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OF what great use poverty may be to genius, and how it may be
powerful in perfecting it, may be clearly seen in the life of
Pietro Perugino, who, driven from Perugia by want, came to Florence,
desiring to make a position for himself by his talents. For many
months, having no other bed to lie on, he slept in a box, applying
himself with the utmost fervour to the study of his profession,
and knowing no other pleasure than painting. For he had always
before his eyes the fear of poverty, and he was spurred by want,
desiring, if he could not be highest and supreme, at least to
have wherewith to support himself. Therefore he cared neither
for cold, nor hunger, nor discomfort, nor fatigue, that he might
one day live at ease, quoting always the proverbs, that after
bad weather must come good, and that in fine weather you should
build the house to cover you when you need it.
According to the common story, he was born in Perugia, the son
of a poor man of Castello della Pieve, named Cristofano, who gave
him in baptism the name of Pietro. Growing up in misery and want,
he was a.pprenticed to a painter of Perugia, who, though he was
not very good at his trade, held in great veneration art and the
men who excelled in it. He did nothing but impress UpOII Pietro
what an honour and advantage painting was to those who practised
it well, relating the glory of ancient and modern painters, by
which he kindled in Pietro the desire to become one of them. So
he used to be always asking where men could prepare themselves
for the trade best, and his master always answered in the same
way, that it was in Florence more than anywhere else that men
grew perfect in all the arts, especially painting. For in that
city men are spurred by three things: First there are many there
ready to find fault, the air of the place making men independent
in mind and not easily contented with mediocre works. Secondly,
if a man wished to live there hs must be industrious, for Florence,
not having a large and fertile country, could not provide for
the wants of those who dwelt there at little expense. And thirdly,
there is the desire of glory and honour, which the air excites
to a high degree in men of every profession, so that no man who
has any spirit will consent to be only like others, much less
be lcft behind.
Moved therefore by this advice, Pietro came to Florence and studied
under the discipline of Andrea Verrocchio. And in a few years
he obtained such reputation that not only were Florence and Italy
full of his works? but they were sent also to France, Spain, and
many other countries, and the merchants began to purchase them
that they might send them abroad to their own great profit.
There is a story which I have heard told of a prior of a convent
who had employed him to paint in its cloisters. This prior was
very good at making ultramarine, and having therefore abundance
of it, he desired that Pietro should put a great deal into his
works; he was, however, so miserably suspicious that he would
not trust Pietro, but would always be present when he was using
the ultramarine. Pietro, being by nature upright and honest, took
it ill that the prior should distrust him, and thought how he
could shame him out of it. So he took a basin of water, and setting
himself to his work, for every two brushfuls that he took he washed
his brush in the basin, so that there was more colour left in
the water than he put into his work. The prior, seeing his bag
getting empty, and the picture not getting on, kept saying, "Oh,
how much ultramarine that plaster consumes!" "You see!"
answered Pietro. But when the prior was gone, Pietro collected
the ultramarine that was at the bottom of the basin; and when
the time seemed to him to be come, he gave it back to the prior,
saying, "Father, this is yours; learn to trust honest men
who never deceive those who trust in them, but know how to deceive,
when they choose, suspicious men like you."
The fame of Pietro was so spread abroad in Italy that he was sent
for by Pope Sixtus IV. to work in his chapel in the company of
many excellent artists; but these works were destroyed in the
time of Pope Paul III. to make place for the Judgment of the divine
Michael Angelo. Pietro worked so much, and had always so much
to do, that he often repeated the same things in his pictures,
and his art was thus reduced to a manner, so that he gave to all
his figures the same air. About this time, Michael Angelo made
his appearance on the scene, and Pietro had a great desire to
see his work~ from the report which artists gave of them. But
when he perceived that he himself would be eclipsed by the greatness
of him who had made so great a beginning, he allowed himself in
his anger to attack with bitter sarcasm many of the artists in
Florence. Therefore he deserved not only to be attacked by other
artists, but even that Michael Angelo should declare in public
that his art was rude. Pietro, however, could not endure such
an insult, and brought the matter before the magistrates; but
came off with little honour. When his friends told him that he
had wandered away from the good path, either from avarice or from
fear of losing time, Pietro would answer, "I have put into
my work the figures which you formerly praised and which pleased
you greatly. If now they displease you, what am I to do ?"
