Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/119

Rh P I N P I N portraits of members of the Bufalini family, for whom these frescos were executed. One group of three females, the central figure with a child at her breast, is of especial beauty, recalling the grace of Raphael s second manner. The composition of the main group round the saint s corpse appears to have been suggested by Giotto s painting of St Francis on his bier in S. Croce at Florence. On the vault are four noble figures of the Evangelists, usually attributed to Luca Signorelli, but certainly, like the rest of the frescos in this chapel, by the hand of Pinturicchio. On the vault of the sacristy of S. Cecilia in Trastevere, Pinturicchio painted the Almighty surrounded by the Evangelists, a work which still exists in a fair state of preservation and unrestored. During a visit to Orvieto in 1496 Pinturicchio painted two more figures of the Latin Doctors in the choir of the duomo now, like the rest of his work at Orvieto, almost destroyed. For these he received fifty gold ducats. Among his panel pictures the following are the most important. An altarpiece for St Maria de Fossi at Perugia, painted in 1496-98, now moved to the picture gallery, is a Madonna enthroned among Saints, graceful and sweet in expression, and very minutely painted ; the wings of the retable have standing figures of St Augustine and St Jerome ; and the predella has paintings in miniature of the Annunciation and the Evangelists. Another fine altar- piece, similar in delicacy of detail, and probably painted about the same time, is that in the cathedral of San Severino the Madonna enthroned looks down towards the kneeling donor. The angels at the sides in beauty of face and expression recall the manner of Lorenzo di Credi or Da Vinci. The Vatican picture gallery has the largest of Pinturicchio s panels the Coronation of the Virgin, with the apostles and other saints below. Several well- executed portraits occur among the kneeling saints. The Virgin, who kneels at Christ s feet to receive her crown, is a figure of great tenderness and beauty, and the lower group is composed with great skill and grace in arrange ment. Other important panel paintings by Pinturicchio exist in the cathedral of Spello, in the Siena gallery, at Florence, at Perugia, and in other collections, &quot;In 1501 Pinturicchio painted several fine frescos in S. Maria Maggiore at Spello, all very decorative, and full of elaborate architectural accessories. One of them, the Annunciation, is signed &quot; Bernardinvs Pintvrichivs Pervsinvs. &quot; They are much injured by damp and clumsy restoration. The most striking of all Pinturicchio s frescos, both for brilliance of colour and their wonderful state of preservation, are those in the cathedral library at Siena, a large room built in 1495 by Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini, afterwards Pius III. In 1502 the cardinal contracted with Pinturicchio to decorate the whole room with arabesques on the vault, and on the walls ten scenes from the life of JEneas Sylvius Piccolomini, Pius II., the uncle of Cardinal Francesco. The contract, given in full by Milanesi (Vasari, iii. p. 519), is a very interesting one ; it specially provides that the cartoons, their transference on to the walls, and all the heads, were to be by Pinturicehio s own hand, thus contradicting Vasari s assertion that the cartoons were the work of Raphael. In fact wfen closely ex amined the evidence which would give Raphael an important share in the execution of these line paintings amounts to very little. The document provides for the price of these frescos, namely one thousand gold ducats, to be paid in various instalments. The work was begun early in 1503, but was interrupted for a while by the death of Pius III. His will, however, provided for the completion of the work by his executors, and the whole series were finished in 1507. The subjects are (1) the journey of the young Sylvius Piccolomini to the council of Basel, in the suite of Cardinal Capranica ; (2) his reception by James I. of Scotland as envoy from the council of Hasel ; (3) his being crowned with the poet s laurel by Frederick III.; (4) his reception by Pope Eugcnius IV. as ambassador from Frederick III.; (5) outside the wall of Siena he presents to Frederick 111. his bride Leonora, infanta of Portugal; (6) he receives the caidinal s hat from Pope Calixtus 111.; (7) he is borne in procession after his election as Pope Pius II.; (S) he presides at a council at Mantua ; (9) he canonizes St Catherine 01 Siena ; (10) he arrives in Aucona to promote the crusade against the Turks. In addition to these there is, outside the library, over the door, the Coronation of Pius III. Though this splendid series of paintings are laid in with true fresco-colours, there is but little/j-csco buono visible : almost the whole is painted over a sccco with colours much moie brilliant in tone than could be used on the wet stucco. This retouching, which was employed by all fresco painters, was used by Pinturiccliio more than by most artists. In the lower part of the scene of St Cather ine s canonization he has introduced his own portrait, and standing by him is a youth who bears some resemblance to Raphael. The paintings are all finished with much care, but Pinturiccliio has not kept to the flat and simply decorative treatment of his earlier man- j ing the apparent solidity of the wall surface. In 1508 Pinturicchio painted another panel of the Madonna enthroned among Saints for the church of the Minori Conventuali at Spello. It is now over the altar in the sacristy. On his return to Siena he painted a whole series of frescos on the walls of the .Palazzo Petrucci, now all destroyed except one scene of the return of Ulysses to Penelope (or possibly Collatinus and Lucretia), which is now in the National Gallery of London, trans ferred to canvas. One of his last works, painted in 1513, the year of his death, is a very beautiful and highly finished panel with Christ bearing His Cross, now in the Palazzo Borromeo in Milan. Pinturicchio married Grania di Niccolo, and had by her two sons and four daughters ; there is probably no truth in the story of his being starved by his wife during his last illness. The frescos in the Cappclla IJufalini were engraved in ten plates by Fran. Giangiacomo, and published by the Calcograiia Camerale of Rome. The Siena library series were engraved by Faucci in the the last century, and more recently by Lasinio. Neither set is remarkable for fidelity or spirit. The Siena frescos and those at Spello have been published in ch^omo- lithograph by the Arundel Society of London. Pinturicchio s worth as a painter has been for the most part undervalued, partly owing to the very strong prejudice and dislike which tinges Vasari s biography of him. Even recent writers, such as Crowe and Cavalcaselle, have hardly done him justice. A fairer estimate of his position in the history of art is given by Vermiglioli. Memorie di Pinturicchio, Perugia, 1837 ; and in the valuable notes and appendix of Milanesi s edition of Vasari, iii. p. 493-531, Florence, 1878. See also Schmarsow, Raphael und Pinturicchio in Siena, Stuttgart, 1880, and Pinturicchio in lioni, Stuttgart, 1882, both well illustrated by photolithography. (J. H. M.) PINZON, a family of wealthy Spanish navigators, of Palos de Moguer, in Andalusia, three members of which Alonzo, Francesco, and Vicente, brothers were associ ated with Columbus in his great discovery. MARTIN ALONZO PINZON, born about the middle of the 15th century, gave material assistance to Columbus in carrying out his project. In the expedition of 1492 Alonzo commanded the &quot;Pinta,&quot; on board of which his brother Francesco was pilot ; another brother, Vicente Yafiez, had command of the &quot; Nina.&quot; It was at Alonzo s pursuasion that on October 7th the course of the expedi tion was changed to the south-west ; the island of Guana- hani or San Salvador, four days after, was sighted. On November 21, off the coast of Cuba, Alonzo separated himself from the expedition, and crowded sail to the west ward, hoping to be the first to arrive at the land of gold of which they had heard the natives speak. After an absence of six weeks he rejoined Columbus, who accepted the excuses he gave for his absence. On the return journey Alonzo again separated from his leader, probably by design, and when Columbus arrived at Palos on March 15, 1493, he learned that Alonzo had already landed at Bayona in Galicia. If his object was to forestall Columbus and obtain the credit of being the discoverer of the New- World, his intentions were foiled : he was refused tho
 * ner ; there is much more of aerial perspective and distance destroy -