Apostles, who contemplate the celestial glory, and at the foot of the painting, in a predella divided into three stories, is the Virgin receiving the Annunciation from the Angel, the Adoration of the Magi, and the Infant Christ in the Temple, with Simeon who receives the Divine Child into his arms. This painting is without doubt executed with extraordinary diligence, and all who have not a thorough knowledge of the manner of Pietro, will assuredly take it to be a work of that master, whereas it is most certainly by the hand of Raphael.[1]
After the completion of this picture, Pietro repaired for certain of his occasions to Florence when Raphael departed from Perugia and proceeded with several of his friends to Città di Castello, where he painted a picture in the same manner, for the church of Sant’Agostino, with one representing the crucified Saviour, for that of San Domenico; which last, if it were not for the name of Raphael written upon it, would be supposed by every one to be a work of Pietro Perugino.[2] For the church of San Francesco in the same city he painted a small picture representing the espousals of Our Lady, and in this work the progress of excellence may be distinctly traced in the manner of Raphael, which is here much refined, and greatly surpasses that of Pietro.[3] In the painting here in question, there is a church drawn in perspective with so much care that one cannot but feel amazed at the difficulty of the problems which the artist has set himself to solve. While Raphael was thus acquiring the greatest fame by the pursuit of this manner, the painting of the library belonging to the Cathedral of Siena, had been entrusted by Pope Pius II. [4] to Bernardino Pinturicchio, who was a friend of Raphael’s, and, knowing him to be an excellent designer, took the latter with him to Siena. Here Raphael made Pintu-
- ↑ Now in the Vatican.
- ↑ The picture painted for Sant’ Agostino represented the coronation oi St. Nicholas of Tolentino, who tramples the figure of Lucifer beneath his feet, while the Almighty Father is seen in the heavens above. This work was lost amidst the disorders of the French domination, in the first years of the present century. The Crucifix was formerly in the collection of Cardinal Fesch.
- ↑ This is the celebrated picture of the “Sposalizio,” now in the Brera
- ↑ Then Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini, who afterwards became Pope Pius II.