But when sonnets were written upon him attacking him, he left
Florence and returned to Perugia. There he painted in fresco in
the church of S. Severo, the young Raffaello da Urbino, his pupil,
doing some of the figures. He also began a work in fresco of no
little importance at Castello della Pieve, but this he did not
finish. For, as if he could trust nobody, he used to carry about
him all the money he had, as he went backwards and forwards to
Castello; and so it fell out that some men, laying wait for him,
robbed him, but at his earnest entreaty they spared his life.
Afterwards, by means of his friends, he recovered a great part
of the money that had been taken from him; nevertheless he was
near dying of grief. For Pietro was a man of very little religion,
and would never believe in the immortality of the soul. His hopes
were all set on the gifts of fortune, and he would have done anything
for money. He had a most beautiful young woman for his wife, and
took so much pleasure in seeing her well adorned, both at home
and abroad, that it is said he often dressed her with his own
hands.
He died at last in Castello della Pieve, an old man of seventyeight.
He made many masters in painting, and one who surpassed him by
a long way, the wonderful Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino. Pinturicchio,
the Perugian painter, was also his pupil, who, although he executed
many works, had a much greater name than he deserved. He was called
to Sienna by Cardinal Piccolomini to paint the library erected
there by Pope Pius II. But the sketches and drawings for these
pictures were all by the hand of Raffaello, then very young, who
had been his schoolfellow under Pietro. He worked also in Rome
under Pope Sixtus, and painted an infinite number of pictures
all over Italy, which as they were not very excellent I will pass
over in silence.
When he was fiftynine years of age he was charged to paint the
Birth of our Lady in S. Francesco in Sienna, and the friars there
gave him a room to dwell in, which at his desire they emptied
of everything except a great chest, which seemed to them too big
to move. But Pinturicchio, being a strange, fanciful man, made
so much disturbance about it that the friars at last set to work
to carry it away, and in moving it a plank gave way, and discovered
five hundred ducats of gold. Pinturicchio, however, was so much
vexed at the friars' good fortune that, not being able to forget
it, he fell sick and died.
His great schoolfellow, Raffaello, one of those possessed of such
rare gifts that it is imposs~ble to call them simply men, but
rather, if it is allowable so to speak, mortal gods, was born
in the famous city of Urbino in Italy, in the year 1483, on Good
Friday, at three o'clock of the night. He was the son of Giovanni
de' Santi, a painter but not a very excellent one, a man of good
understanding, and capable of directing his son in that good way
which unfortunately had not been shown to himself in his youth.
And because Giovanni knew of what consequence it was that the
child should be nursed by his own mother and not left to the care
of a hired nurse, he kept him in his own house that he might learn
good ways, rather than the rough customs of common men. And as
soon as he was grown, he began to teach him painting, so that
it was not long before he was able to help his father in many
of his works. But at last the good father, knowing that his son
could learn little from him, determined to put him with Pietro
Perugino, and going to Perugia, told him his desire. And Pietro,
who was very courteous, and a lover of men of talent, accepted
Raffaello. Therefore Giovanni, returning joyfully to Urbino, took
the boy, not without many tears, from his mother, who tenderly
loved him, and brought him to Perugia. And when Pietro saw his
manner of drawing and his pleasant ways, he pronounced that judgment
upon him which time has proved most tru~. It is a very remarkable
thing that while Raffaello was studying under Pietro he imitated
him so closely that it is impossible to distinguish their works.
