age came on, and was beside, burdened with a family; finally, after having always lived a most upright and honourable life, he fell grievously sick, and was obliged to confine himself to his bed: hearing which, and, when too late, perceiving the loss he was about to incur by the death of such a man. Pope Paul III. sent him one hundred scudi by the hands of Jacopo Melighi, accountant of San Pietro, making him at the same time the most friendly offers and promises. But the illness of Baldassare increased, perhaps because it was ordained so to be, or, as some believe, because his malady was provoked, and his death hastened by the effect of a poison, administered to him by one of his rivals, who desired to succeed him in his ofBce, from which he derived two hundred and fifty scudi per annum. The physicians did not discover this until it was too late, and Baldassare died in great sorrow; but more on account of his family and of the painful condition in which he was leaving them, than for himself.[1]
He was deeply mourned by his children and friends, who laid him to rest in the Rotondo near Raffaello da Urbino; all the painters, sculptors, and architects of Rome accompanied him with tears to the grave, according to his remains the most honourable sepulture, and inscribing over them the following epitaph:—
Balthasari Perutio Senensi, viro et pictura et Architectura aliisque ingeniorum artibus adeo excellently ut si priscorum occubuisset ternporibus, nostra ilium felicius legerent, vix. Ann. lv. Mens. xi. Dies xx.
Lucretia et lo: Salustius optima conjugi et parenti, non sine lachrimis Simonisy Honoriiy Claudii. jEmilice, ac Sulpitice minorum Jiliorum, dolentes posuerunt. Die iiii. Januarii mdxxxvi.[2]
The fame of Baldassare was greater after his death than during his life;[3] more particularly were his judgment and
- ↑ In the life of Daniello da Volterra, Vasari mentions an architect, called Salustio, as a son of Baldassare Peruzzi. He is likewise named in the epitaph cited a few lines below.
- ↑ This inscription is not now in the Rotondo. — Schorn.
- ↑ Baldassare was without doubt an artist of the first rank. In painting he approached the best masters of his day; in architecture he belonged to the greatest. Many place him before Bramante. Lomazzo calls him, “Architetto Universale.” In perspective he was unsurpassed, as even Milizia, who so rarely praises, admits; “and this,” observes one of his compatriots, “is sufficient to prove his merits, for never does Milizia bestow a syllable of commendation that has not been well earned.”
