Giorgio Vasari

“ Pope Pius, while preparing an immense armada against the Turks, with the help and concurrence of all Christian princes, is overtaken by death at Ancona; when a hermit of Camaldoli, a holy man, sees the soul of his Holiness borne to heaven by angels at the very moment of his death, as may be found duly recorded. ”

“ Pinturicchio was invited to Siena, where he was employed by cardinal Francesco Piccolomini to paint the library which had been erected in the cathedral of that city by Pope Pius II. It is indeed true, that the sketches and cartoons for all [4] the stories which he executed in that place were by the hand of Raffaello da Urbino, then a youth, who had been his companion and fellow disciple with the above-named Pietro, whose manner had been perfectly acquired by RatFaello. One of these Cartoons is still to be seen in Siena, and some of the sketches, by the hand of Raffaello, are in our book. ”

“ In the sixth picture Eneas is sent by the Emperor to Pope Calixtus III., in order to induce the latter to make war against the Turks; and in this compartment there also appears the above-named Pontiff, by whom Eneas is entrusted with the task of negociating conditions of peace at Siena; which city had been attacked by the Count of Pitigliano and others, at the instigation of Alfonso, King of Naples. The peace thus sought being secured, war against the people of the east is determined on, and Eneas, having returned to Rome, is made cardinal by the Pope above-named. ”

“ Peter, the wood work and paintings of which were renewed some few years since by Pope Pius IV. In the same palace. Pope Alexander VI. caused Pinturicchio to decorate all the rooms inhabited by himself, together with the whole of the Torre Borgia, where the artist painted stories of the liberal arts in one of the rooms, and adorned all the ceilings with ornaments in stuccowork and gold: [16] but the methods now practised in stucco were not known at that time, and the above-mentioned ornaments are for the most part ruined. ”

“ There was at this same period an eminent painter in the city of Fuligno, Niccolb Alunno namely. But at tthat time, before Pietro Perugino’s day, when the custom of painting in oil was not extensively prevalent, many were considered able men who did not succeed at a later period. ”

“ There is a large fresco by tthat master in what was the refectory of a suppressed convent near Poggibonsi. It is but little known, and is nevertheless a work of great merit. ↑ Perhaps the Mater Misericordiae of San Cespino. — See Rumohr, Ital. Forsch., vol. ii. p. 317. ↑ The remains of this work were discovered by Rumohr, divided into several parts, and placed in different positions about the altar, but still in the same church. ”