common term for all types of artificial heads of hair. Periwig is sometimes confined to the heavy full-bottomed wigs worn from the reign of Charles II. to the introduction of the light, tailed wig of the 18th century.
PERUZZI, BALDASSARE (1481–1536), Italian architect
and painter of the Roman school, was born at Ancajano, in
the diocese of Volterra, and passed his early life at Siena, where his father resided. While quite young Peruzzi went to Rome, and there Studied architecture and painting; in the latter he was at first a follower of Perugino. The choir frescoes in Sant’ Onofrio on the Ianiculan Hill, usually attributed to Pinturicchio, are by his hand. One of the first works which
brought renown to the young architect was the villa on the banks
of the Tiber in Rome now known as the Farnesina, originally
built for the Sienese Agostino Chigi, a wealthy banker. This
villa, like all Peruzzi’s works, is remarkable for its graceful
design and the delicacy of its detail. It is best known for the
frescoes painted there by Raphael and his pupils to illustrate
the stories of Psyche and Galatea. One of the loggie has frescoes
by Peruzzi’s own hand—the story of Medusa. On account of
his success Peruzzi was appointed by Leo X. in 1520 architect
to St Peter’s at a salary of 250 scudi; his design for its completion
was not, however, carried out. During the sack of Rome
in 1527 Peruzzi barely escaped with his life, on condition of his painting the
portrait of Constable de Bourbon, who had been killed during
the siege (see Vasari). From Rome he escaped to Siena, where
he was made city architect, and designed fortifications for its defence,
a great part of which still exist. Soon
afterwards he returned to Rome, where he made designs for a
palace for the Orsini family, and built the palaces Massimi and
Vidoni, as well as others in the south of Italy. He died in
1536, and was buried by the side of Raphael in the Pantheon.
Peruzzi was an eager student of mathematics and was also a fair classical scholar. Like many of the great artists of his time, he was remarkable for the varied extent of his knowledge and skill. A most able architect, a fair painter, and a scientific engineer, he also practised minor arts, such as stucco-work in relief, sgrafiito, and the decorative painted arabesques which the influence of Raphael did so much to bring into use. His best existing works in fresco are in the Castel di Belcaro and the church of Fontegiusta in Siena. For Siena Cathedral he also designed a magnificent wooden organ-case, painted and gilt, rich with carved arabesques in friezes and pilasters; he also designed the high altar and the Cappella del Battista.
His chief pupil was the architect Serlio, who, in his work on architecture, gratefully acknowledges the great debt he owed to Peruzzi’s instruction. The English National Gallery possesses an interesting drawing by his hand. The subject is the “Adoration of the Magi,” and it is of special value, because the heads of the three kings are portraits of Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian. The Uffizi and the library at Siena contain a number of Peruzzi’s designs and drawings, many of which are now of priceless value, as they show ancient buildings which have been destroyed since the 16th century.
Authorities—Vasari, Vita di Baldassare Peruzzi (Milanesi’s ed., 1882), iv 489; Milizia, Memorie degli architetti (1781, 1. 210–215), Della Valle, Lettere senesi (1782–1786); Gaye, Carteggio inedito d’ artisti (1839–1840); Lanzi, Storia pittorica (1804); and Platner, Beschreibung der Stadt Rom (1830–1842).
PERVIGILIUM[1] VENERIS, the Vigil of Venus, a short Latin Poem. The author, date, and place of composition are unknown. The poem probably belongs to the 2nd or 3rd century A.D. An article signed L. Raquettius in the Classical Review (May 1905) assigns it to Sidonius Apollinaris (5th cent.) It was written professedly in early spring on the eve of a three-nights’ festival of Venus (probably April 1–3). It describes in poetical language the annual awakening of the vegetable and animal world through the goddess. It consists of ninety-three verses in trochaic septenarii, and is divided into strophes of unequal length by the refrain:
“Cras amet qui nunquam amavit; quique amavit cras amet.”
Editio princeps (1577); modern editions by F. Bucheler (1859), A Riese, in Anthologia latina (1869), E. Bahrens in Unedierte lateinische Gedichte (1877), S. G. Owen (with Catullus, 1893). There are translations into English verse by Thomas Stanley (1651) and Thomas Parnell, author of The Hermit; on the text see J. W. Mackail in Journal of Philology (1888), vol. XVII.
