We have lingered long over the work of a man whose figure is such an
attractive one in the Umbrian school. Before passing on to the work of
his contemporaries we must mention the name of another artist four of
whose pictures are hung in the room of the Bonfigli angels: namely,
Bernardino di Mariotto. Bernardino is an interesting figure in the
gallery, and one is struck at first sight by the quality of his work,
which differs from everything round it. He seems like some strange
missing link in the history of the Umbrian and the Roman school; and so
little is known about him that up to a quite recent date his work was
confused with that, first of much earlier painters, and then of
Pinturicchio. His treatment of detail: the Virgin's gown, the garlands
of fruit and flowers, the angels' wings and the saints' dresses, is
beautiful though his colour is cold and hard. His peculiar use of a very
stiff baldachin made people say that he was a master of Raphael. As a
matter of fact he lived at S. Severino in the Marches and worked about
the years 1502 to 1521.
* * * * *
In the same room there are two big pictures by Bartolomeo Caporali, who
was a pupil of Perugino. His great flying angels in No. 12 are like the
angels of Bonfigli gone mad, there is something grand in the rush of
their wings, and whatever the faults of the somewhat exaggerated
composition, it forces one's immediate attention.
[Illustration: GONFALONE OF THE ANNUNCIATION BY NICCOLÒ ALUNNO]
To return to the order of the earlier painters, we come to one or two
names which are probably more familiar to most people than that of
Bonfigli: these are Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, Boccati da Camerino and Niccolò
Alunno. There is a fine bit of Alunno's work in Sala VII. (No 14). It is
about the only thing of his which is now attributed to him in Perugia.
Such a host of angels singing and playing to God in the heavens, and a
charming garden scene round the young Virgin! She kneels very quietly at
her desk. Neat pots of flowers stand on the marble wall behind her and
three stiff cypress trees against the sky; round a corner of the garden
wall two very engaging angels stand gossiping together, their heads
thrown back, their mouths a little pouting. In the immediate foreground
two patron saints are kneeling to introduce a group of lawyers who
commissioned the painting of the banner.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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