[94] Two fine portraits in the Palazzo Baldeschi are attributed to
Velasquez, but there is no proof that the Spanish painter really
came to paint them. Another beautiful picture--the property of Count
Meniconi Braceschi, at Perugia--is attributed to Filippo Lippi, but is
more probably the work of Neri di Bicci.
[95] The frieze round the top of the same room clashes hopelessly with
the calm pre-Raphaelite figures beneath it. It was painted by Tommaso
d'Arcangelo, a pupil of Giulio Romano, and represents some of the
events in the life of Braccio Fortebraccio.
[96] There is another picture of exactly the same type in the Church
of the Carmine. It has hitherto been given an earlier date than
Bonfigli--1130--and it is one of the so-called miraculous Madonnas.
We have made careful search, both in the documents of the church and
in other books upon the pictures of Perugia, but can get no certain
information about it; yet we feel nearly convinced that it is the work
of Bonfigli. Some of the _gonfaloni_--those in S. Francesco al Prato
and S. Lorenzo--are covered with a thin gauze veil. The one of the
Carmine was also thus covered originally, but the veil caught fire and
burnt to cinders. Not a flame even so much as touched the faces of our
Lady and her angels.
[97] The picture is a curious record of the times. Two excommunicated
women kneel in the right hand corner; one of them is huddled in a
veil, but the other, fair and soulless as Greek Helen, turns aside and
smiles.
[98] The four panels of saints and angels round the Madonna are
attributed to Caporali.
[99] In Matarazzo's chronicles of the sixteenth century we find
an accurate account of the different costumes worn by the nobles
of Perugia (see p. 99). It has been suggested to us by a learned
gentleman of Perugia, that Fiorenzo was simply copying the costumes of
his period, and that in his group of young men in the miracles of S.
Bernardino he did but portray the most important actors of the day,
whose armorial bearings were shown in their apparel, namely, the "most
magnificent gentlemen, Oddi and Baglioni."
[100] The hole it filled may still be seen in No. 16, Room XIII., but
the big picture is torn from its frame and its place filled up with a
good bit of Eusebio's work.
[101] Eusebio was a favourite pupil of Perugino. There is something
pathetic in his life. Men seemed better friends to him than fortune.
Pinturicchio loved him and took him with him to Siena to help him with
his work there. He was a great friend of Manni, too, and a passionate
admirer of Raphael, whose work he imitated. When very young he married
a beautiful girl of Perugia whom he loved deeply. By her he had many
children and his life became a struggle to support them, so that he
was often hampered and distracted in his work and died early and in
misery.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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