Pietro Vannucci, called PeruginoWilliamson, George C.
History
Pietro Vannucci, called Perugino
Williamson, George C.
Perugino, approximately 1450-1523
Probably the frescoes in the Convent of the Frati-Gesuati beyond the
Pinti Gale, a house that was destroyed in the siege of Florence in 1529,
were early works, inasmuch as the panel pictures that were saved from
the church, and which now rest in the Accademia, were painted in
1492-93.
There were, however, as already mentioned, three pictures on panel
executed for the same convent, and these, fortunately, are still in
existence. They were carried, at the time of the siege, to the gate of
San Pier Gattolini, where the monks were provided with a refuge in the
church and convent of San Giovannino, now known as La Calza. These three
pictures are the "Crucifixion," now in La Calza, the "Pietà," in the
Accademia, dated 1493, and the "Christ in the Garden," also in the
Accademia. Of these three early pictures the one in La Calza is in some
ways the most interesting. It is a very puzzling picture. Vasari
describes it so clearly that there is no possibility of error as to the
picture he names. He speaks of the "infinite care" with which it is
executed. He refers to its being carried for safety to the church, where
it still rests, and he mentions its condition as injured by numerous
cracks, but the difficulty is that, while much of the picture is
distinctly Peruginesque, three of the figures might have been painted by
Luca Signorelli, so great a resemblance in general characteristics do
they bear to his work. Crowe and Cavalcaselle hesitate to ascribe it to
either master, inclining more to the view that Raffaelino del Garbo
may have painted it, but with this last ascription I cannot at all
agree. The composition is that of Perugino, the open air effect and the
distance, the single detached trees and the high rocks are all Umbrian.
The draperies of the four standing figures and of the Christ have the
distinctive folds that are so thoroughly characteristic of our painter,
and the borders to the garments are equally noteworthy. The attitude of
St. Francis and of S. Giovanni Columbini are thoroughly in accordance
with Perugino's methods, but when we turn to St. Jerome and St. John
Baptist the case is very different. In these figures the fierce strength
and muscular development is foreign to Perugino's ordinary work, and he
appears to have been painting under Signorelli's influence, and even
endeavouring to introduce into faces and limbs the virile power and
movement of Signorelli, which at that time was specially attractive to
him. The figure of the Magdalen (strangely termed by Crowe and
Cavalcaselle the best figure in the picture) is, I consider, a much
later addition by quite another hand. The picture composes perfectly
without it, and a very close inspection convinced me that it was not
originally in the design, and that the draperies of S. Giovanni
Columbini can be traced through the draperies of the Magdalen. In no way
does the Magdalen recall Perugino. The attitude is not his; the
draperies have entirely different folds; the hands are quite different
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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