Gallo in Florence, but this work is now in San Jacopo-traFossi, at the corner of the Alberti, where those monks now have their abode.[1] Pietro likewise received a commission to paint a figure representing the Dead Saviour, with the Madonna, and San Giovanni, above the steps leading to the side door of San Pietro Maggiore, and this he executed in such a manner, that, exposed as it is to wind and weather, it has nevertheless maintained such freshness, as to have the appearance of being but just finished by the hand of the master,[2] Pietro Perugino certainly proved himself well acquainted with the management of colours,'in fresco as well as in oil, insomuch, that the most able artists are largely indebted to him for the knowledge to be obtained by means of his works, more especially as regards the lights.
In the church of Santa Croce, in the same city, this master painted a Madonna mourning over the body of Christ, which she sustains on her bosom; in this picture there are two figures, the sight of which awakens astonishment, not so much indeed for their excellence, as for their freshness; that a painting in fresco should have remained so newlooking and lively for so long a time is surprising.[3] From Bernardino de’ Rossi, Pietro reeeived a commission to paint a San Sebastiano to be sent into France, and the price agreed on was to be one hundred gold crowns, but the picture was sold by Bernardino to the King of France for four hundred gold ducats. At Yallombrosa, this artist painted a figure for the High Altar,[4] with another for the Certosa or Carthusian Monastery at Pavia, for the same monks.[5]
For the High Altar of the episcopal church in Naples,
- ↑ The fate of this work is not known. There is a St. Jerome in prayer by Pietro Perugino among the pictures of the Colonna Gallery in Rome, but we have no means of ascertaining whether this be the work here alluded to.
- ↑ When the church of San Pietro Maggiore, which had shown symptoms of decay from the year 1784, was entirely demolished, this picture was placed by the Senator Albizzi, in a small chapel of his palace, where it still remains. — Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
- ↑ This picture is no longer in Santa Croce.
- ↑ Now in the Florentine Academy of the Fine Arts. It is an Assumption of the Virgin, and one of Pietro Perugino’s best works.
- ↑ A part only of this work, which consisted of six compartments, is now in the Certosa of Pavia. The remaining portions were taken to Milan by the Melzi family in 1795.—See Rumohr, Ital. Forsch., vol. iii. p. 27.
