[Footnote 17: If there be any truth in Pietro having been blind for twenty-four years, I do not know how he could have painted Sixtus IV. On the other hand this tradition of his blindness comes from Vasari, whose family was so intimately connected with that of Pietro della Francesca, that there was less room for error in the life of that artist than in any other. This excellent picture, of which I have seen a beautiful copy in the possession of the Duke di Ceri, I should myself rather attribute to Melozzo.] [Footnote 18: He is favorably mentioned by Crispolti, in the _Perugia Augusta_; by Ciatti, in the _Istorie di Perugia_; Alessi, in the _Elogi de' Perugini illustri_; and by Pascoli, in the _Vite de' Pittori Sc. Arch. Perugini_; with whom I can in no manner concur in opinion, that "Benedetto was equal to the best artists of his time, and probably the first among the early masters who contributed to the introduction of an improved style," (p. 21). An assertion singularly unjust to Masaccio.] [Footnote 19: He subscribed himself _de Castro Plebis_, now _Città della Pieve_. There, according to Pascoli, the father was born, who afterwards removed to Perugia, where Pietro was born; but the greater probability is, that Pietro also was born in Città della Pieve. _Mariotti._] [Footnote 20: This resemblance might have arisen from his imitation of the works of Borghese, (Pietro della Francesca) which he saw in Perugia, as it most assuredly cannot be proved that Perugino was ever in his school. P. Valle and others express great doubts of it, and when I reflect that Vannucci was only twelve years old when Borghese lost his sight, I regard it as an absurd tradition.] [Footnote 21: Vasari, at the close of his Life observes, "none of his scholars ever equalled Pietro in application or in amenity of colour." Padre della Valle asserts on the contrary, "that he was indebted for a great portion of his celebrity to the talents displayed by his scholars;" and says that he detected the touch of Raffaello in his picture in the Grand Duke's collection; but we must have a stronger testimony before we submit ourselves to this decision.] [Footnote 22: Descrizione del Palazzo Vaticano, p. 36.] [Footnote 23: Consisting of three subjects from the Life of Christ, in the Chapel of the Holy Sacraments. The Annunciation, the Birth of Christ, and the Dispute with the Doctors, the best of the three. In one of these he introduced his own portrait. Vasari does not mention this fine production.] [Footnote 24: He probably came to Venice from Rimino, or resided there for some time. We find other early painters assigned first to one country and then to another, as Jacopo Davanzo, Pietro Vannucci, Lorenzo Lotto, &c.]