[83] This _Gonfalone_ is one of the loveliest of the series mentioned
on p. 238. Like the one in the Duomo it is covered with a gauze veil,
but can easily be seen with a little patient inspection.
[84] Siepi says that he cannot even imagine how old S. Martino is, but
he knows that it is built upon the top of the Etruscan wall.
[85] See note p. 229.
[86] The town, like every other small Italian town, has had its
complicated and tempestuous history. Its walls, many of which are
very early, have suffered siege (see pp. 19, 20); and its hills are
honeycombed in places with Etruscan tombs.
[87] It is curious to note that it was Paul III. who ordered
Michelangelo's Last Judgment to be painted over Perugino's
altar-piece, and that it was also Paul III. who built his fortress on
the ruins of the Baglioni palaces at Perugia.
[88] "That stupendous thief Napoleon Bonaparte." This magnificent
title was conferred on the dead Emperor by a poor little withered
custodian of an Umbrian church.
[89] Since writing the above, we have been shown a very early MS.,
which shows that Pietro's bones were taken from the ditch by a priest
and buried under the walls of his church at Fontignano.
[90] L'Ingegno is a mysterious figure in the school of Perugino. Our
National Gallery has a picture signed A. A. P. (ANDREAS ALOYSII
PINXIT) which is believed to be an authentic work of his. We have
no distinct records of the man, though the pictures ascribed to him
are very numerous. The best known of these are at Assisi. His work and
his personality are a sort of shadow of Perugino. Vasari felt no sort
of doubts about l'Ingegno; indeed he pronounced him to be the best
master of Perugino's school, and vying with Raphael in his studio. He
also tells us that l'Ingegno's glory was early withered by the curse
of blindness; this fact has, however, been disproved by Rumohr, who
has made very careful research upon the subject. Whatever l'Ingegno
was, or whatever he did, one cannot ignore his existence in a survey
of the Umbrian school, and the very fact of the mystery in which he is
shrouded attracts and draws one to him.
[91] There is a beautiful bit of his work in the little old church of
S. Martino at Perugia. (See p. 215.)
[92] The Cambio is in the same block of buildings as the Palazzo
Pubblico, though separated from these by the Via dei Priori. It is the
hall in which the members of the Exchange met in old days to settle
their affairs. For full account of the history of the Exchange at
Perugia, and of its meeting-room, see _Storia Artistica del Cambio di
Perugia_--Adamo Rossi.
[93] The pictures of Perugia were formerly stored in the museum of the
University. In 1871 they were removed to the top storey of the Palazzo
Pubblico, and here, since they may never again return to church or
convent, they have found a permanent and fitting home.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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