Service in the private palace of the cardinal led on to employment by
Pope Innocent, to whom, no doubt, Giuliano recommended Pintoricchio for
this class of work, for in 1486 he was at work in the Belvedere. It was
here that he painted the towns of which Taja speaks. "Not long after,"
says Vasari, "about the year 1484, Innocent VIII., a Genoese, made him
paint several halls and _loggie_ in the Palace of the Belvedere, where,
among other things which the Pope wished for, he painted a _loggia_ all
with towns, and you could discern Rome, Milan, Genoa, Florence, Venice
and Naples, all in the Flemish manner, which, being no longer much in
use, pleased very well."[22] No trace of them remains, nor is anything
left of the great Madonna picture which Vasari says was painted over the
principal entrance. The only remains of Umbrian art are to be found on
the walls and ceiling of what is to-day called the Museo Pio Clementino.
A graceful _loggia_ was half obliterated here to give more room to the
sculpture gallery, but above, the arms of Innocent VIII. and the date
1487 are still visible, surrounded by garlands and ornaments resembling
those in the Colonna Palace. Little medallions of classic subjects still
struggle dimly through decay and ochre wash. In the archways, seven
couples of _putti_ hold the papal shield, or play on musical
instruments, and we can trace the proud device of the Cibo, the gleaming
peacock and the motto "Loyauté passe tout."
[22] Vasari, iii. p. 498.
In the two little rooms adjoining are prophets and philosophers, and
here may be recognised the somewhat archaic assistant who helped
Pintoricchio in the Borgia Tower. Only these poor scraps remain of the
year's service with the Cibo Pope, and hardly more of what he
accomplished for his cardinals. Domenico della Rovere, the cardinal of
San Clemente, was one of Pintoricchio's earliest patrons in Rome. He
does indeed seem to have been as much friend as patron, and took both
Perugino and Pintoricchio to lodge with him upon their first arrival in
his spacious palace in the Piazza Scossacavalli, outside the entrance of
which Pintoricchio painted a scutcheon supported by _putti_. The
decoration of the interior of the palace then called Sant' Apostoli was
also entrusted to him. To-day it is inhabited by eleven brothers of the
order of the Penitenzieri. It retains something of the fascination of a
princely dwelling of the fourteenth century. In the mouldy courtyard are
traces of almost obliterated paintings. Under the roof are heraldic
devices, armorial bearings, sphinxes and dolphins. In the courtyard,
orange trees grow round a well, which may have been the work of
Bramante. Ivy half covers walls which were once gay with frescoes, but
among the ruin and decay we see repeated countless times in the marble
window frames, the name of the builder--DO. ROVERE, CAR. S. CLEMEN. and
his pious device--SOLI DEO. Outside are faint traces of the shield of
Sixtus IV.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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