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PINTURICCHIO (1454–1513)

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 631 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PINTURICCHIO (1454–1513) , See also:Italian painter, whose full name was BERNARDINO DI BETTI, the son of a See also:citizen of See also:Perugia, Benedetto or Betto di Biagio, was one of a very important See also:group who inherited the See also:artistic traditions and See also:developed the See also:style of the older Perugian painters, such as See also:Bonfigli and Fiorenzo di Lorenzo. According to See also:Vasari he was a See also:pupil of See also:Perugino; and so in one sense no doubt he was, but rather as a paid assistant than as an apprentice. The strong similarity both in See also:design and methods of See also:execution which runs through the See also:works of this later Perugian school is very striking; paintings by Perugino, Pinturicchio, Lo See also:Spagna and See also:Raphael (in his first manner) may often be mistaken one for the other. In most cases, especially in the execution of large frescoes, pupils and assistants had a large See also:share in the See also:work, either in enlarging the See also:master's See also:sketch to the full-sized See also:cartoon, in transferring the cartoon to the See also:wall, or in See also:painting backgrounds, drapery and other accessories. After assisting Perugino in the execution of his frescoes in the Sistine See also:Chapel, Pinturicchio was employed by various members of the Della Rovere See also:family and others to decorate a whole See also:series of chapels in the See also:church of S. Maria del Popolo in See also:Rome, where he appears to have worked from 1484, or earlier, to 1492 with little interruption. The earliest of these is an altarpiece of the " See also:Adoration of the Shepherds," in the first chapel (from the See also:west) on the See also:south, built by See also:Cardinal Domenico della Rovere; a portrait of the cardinal is introduced as the foremost of the kneeling shepherds. In the lunettes under the vault Pinturicchio painted small scenes from the See also:life of St See also:Jerome. The frescoes which he painted in the next chapel, that built by Cardinal Innocenzo Cibo, were destroyed in 1700, when the chapel was rebuilt by Cardinal Alderano Cibo. The third chapel on the south is that of Giov. della Rovere, See also:duke of See also:Sora, See also:nephew of See also:Sixtus IV., and See also:brother of Giuliano, who was afterwards See also:Pope See also:Julius II. This contains a See also:fine altarpiece of the " Madonna enthroned between Four See also:Saints," and on the See also:east See also:side a very nobly composed See also:fresco of the " See also:Assumption of the Virgin." The vault and its lunettes are richly decorated with small pictures of the life of the Virgin, surrounded by graceful arabesques; and the dado is covered with monochrome paintings of scenes from the lives of saints, medallions with prophets, and very graceful and powerfully See also:drawn See also:female figures in full length in which the See also:influence of See also:Signorelli may be traced. In the See also:fourth chapel Pinturicchio painted the Four Latin Doctors in the lunettes of the vault.

Most of these frescoes are considerably injured by See also:

damp, but happily have suffered little from restoration; the heads are painted with much minuteness of finish, and the whole of the pictures depend very largely for their effect on the final touchings a secco. The last paintings completed by Pinturicchio in this church were the frescoes on the vault over the retro-See also:choir, a very See also:rich and well-designed piece of decorative work, with See also:main lines arranged to suit their surroundings in a very skilful way. In the centre is an octagonal See also:panel of the See also:coronation of the Virgin, and See also:round it medallions of the Four Evangelists—the spaces between them being filled up by reclining figures of the Four Sibyls. On each See also:pendentive is a figure of one of the Four Doctors enthroned under a niched See also:canopy. The bands which See also:separate these pictures have elaborate arabesques on a See also:gold ground, and the whole is painted with broad and effective touches, very telling when seen (as is necessarily the See also:case) froma considerable distance below. No finer specimen of the decoration of a See also:simple quadripartite vault can anywhere be seen. In 1492 Pinturicchio was summoned to See also:Orvieto, where he painted two Prophets and two of the Doctors in the duomo. In the following See also:year he returned to Rome, and was employed by Pope See also:Alexander VI. (See also:Borgia) to decorate a See also:suite of six rooms in the Vatican, which Alexander had just built. These rooms, called after their founder the Appartamenti Borgia, now See also:form See also:part of the Vatican library, and five of them still retain the fine series of frescoes with which they were so skilfully decorated by Pinturicchio. The upper part of the walls and vaults, not only covered with painting, but further enriched with delicate See also:stucco work in See also:relief, are a masterpiece of decorative design applied according to the truest principles of mural See also:ornament—a much better See also:model for See also:imitation in that respect than the more celebrated Stanze of Raphael immediately over the Borgia rooms. The main subjects are: (1) the See also:Annunciation, the Nativity, the Magi, and the Resurrection; (2) Scenes from the lives of St See also:Catherine, St Antony and other saints; (3) allegorical figures of See also:music, See also:arithmetic and the like; (4) four figures in See also:half length, with rich arabesques; (5) figures of the See also:planets, the occupations of the various months, and other subjects.