PESARO (anc. Pisaurum, q.v), a city and seaport of the
Marches, Italy, the capital of the province of Pesaro and Urbino,
situated on the coast of the Adriatic 37 m. N .W. of Ancona by
rail, on the right bank of the Foglia, the ancient Pisaurus. The
ground on which it is built is only from 10 to 40 ft. above the
sea, but it is surrounded by hills—on the E. by Monte Ardizio,
on the W. by Monte Accio or San Bartolo, which derives one
of its names from the tradition that the Roman dramatist
L. Attius was born and buried on the spot. Upon this hill stands
the Villa Imperiale, the foundation stone of which was laid by
the emperor Frederick III., built by the Sforza, and decorated
with fine stucco ceilings and wall paintings and pavements
of majolica plaques. A new palace was begun in 1530 by the
Genga for Eleonora Gonzaga, but never finished. The city walls
were in 1830 transformed into a public promenade. Besides
the ancient cathedral of the Annunciation (restored since 1860)
with a 12th-century mosaic pavement, there are a number of
smaller churches, several with Gothic portals. One of these,
the church of San Francesco, now used as a cathedral, contains
the “Coronation of the Virgin” by Giovanni Bellini, the largest
and most important of his works outside Venice. The most
conspicuous buildings are the prefecture (a palace originally
erected in 1455–1465 by the Dalmatian architect Luciano da
Laurana for the Sforza, and restored by Francesco Maria della
Rovere in the 16th century, the Rossini theatre (opened in 1818),
the fortress of Rocca Costanzia (built by Costanzo Sforza in
1474, Laurana being the architect), and the large lunatic asylum.
The composer Gioacchino Rossini, who was a native of Pesaro,
left all his fortune to found a musical lyceum in the city, and his
statue by Marochetti (1864) stands near the railway station.
The Olivieri library (established by the antiquary of that name,
author of Marmora pisaurensia, &c.) contains about 14,000
volumes, MSS. of Tasso, &c., inscriptions and various antiquities,
and a very fine collection of majolica (one of the best in Italy)
from the old Urbino and other manufactories. The Museo
Mosca, left by its owner to the town, contains important collections
of faience, furniture, &c. Among the industries of Pesaro
are the growing, spinning and weaving of silk, tanning, iron founding,
and the manufacture of glass and pottery. It is also
the centre of a rich agricultural district. The harbour is of no
great importance, but there is a small export trade in wine,
olives, silk and glass. Pop. (1901), 14,768 (town); 24,823
(commune).
Destroyed by Vitiges the Goth, the town was restored and strengthened by Belisarius, and afterwards along with Ancona, Fano, Senigallia, and Rimini formed the Pentapolis Maritima. In the course of the 13th century Pasaro was sometimes under the government of the popes, sometimes under that of the emperors; but the Malatesta family, which first took root in the city about 1285, gradually became the real masters of the place In 1445 they sold their rights to Francesco Sforza; and in 1512, through the influence of Julius II., the Sforza were supplanted by his nephew Francesco Maria, duke of Urbino. Leo X. took the city away from Francesco and gave it to Lorenzo de’ Medici; but on Lorenzo’s death Francesco was restored and Pesaro became the ordinary residence of the dukes of Urbino till the death of Francesco Maria II. in 1631, when it reverted to the States of the Church. It has formed part of the present kingdom of Italy since 1860. Terenzio Mamiani della Rovere, poet and statesman, was born at Pesaro in 1800.
PESCADORES (i.e. fishers,) a group of islands (called by the Japanese Hōkō tō or Hōko Guntō) lying 30 m. west of Formosa, from which they are separated by the Pescadores Channel, about the tropic of Cancer. The islands number 48 (21 inhabited), have a coast-line of 98·67 miles, a total area of 85·50 sq, m., and a population of about 55,000, principally Chinese. Flat and with unproductive soil, they are swept during one
- ↑ Pervigilium was the term for a nocturnal festival in honour of some divinity, especially Bona Dea.
