Baldassare Peruzzi

“ 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. ”

“ On the completion of these labours Baldassare returned to Home, where he contracted a most intimate friendship with Agostino Chigi of Siena, who received him to his intimacy not only because Baldassare considered himself a Sienese, but also because Agostino was by nature the friend of all distinguished men. With the assistance of such a man as Agostino Chigi, Baldassare found means to afford himself leisure for remaining during some time in Rome, occupied solely with the study and examination of the antiquities, but more particularly of those relating to architecture. ”

“ Yolterra being sacked, he was compelled to take refuge in Siena, and there, having lost nearly all that he possessed, he found himself reduced to live in a somewhat poor fashion.
Baldassare, meanwhile, was increasing in stature, and early gave token of the pleasure he found in the society of good and distinguished men; more especially delighting to frequent the workshops of the goldsmiths and others, who practised the arts of design. ”

“ Many of the artistic effects of Baldassare were inherited by the Bolognese Sebastiano Serlio, who wrote the third book of the “Architecture,” and the fourth of the “Antiquities of Rome,” with their admeasurements. In these works, the results of Baldassare’s studies, to which we have alluded above, were inserted in the margin, and other portions of the same were likewise of great use to the author. ”

“ Diligent and judicious, this master brought his works so successfully to completion, that he may truly be said never to have had his equal in architecture, and this principally because he combined with his knowledge of that art, so beautiful and admirable a manner in painting and decoration. The design for the tomb of Pope Adrian VI., was given by Baldassare, and the paintings around it are also by his hand, but the marble work of the sepulchre was executed by the Sienese sculptor, Michelagnolo, assisted only by Peruzzi. ”

“ Vasari, the historian of painters, has much to say in praise of the "perspective views" or scenes executed by Baldassare Peruzzi, an artist and architect of great fame in his day, who was born in 1480 at Florence, or Volterra, or Siena, it is not known which, each of these noble cities of Tuscany having claimed to be his birthplace. ”

“ But even more remarkably has Baldassare shown the extent of his ability in painting and perspective, by certain pictures in the same church and near the high altar, where he depicted a story for Messer Filippo da Siena, one of the Clerks of the Chamber, representing Our Lady ascending the steps of the Temple, and about to enter that edifice. In this picture there are many figures highly worthy of praise ”

“ The few local painters of a progressive sort, Domenico Beccafumi, Girolamo del Pacchia, either directly imitate Sodoma or draw from similar alien sources. The only man of genius Siena produced in these years, Baldassare Peruzzi (1481–1536) , soon went to Rome where in architecture he held his own with all comers, whereas in painting he became a modest imitator of Raphael.
In the ten years after 1500 the old art perished. Siena from being the last radiant exemplar of the glory of the mediæval spirit sunk to the estate of a fourth class station of the 103Renaissance. ”

“ The 16th century boasts the names of Bernardino Fungai, Guidoccio Cossarelli, Giacomo Pacchiarotto, Girolamo del Pacchia and especially Baldassare Peruzzi (1481–1537) , who while especially celebrated for his frescoes and studies in perspective and chiaroscuro was also an architect of considerable attainments (see Rome) ”

“ When the Calandra, a drama written by the Cardinal di Bibiena, was performed before Pope Leo, Baldassare prepared all the scenic arrangements for that spectacle in a manner no less beautiful, nay rather it was much more so, than he had exhibited on the occasion referred to above; and his labours of this kind deserve all the more praise from the fact that these performances of the theatre, and consequently all required for their representation, had long been out of use; the festivals and sacred dramas having taken their place. ”

“ About this traitor mouth of his he had a dew of scrubby beard, silvered black; he had bushy eyebrows, hands and arms covered with a black pelt: he was a very hairy man. Also he was a very warm man, as everybody knew, with a hoard of florins under the flags of his old-clothes shop in the Via Stella.
Having spat into the water many times, rubbed his hands, mopped his head, and cursed most things under heaven and some in it, Master Baldassare found himself watching the laundresses on the shore. ”

“ Once, indeed, I remember, on one occasion, when her highness Paulina threw herself into the arms of his serene highness—"
"Have you heard the news?" asked Baldassare, interrupting him.
He dreaded a long tirade from the old chamberlain on the subject of his court reminiscences; besides, Baldassare was bursting with a startling piece of intelligence as yet evidently unknown to Trenta.
"News!—no," answered the cavaliere, contemptuously. "I dare say it is some lie. You have, I am sorry to say, Baldassare, all the faults of a person new to society; you believe every thing." ”

“ But the impatience of Baldassare, who was weary of seclusion from the world, had already stimulated him to purchase his freedom from the Count [136] Palatine, (to whose custody he had been assigned) at the price of thirty thousand pieces of gold. Having thus obtained his liberty, he crossed the Alps, and arrived safely in Italy. The well-known turbulence of his spirit led many to expect that he would reclaim the pontifical honours, and distract the Christian church by a renewal of the schism. ”

“ I was up long before daylight, looking over some books I have with me, in order to be able the better to describe any object of interest to the Signorina Enrica."
"An opportunity for you, my boy," said Trenta, nodding his head roguishly at Baldassare. "You will have a lesson in Lucchese history. Of course, you know nothing about it."
"Every man has his forte," observed the count, good-naturedly, seeing Baldassare's embarrassment at having his ignorance exposed. (The cavaliere never could leave poor Adonis alone.) "We all know your forte is the ballroom; there you beat us all." ”