The See also:

sixth See also:room was repainted by Perino del Vaga.l Though not without interruption, Pinturicchio, assisted by his pupils, worked in these rooms from 1492 till 1498, when they were completed. His other See also:chief frescoes in Rome, still existing in a very genuine See also:state, are those in the Cappella Bufalini at the south-west of S Maria in Ara Coeli, probably executed from 1497 to 1500. These are well-designed compositions, See also:noble in conception, and finished with much care and refinement. On the See also:altar wall is a See also:grand painting of St Bernardino of See also:Siena between two other saints, crowned by angels; in the upper part is a figure of See also:Christ in a vesica-See also:glory, surrounded by See also:angel musicians; on the See also:left wall is a large fresco of the miracles done by the See also:corpse of St Bernardino, very rich in See also:colour, and full of very carefully painted heads, some being portraits of members of the Bufalini family, for whom these frescoes were executed. One group of three See also:females, the central figure with a See also:child at her See also:breast, is of especial beauty, recalling the See also:grace of Raphael's second manner. The See also:composition of the main group round the See also:saint's corpse appears to have been suggested by See also:Giotto's painting of St See also:Francis on his bier in S. Croce at See also:Florence. On the vault are four noble figures of the Evangelists, usually attributed to Luca Signorelli, but certainly, like the See also:rest of the frescoes in this chapel, by the See also:hand of Pinturicchio. On the vault of the See also:sacristy of S. See also:Cecilia in Trastevere, Pinturicchio painted the Almighty surrounded by the Evangelists. During a visit to Orvieto in 1496 Pinturicchio painted two more figures of the Latin Doctors in the choir of the duomo—now, like the rest of his work at Orvieto, almost destroyed. For these he received fifty gold ducats.

Among his panel pictures the following are the most important. An altarpiece for S Maria de' Fossi at Perugia, painted in 1496–1498, now moved to the picture See also:

gallery, is a Madonna enthroned among Saints, graceful and sweet in expression, and very minutely painted; the wings of the See also:retable have See also:standing figures of St See also:Augustine and St Jerome; and the See also:predella has paintings in See also:miniature of the Annunciation and the Evangelists. Another fine altarpiece, similar in delicacy of detail, and probably painted about the same See also:time, is that in the See also:cathedral of See also:San Severino—the Madonna enthroned looks down towards the kneeling donor. The angels at the sides in beauty of See also:face and expression recall the manner of Lorenzo di See also:Credi or Da See also:Vinci. The Vatican picture gallery has the largest of Pinturicchio's panels—the Coronation of the Virgin, with the apostles and other saints below. Several well-executed portraits occur among the kneeling saints. The Virgin, who kneels at Christ's feet to receive her See also:crown, is a figure of See also:great tenderness and beauty, and the See also:lower group is composed with great skill and grace in arrangement. Other important panel paintings by Pinturicchio exist 'See Guattani, Quadri nell' appari. Borgia (Rome, 1820). in the cathedral of See also:Spello, in the Siena gallery, at Florence, at Perugia, and in other collections. In 15o1 Pinturicchio painted several fine frescoes in S. Maria See also:Maggiore at Spello—all very decorative and full of elaborate architectural accessories.

