Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Perino del Vaga - Work in Rome, Observed by Vasari

Perino del Vaga
Prophets Daniel and Isaiah
ca. 1523
fresco
Cappella Pucci
Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Monti, Rome

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."

Perino del Vaga
The Visitation
ca. 1523
lunette fresco
Cappella Pucci
Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Monti, Rome

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."

Perino del Vaga
Scenes from the Life of the Virgin
ca. 1523
cross-vault fresco
Cappella Pucci
Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Monti, Rome

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

Perino del Vaga
The Birth of the Virgin
ca. 1523
cross-vault fresco
Cappella Pucci
Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Monti, Rome

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

Perino del Vaga
The Annunciation
ca. 1523
cross-vault fresco
Cappella Pucci
Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Monti, Rome

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.]

Perino del Vaga
Vault Decoration
1546-47
stucco-work
Sala Reggia, Palazzo Apostolico, Vatican

Perino del Vaga
Vault Decoration
1546-47
stucco-work
Sala Reggia, Palazzo Apostolico, Vatican

Perino del Vaga
Vault Decoration
1546-47
stucco-work
Sala Reggia, Palazzo Apostolico, Vatican

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)

Perino del Vaga
Vault Decoration
1546-47
stucco-work
Sala Reggia, Palazzo Apostolico, Vatican