Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/324

316 Gallo in Florence, but this work is now in San Jacopo-traFossi, at the corner of the Alberti, where those monks now have their abode. Pietro likewise received a commission to paint a figure representing the Dead Saviour, with the Madonna, and San Giovanni, above the steps leading to the side door of San Pietro Maggiore, and this he executed in such a manner, that, exposed as it is to wind and weather, it has nevertheless maintained such freshness, as to have the appearance of being but just finished by the hand of the master, Pietro Perugino certainly proved himself well acquainted with the management of colours,'in fresco as well as in oil, insomuch, that the most able artists are largely indebted to him for the knowledge to be obtained by means of his works, more especially as regards the lights.

In the church of Santa Croce, in the same city, this master painted a Madonna mourning over the body of Christ, which she sustains on her bosom; in this picture there are two figures, the sight of which awakens astonishment, not so much indeed for their excellence, as for their freshness; that a painting in fresco should have remained so newlooking and lively for so long a time is surprising. From Bernardino de’ Rossi, Pietro reeeived a commission to paint a San Sebastiano to be sent into France, and the price agreed on was to be one hundred gold crowns, but the picture was sold by Bernardino to the King of France for four hundred gold ducats. At Yallombrosa, this artist painted a figure for the High Altar, with another for the Certosa or Carthusian Monastery at Pavia, for the same monks. For the High Altar of the episcopal church in Naples,