One of them, the Annunciation, is signed " Bernardinvs Pintvrichivs Pervsinvs." The most striking of all Pinturicchio's frescoes, both for brilliance of colour and their wonderful state of preservation, are those in the cathedral library at Siena, a large room built in 1495 by Cardinal See also:

Francesco See also:Piccolomini, afterwards See also:Pius III. In 1502 the cardinal contracted with Pinturicchio to decorate the whole room with arabesques on the vault, and on the walls ten scenes from the life of See also:Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, Pius II., the See also:uncle of Cardinal Francesco. The See also:contract specially provided that the cartoons, their transference on to the walls, and all the heads, were to be by Pinturicchio's own hand, thus contradicting Vasari's assertion that the cartoons were the work of Raphael. The document provides for the See also:price of these frescoes, namely one thousand gold ducats, to be paid in various instalments. The work was begun See also:early in 1503, but was interrupted for a while by the See also:death of Pius III. His will, however, provided for the completion of the work by his executors, and the whole series were finished in 1507. The subjects are (1) the See also:journey of the See also:young Sylvius Piccolomini to the See also:Council of See also:Basel, in the suite of Cardinal Capranica; (2) his reception by See also:James I. of See also:Scotland as See also:envoy from the Council of Basel; (3) his being crowned with the poet's See also:laurel by See also:Frederick III.; (4) his reception by Pope See also:Eugenius IV. as See also:ambassador from Frederick III. ; (5) outside the wall of Siena he presents to Frederick III. his See also:bride Leonora, infanta of See also:Portugal; (6) he receives the cardinal's See also:hat from Pope See also:Calixtus III.; (7) he is See also:borne in procession after his See also:election as Pope Pius II.; (8) he presides at a council at See also:Mantua; (9) he canonizes St Catherine of Siena; (,o) he arrives in See also:Ancona to promote the crusade against the See also:Turks. In addition to these there is, outside the library, over the See also:door, the coronation of Pius III. In the lower part of the See also:scene of St Catherine's See also:canonization he has introduced his own portrait, and standing by him is a youth who bears some resemblance to Raphael. In 1508 Pinturicchio painted another panel of the Madonna enthroned among saints for the church of the Minori Conventuali at Spello. It is now over the altar in the sacristy.

On his return to Siena he painted a whole series of frescoes on the walls of the Palazzo See also:

Petrucci, now all destroyed except one scene of the return of Ulysses to See also:Penelope (or possibly Collatinus and See also:Lucretia), which is now in the See also:National Gallery of See also:London, transferred to See also:canvas. One of his last works, painted in 1513, the year of his death, is a very beautiful and highly finished panel with Christ bearing His See also:Cross, now in the Palazzo See also:Borromeo in See also:Milan. Pinturicchio married Grania di Niccolo, and had by her two sons and four daughters; there is probably no truth in the See also:story of his being starved by his wife during his last illness. Pinturicchio's See also:worth as a painter has been for the most part undervalued, partly owing to the very strong See also:prejudice and dislike which tinges Vasari's See also:biography of him. Even See also:Crowe and Cavalcaselle hardly did him See also:justice. A fairer estimate of his position in the See also:history of See also:art is given by Vermiglioli, Memorie di Pinturicchio (Perugia, 1837); and in the valuable notes and appendix of See also:Milanesi's edition of Vasari, iii. 493–531 (Florence, 1878). See also Schmarsow, Raphael and Pinturicchio in Siena (See also:Stuttgart, i88o), and Pinturicchio in Rom (Stuttgart, 1882), both well illustrated by photo-See also:lithography. (J. H.

End of Article: PINTURICCHIO (1454–1513)

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