dom, according to the Acts, was 12 March. Eusebius ("H.E.", IV, xv; "Chron.", p. 17, ed. Schoene) places the martyrdom in the reign of Antoninus. His mis- take was probably due to the fact that he found the martyrdom of Pionius in a volume containing the Acts of Martyrs of an earlier date. Possibly his MS. lacked the chronological note in our present ones. For the Life of Polycarp by Pionius, see Polycarp, Saint. Did Pionius before his martyrdom celebrate with bread and water? We know from St. Cyprian (Ep. 63) that this abuse existed in his time. But note