Bernardino Pinturicchio of Perugia (1454-1513) was an excellent painter in fresco, although Vasari, in his Lives of the Painters, has done scant justice to his great merits. In the face of much splendid work that has been done by Pinturicchio, the want of appreciation of his merits by Vasari is quite inexplicable. Any one who has seen, and carefully examined his frescos in the Borgia apartments of the Vatican must acknowledge him as one of the greatest decorative artists of his time, greater, for example because less conventional, than Perugino, his contemporary, with whom he sometimes collaborated, and who often got credit for work which was done by Pinturicchio. To compare his work with that of Perugino we should say that in the design and colouring of the former artist there is more life, more spontaneity, and much less mannerism than is seen in the work of Perugino. In design his wall decorations are characterized by great variety and plenitude of incident, and although he may appear at times to aim at the expression of too

much individuality in the figures of his groups, the outcome perhaps of his great versatility, yet in a masterly way he invariably succeeds in uniting the various and contrasting elements of his work into one harmonious arrangement, the unity being largely assisted by the judicious disposition of his colour, which, generally speaking, is a harmony of azure and gold. Pinturicchio has been adversely criticised for his practice of giving undue prominence to some of the mouldings and other salient points of the painted architecture in his frescos, and the patterns of embroidery on the dresses of his figures, by modelling them in low relief and afterwards gilding them, the objection being that such a practice is not the function of painting; that may be, but surely an artist may be allowed to treat his subject in his own way, by using any means to produce the desired end he may have in view, especially if that end is to produce a beautiful work in harmony with its surroundings. Artistic heresies may be illogical enough, but it matters very little if the result is a production of beauty, for do we not often see that some dreadfully logical people only succeed in producing the ugliness of the commonplace however careful they may be in the due observance of artistic laws?

In the vaulted ceiling panels and on the groined ribs of the vaults in the Borgia apartments there is a good deal of stucco relief modelling of ornament and animal forms by Giovanni da Udine and Perina del Vaga, this relief decoration being coloured and gilded, similar to the cameo reliefs in the loggia of the Vatican, which the two last-named artists had executed under Raffaelle’s direction; and as Pinturicchio’s frescos were in all probability painted before the date of the ceiling decorations, it is not at all unlikely that the relief work on the wall frescos underneath suggested in a great measure a similar enrichment of the vaulted ribs and ceilings. In any case the whole of the decorations on both walls and ceilings of the Borgia apartments are in singular harmony and unity, although the work has been done by different hands.

Pinturicchio was employed by the Pope, Alexander VI, to decorate the Borgia apartments; accordingly, the frescos of the second, third, and fourth rooms were painted by him, with scenes from the life of Christ, the lives of the Saints, and with allegorical representations of the arts and sciences respectively. The most important and largest fresco has the subject of St. Catherine of Alexandria disputing before the Emperor Maximianus, in the background of which is a representation of the Arch of Constantine. This is painted on the back wall of the third room. The figure of St. Catherine is finely designed and painted, and is supposed to be a portrait of Lucretia Borgia. (See illustrations.) Among the best work of Pinturicchio are his frescos in the first chapel to the right in the Church of S. Maria Araceli, Rome, representing scenes from

the life of St. Bernard of Siena, and on the vaulted roof is painted the four Evangelists, all of which are very vigorous and lifelike representations; the same may also be said of his frescos in the Baglioni Chapel in the Duomo at Spello. His two frescos in the Sistine Chapel, “Moses journeying to Egypt” and the “Baptism of Christ,” were formerly ascribed to Perugino.

The Florentine artist, Domenico Ghirlandajo (1449-1498), was one of the most eminent fresco painters of his time. He was fond of introducing sumptuously dressed personages into his works, many of whom were representations of the people of his day. The powerful Tornabuoni family of Florence were his patrons, who commissioned him to paint many frescos in Florence and in Rome. He can claim the distinction of having Michael Angelo as one of his pupils.

Some of his best existing works are those in the choir of the Church of Santa Maria Novella, and the Church of St. Trinita at Florence. In the Church of Santa Maria degli Innocenti, in the Foundling Hospital at Florence, is a well-preserved altar-piece, a tempera painting on panel by him, the “Adoration of the Magi,” which is dignified in its design, and the colouring is brilliant in reds and golden hues, these colours being very characteristic of his later works. In the background of this fine work is a beautiful landscape, and at the foot of the hill on the left is the scene representing the slaughter of the Innocents. The drapery of the kneeling king is masterly in the design of its folds, but the standing figure of the youthful king on the left is the most beautiful of the larger figures. In all the range of Italian art it would be difficult to match for beauty and for types of innocence the two little babes, or innocenti, who are kneeling at the bottom of the picture, adoring and adorable, as in every way they are. At the top, kneeling on clouds above the manger, are four lovely angels holding a scroll, on which is written, “Gloria in excelsis Deo.” Generally speaking, his frescos are remarkable for their high degree of careful finish, and nearly all of the spectators or accessory figures in his paintings are portraits of his patrons and contemporaries. His compositions are very simple and dignified, with a certain degree of solemn severity in the drawing of the principal figures. The latter characteristic is partly due to his practice of making many of his figures stately portraits, and partly to the long and straight folds of his draperies, which remind us of Masaccio’s work, and, in a lesser degree, that of Giotto. It is interesting to compose and note the similarity of design which is apparent in his fresco, the “Calling of SS. Peter and Andrew,” in the Sistine Chapel, with the “Tribute Money,” by Masaccio, in the Brancacci Chapel of the Carmelite Church at Florence; and also his celebrated work, the “Death of St. Francis,” in St. Trinita at Florence, with the same subject painted by Giotto

in the Bardi Chapel of Santa Croce. In the latter work we see piety and sentiment more strongly expressed by Giotto, while portraiture and light and shade are more in evidence in Ghirlandajo’s rendering of this subject, but the figure composition in both works is almost identical.

The frescos by Ghirlandajo in the choir of the Church of Santa Maria Novella are among the most important of his works, and remain as fine examples of his skill as a great decorator. The subjects are from the life of the Virgin and John the Baptist, all of which are treated with great care and elaboration of rich detail, the utmost finish being not only accorded to the principal actors in the scenes, but also to the architectural backgrounds, with their panels and friezes of figures, the embroidered patterns on the dresses, and other decorative accessories, in fact all his beauties of style in design, execution, and colouring are admirably expressed in these characteristic works.

In the Monastery of San Marco in Florence, in the smaller refectory, is an interesting fresco of the “Cenacolo,” or Last Supper, by Ghirlandajo. There is a little stiffness and formality in the composition of this work, but the heads of the principal figures are lifelike and well painted. The colouring is strong and rich, gold has been freely used in the nimbi and on the dresses of the figures, and in the background. Above the figures, in the background, is painted an abundance of cypress, orange trees, and flowers; while in the sky, hawks are pursuing wild duck. There is also a similar, but in some ways a much better, “Cenacolo” by Ghirlandajo in the refectory in the convent of the Church of the Ognissanti at Florence.