When Pinturicchio was entrusted with the painting of the library
of Sienna, Raffaello accompanied him thither; but while they were
there, some painters spoke to him of the cartoons of Lionardo
da Vinci and Michael Angelo at Florence, praising them so much
that the desire came upon him to see them, and he set out for
Florence. He was no less pleased with the city than with the works
he came to see, and he determined to tarry there some time, making
friends with many young painters. And after he had been to Florence
his manner changed greatly, for while there he studied the old
works of Masaccio and the labours of Lionardo and Michael Angelo,
and he was in close intercourse with Fra Bartolommeo di S. Marco,
whose colour pleasing him much, he sought to imitate it, while
in return he taught the good father perspective.
Then Bramante da Urbino, who was in the service of Julius II,
being distantly related to Raffaello and of the same district,
wrote to him that he had been using his influence with the Pope
to obtain for him leave to display his powers in certain rooms
of the palace. The tidings pleased Raffaello, and leaving his
works at Florence unfinished, he departed for Rome, where he found
that many of the chambers of the palace had been already painted,
or were being painted, by other masters. Being received with much
kindness by Pope Julius, he began in the chamber of the Segnatura,
and painted a picture of the reconciliation between Philosophy
and Astrology, and Theology. He enriched this work with many figures,
and finished it in so delicate and sweet a manner that Pope Julius
caused all the pictures of the other masters, both ancient and
modern, to be destroyed that Raffaello might have all the work
of the chambers. So Raffaello painted the ceiling of this chamber
with the figures of Knowledge, Poetry, Theology, and Justice,
and on the walls represented Parnassus with the Poets, and Heaven
with the Saints and Doctors of the Church, and Justinian giving
the laws to the Doctors, and Pope Julius the canon laws. And the
Pope, being satisfied with the work, gave him the second
chamber to paint.
Kaffaello had now acquired a great name, having moreover gentle
manners admired by all; but though he studied continually the
antiquities in the city, he had not yet given to any of his figures
that grandeur and majesty which appeared in his later works. It
happened at this time that Michael Angelo, having that difference
with the Pope of which we shall speak in his life, had fled to
Florence, and Bramante, having the key of the SiSline Chapel,
showed it to Raffaello his friend, that he might learn Michael
Angelo's methods. And this was the cause of his repainting the
prophet Isaiah, which he had already finished in the church of
S. Agostino, greatly improving and elevating his manner in this
work, and giving it more majesty.
Not long after, Agostino Chigi, a very rich merchant of Sienna,
entrusted him with the painting of a chapel, Raffaello having
before painted for him in the loggia of his palace a picture of
Galatea. So Raffaello, having made the cartoon for the chapel
which is in the church of S. Maria della Pace, carried it out
in fresco in his new and grander manner, painting there some of
the Prophets and Sibyls; and this work is the best and most excellent
that he produced in his life.
Continuing then his work in the chambers of the Vatican, he painted
the Miracle of the Mass of Bolsena and S. Peter in prison, with
the punishment of Heliodorus, and on the ceiling pictures from
the Old Testament. But at this time Pope Julius died, who had
ever been an encourager of talent. Nevertheless Leo X, being created
pope, desired the work to continue, so Raffaello painted the coming
of Attila to Rome, and Pope Leo III going out to meet him.
