Pietro Vannucci, called PeruginoWilliamson, George C.
History
Pietro Vannucci, called Perugino
Williamson, George C.
Perugino, approximately 1450-1523
The chief one is a votive picture commissioned by one Boto da Maraglia
who had been taken prisoner by the French but released. The picture
represents a gigantic figure of St. Anthony, calm and almost
expressionless, and then a curious dwarfish figure of Boto, kneeling at
his feet, in full armour, gazing up into the face of his patron saint
to whom he renders his thanks. The other one is a Madonna, who is also
of abnormal size, gathering under her ample cloak kneeling figures of
San Manno and San Girolamo, together with much smaller figures of the
man and his wife who commissioned the picture. These pictures are in
very bad condition, but distinctly interesting, as they differ so much
from Perugino's ordinary work. Still journeying around Perugia, we find
our artist visiting in 1512 and in 1513 his native town of Città della
Pieve.[O] How long he stayed there is not clear, nor whether he went
again and again to the town or remained there for a year or two. There
are two pictures at Città dated 1513, another done in 1514, and a fourth
in 1517, and a fifth without date. The "Virgin and Child with four
saints," St. Protasius, St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Gervasius, painted
for the cathedral of St. Gervasius, is marked by that formal, and,
although sweet, yet sickly sentimentality that distinguished much of
Perugino's later work. It is terribly formal and stiff, and only
detached parts of it, such as the faces of Our Lady, the Child, and St.
Peter, are really beautiful.
It was ordered by the Prior, and is signed and dated. The other one in
the Duomo, bearing the same date, is of the "Virgin and Child with four
saints," and then in a chapel is one of the "Baptism," which clearly
belongs to the same period and is as formal and superficial as the other
two.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account