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| Perino del Vaga Prophets Daniel and Isaiah ca. 1523 fresco Cappella Pucci Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Monti, Rome |
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| Perino del Vaga Prophets Daniel and Isaiah, with Cardinal Pucci's Escutcheon ca. 1523 fresco Cappella Pucci Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Monti, Rome |
"For this reason Lorenzo Pucci, Cardinal Santiquattro, who had taken over a chapel on the left hand beside the principal chapel in the Trinità, a convent of Calabrian and French friars who wear the habit of S. Francis of Paola, allotted it to Perino, to the end that he might paint there in fresco the life of Our Lady. Which, having begun, Perino finished all the vaulting and a wall under an arch; and on the outer side, over an arch of the chapel, he painted two Prophets four braccia and a half in height, representing Isaiah and Daniel, who in their great proportions reveal all the art, excellence of design, and beauty of colouring that can be seen in their perfection only in a picture executed by a great craftsman. This will be clearly evident to one who shall consider the Isaiah, in whom, as he reads, may be perceived the thoughtfulness that study infuses in him, and his eagerness in reading new things, for he has his gaze fixed upon a book, with one hand to his head, exactly as a man often is when he is studying; and Daniel, likewise, is motionless, with his head upraised in celestial contemplation, in order to resolve the doubts of his people. Between these figures are two little boys who are upholding the escutcheon of the Cardinal, a shield of beautiful shape: and these boys, besides being so painted as to seem to be of flesh, also have the appearance of being in relief."
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| Perino del Vaga The Visitation ca. 1523 lunette fresco Cappella Pucci Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Monti, Rome |
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| Perino del Vaga The Visitation (detail) ca. 1523 lunette fresco Cappella Pucci Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Monti, Rome |
"On a wall-space equal in extent to the arch of the vaulting is her Visitation, in which are many figures that are very beautiful, but above all some who have climbed on certain socles and are standing in very spirited and natural attitudes, the better to see the ceremonious meeting of those women; besides which, there is something of the good and of the beautiful in the buildings and in every gesture of the other figures."
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| Perino del Vaga Scenes from the Life of the Virgin ca. 1523 cross-vault fresco Cappella Pucci Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Monti, Rome |
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| Perino del Vaga The Meeting at the Golden Gate (St Joachim and St Anne, parents of the Virgin) ca. 1523 cross-vault fresco Cappella Pucci Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Monti, Rome |
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| Perino del Vaga The Birth of the Virgin ca. 1523 cross-vault fresco Cappella Pucci Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Monti, Rome |
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| Perino del Vaga The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple ca. 1523 cross-vault fresco Cappella Pucci Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Monti, Rome |
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| Perino del Vaga The Annunciation ca. 1523 cross-vault fresco Cappella Pucci Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Monti, Rome |
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| Perino del Vaga The Raising of Lazarus 1538-39 fresco, transferred to canvas originally in Cappella Massimo Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Monti, Rome now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
"At this time M. Pietro de' Massimi bought a chapel in the Trinità, with the vaulting and the lunettes painted and adorned with stucco, and the altar-piece painted in oils, all by Giulio Romano and Perino's brother-in-law, Giovan Francesco; and that gentleman was desirous to have it finished . . . and allotted the walls to Perino, [who, among other scenes] painted the Raising of Lazarus after he had been dead four days, wherein he is seen newly restored to life, and still marked by the pallor and fear of death: and round him are many who are unswathing him, and not a few who are marvelling, and others struck with awe, besides which the scene is adorned with some little temples that recede into the distance, executed with supreme lovingness . . . " [This chapel later collapsed – Perino's Lazarus fresco was rescued from the wreckage and eventually sold out of the country, which is how it came to London.]
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| Perino del Vaga Vault Decoration 1546-47 stucco-work Sala Reggia, Palazzo Apostolico, Vatican |
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| Perino del Vaga Vault Decoration 1546-47 stucco-work Sala Reggia, Palazzo Apostolico, Vatican |
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| Perino del Vaga Vault Decoration 1546-47 stucco-work Sala Reggia, Palazzo Apostolico, Vatican |
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| Perino del Vaga Vault Decoration 1546-47 stucco-work Sala Reggia, Palazzo Apostolico, Vatican |
"After this, Antonio da San Gallo having finished the building of the Great Hall of Kings in front of the Chapel of Sixtus IV in the Papal Palace, Perino divided the ceiling into a large pattern of octagonal compartments, crosses, and ovals, both sunk and in relief, which done, Perino was also commissioned to adorn it with stucco-work, with the richest and most beautiful ornaments that could be produced by all the resources of that art. He thus began it, and in the octagons, in place of rosettes, he made four little boys in full relief, who, with their feet pointing to the centre and their arms forming a circle, make a most beautiful rosette, and in the rest of the compartments are all the devices of the house of Farnese, with the arms of the Pope in the center of the vaulting. And this work in stucco may be said with truth to have surpassed in mastery of execution, in beauty, and in delicacy, all those that have ever been done by ancients or moderns, and to be truly worthy of the head of the Christian religion."
– from Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects by Giorgio Vasari (1568), translated by Gaston du C. de Vere (1912)
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| Perino del Vaga Vault Decoration 1546-47 stucco-work Sala Reggia, Palazzo Apostolico, Vatican |