Meanwhile Raffaello painted many other pictures, and his fame
grew great, and reached to France and Flanders, and Albert Durer,
the great German painter and engraver, sent to Raffaello a tribute
of his own works, a portrait of himself painted in watercolour
on very fine linen, so that it showed equally on both sides. And
Raffaello, marvelling at it, sent to him many drawings from his
own hand, which were much prized by Albert. The goldsmith Francesco
Francia of Bologna also heard of him, and desired greatly to see
him. For while he was enjoying in peace the glory he had earned
by his labours in Bologna, many gentlemen of that city going to
Rome went to see Raffaello and his works. And as men usually like
to praise to others those of their own house who have talent,
so these Bolognese began to talk to Raffaello in praise of Francia's
works, and his life and virtues; and thus between them there sprang
up a kind of friendship, and Francia and Raffaello saluted each
other by letter. Francia, hearing of the fame of the divine works
of Raffaello, desired much to see them, but being already old
was loth to leave his Bologna. Then it happened that Raffaello
painted a picture of S. Cecilia, which was to be sent to Bologna
and placed in a chapel in S. Giovanni in Monte, and having packed
it, he directed it to Francia as his friend that he might set
it up in the chapel. At which Francia was very glad, having so
long desired to see one of Raffaello's works. And having opened
Raffaello's letter (in which he prayed him, if he found it scratched,
to mend it, and also, if he saw any error, like a true friend,
to correct it), with great delight he drew the picture out of
the case and put it in a good light. But so great was his astonishment
at what he saw that, recognising his foolish presumption, he fell
sick of grief, and in a short time died. The picture of Raffaello
was indeed divine, not a painted thing but living; and Francia,
half dead with the shock, and altogether disheartened by the extreme
beauty of the picture compared with those which he saw around
him done by his own hand, had it placed carefully in the chapel
where it was to be, and then in a few days took to his bed, feeling
that in art he was nothing compared to whtt he hsd thought himself
to be and was reputed by others, and thus died of grief
and melancholy. However, some people say that his death was so
sudden that it was more like poison or apoplexy.
After this Raffaello painted for the Brothers of Monte Oliveto,
in the monastery called S. Maria dello Spasimo of Palermo, a picture
of Christ bearing His cross, which when it was finished nearly
came to a bad end. For as it was being borne by sea to Palermo,
a great tempest cast the ship upon a rock, and it was broken to
pieces, and the crew lost, and all the cargo, except this picture,
which was carried in its case by the sea to Genoa. Here being
drawn to shore, it was seen to be a thing divine, and was taken
care of, being found uninjured, even the winds and waves in their
fury respecting the beauty of such a work. When the news of it
was spread abroad, the monks sought to regain it, and with the
intercession of the Pope obtained it, satisfying the demands of
those that saved it. It was carried safe to Sicily, and placed
in Palermo, where it has a greater reputation than the volcano
itself.
While Raffaello was working at these paintings he did not cease
to labour in the Pope's chambers, keeping men constantly employed
in painting from his designs, and himself overlooking everything.
It was not long, therefore, before he uncovered the chamber of
the Borgia Tower, in which he had painted the burning of the Borgo
Vecchio of Rome, and Leo IV. stopping it with his blessing, with
another picture of the life of St. Leo. The ceiling of this room
had been painted by Perugino his master, and Raffaello therefore
would not have it destroyed.
He also embellished the other parts of the palace, making the
designs for the staircases and for the loggie which Bramante had
begun. And Leo X. wishing to display great magnificence and liberality,
Raffaello made the designs for the ornaments in stucco, and for
the pictures to be painted in the loggie, setting Giovanni da
Udine over the stucco work, and Giulio Romano over the figur~s,
though he worked little upon them, Giovan Francesco, called Il
Fattore, Perino del Vaga, and others chiefly painting them.
The Pope also desiring to have some arras woven of gold and silk,
Raffaello made some coloured cartoons of the proper form and size
with his own hands, which were sent into Flanders to be woven,
and when the cloth was finished it was sent back to Rome. For
Giulio Cardinal de' Medici he painted the Transfiguration of
Christ, and brought it to the greatest perfection, working at
it continually with his own hand, and it seemed as if he put forth
all his strength to show the power of art in the face of Christ;
and having finished it, as the last thing he had to do, he laid
aside his pencil, death overtaking him.
For, being seized with a fever, he made his will, and having confessed,
he ended his course on the same day that he was born, that is,
Good Friday, being thirtyseven years of age. They placed at the
head of the room in which he lay, the picture of the Transfiguration,
which he had finished for the Cardinal de' Medici, and the sight
of the dead body and the living work filled all with grief.