“ Nothing is sacred to him."
"I wish Nobili were come." It was Orsetti who spoke now. "I should have liked him to lead instead of Baldassare. Adonis is getting forward. He wants keeping in order. Will no one else lead? I cannot, in my own house."
"Oh! but you would mortally offend poor Trenta if you did not let Baldassare lead. The women will keep him in order," was the immediate reply of a young man who had not yet spoken. "The cavaliere must marshal the dancers, and Baldassare must lead, or the old man would break his heart." ”

“ His reverence made a supreme effort, held up one pudgy forefinger, and with the other marked off two joints of it. "Of mortadella so much," he said; "of polenta so much"—and he shut one fist; "of pasta so much"—and he coupled the two fists; "and of wine, by the soul of the world, not enough to drown a flea! I tell you, Baldassare," he said finally, emboldened by the merchant's growing doubt—"I tell you that you ask of me a treasure which I would not part with for a cardinal's hat. ”

“ What she had told La Testolina had been no more than the truth: Master Baldassare was good to her—better than you would have believed possible in such a crabbed old stub of a man. He was more of a father to her than ever Don Urbano had been to anything save his own belly; but it was incontestable that he was not father to anything else. That alone might have been a grievance for Vanna, but there is no evidence that it was. Baldassare was by nature gruff, by habit close-fisted: like all such men, the more he felt the deeper he hoarded the thought under his ribs. ”

“ Remember I am a poet; imagination is my world; the unreal my home; the Muses my sisters. I live there above, in the golden clouds"—and he turned and pointed to a crest of glittering vapor sailing across the intense blue of the sky. Then, with his hand pressed on his brow, he began to pace rapidly up and down the narrow platform.
The cavaliere and Baldassare were watching him from the farther end of the tower.
"He! he!" said Trenta, and he gave a little laugh and nudged Baldassare. "Do you see the count? He is fairly off. Marescotti is too poetical for this world. ”

“ FERRI, Baldassare, one of the most extraordinary singers who ever lived, was born at Perugia, Dec. 9, 1610. He owed to an accident in his boyhood the operation by which he became a sopranist. At the age of 11 he entered the service of the Bishop of Orvieto as a chorister, and remained there until 1625, when Prince Vladislas of Poland, then on a visit at Rome, carried him off to his father's Court. ”

“ The words were addressed to Baldassare—the sense and the direction of his eyes pointed to Enrica.
"Yes; beauty," replied Baldassare, smoothing his glossy mustache, and trying to look very wise (he was not in the least conscious of the covert rebuke administered by Marescotti) —"beauty is very refreshing, but I must say I prefer it in the upper classes. For my part, I like beauty that can dance—wooden shoes are not to my taste."
"Ah! canaglia!" muttered the cavaliere, "there is no teaching you. You will never be a gentleman." ”

“ His first essay was as captain of fifty men-at-arms, with 400 ducats of nominal pay, besides allowances; and his earliest exploit in this new service was the reduction of Forlì, in 1504. The finances of Guidobaldo were necessarily at a low ebb, and it is amusing to find Baldassare's frequent lamentations to his mother, over the arrears of his pay:—"Our doings are jolly but inconsiderable, that is, on small means; we have never yet seen a farthing, but daily and most devoutly look for some cash." ”

“ The priest sat back in his chair and cast appealing looks at the rafters; the company chuckled, nudged each other, guffawed. Baldassare was made to feel that he had over-coloured his case. True, he admitted, he had a roof over his head, shared fortune with the rats in that. But look at the thing reasonably, comrades. Vanna would make another to keep; a girl of her inches must be an eater, body of a dog! ”

“ Some took one side, some another; but when, in due season, it was seen what inordinate pride Baldassare had in the black-eyed bambino there was no question of sides. He had ranked himself with the unforgivable party: the old man was an old fool, a gull whose power of swallow stirred disgust. Vanna had the rights of it, they said; such men were made to be tricked. As for Fra Battista's pulpit, it was thronged about with upturned faces ”

“ CHAPTER III. THE GUINIGI TOWER. Count Marescotti, by reason of too much imagination, and Baldassare, by reason of too little, were both oblivious; consequently the key and the porter were neither of them forthcoming when the party arrived at the door of the tower, which opened from a side-street behind and apart from the palace. Both the count and Baldassare ran off to find the man, leaving Trenta alone with Enrica.
"Ahi!" exclaimed the cavaliere, looking after them with a comical smile, "this youth of New Italy! They have no more brains than a pin. ”

“ STATUE AT THE UFFIZI.
The events of that day already belong to history, and it is not for me to narrate them. Those of the Livornese who could escape from the fury of the populace were part of them shut up in the Fortress da Basso, and part of them packed like anchovies in the railway-carriages. Guerrazzi was imprisoned in the fortress of the Belvedere, and the reins of the government were provisionally put into the hands of the Municipality, Ubaldino Peruzzi being gonfaloniere. ”

“ Baldassare was advised to lock up other treasure beside his florins; some, indeed, of the opposite camp gave hints none too honest to the forlorn young wife. The Piazza Sant' Anastasia at the falling-in of the day, for instance. Thus they put it. All girls—and what else was Vanna, a wife in name?—walked there arm in arm. Others walked there also, she must know. By-and-by some pretty lad, an archer, perhaps, from the palace, some roistering blade of a gentleman's lackey, a friar or twinkling monk out for a frolic, came along with an "Eh, la bellina!" ”

“ Baldassare said. "Why, he's only composing. I know his way. Trust me, it's a sonnet. He is composing a sonnet addressed perhaps to the signorina. He admires her very much."
Trenta smiled, and mentally determined, for the second time, to take the earliest opportunity of speaking to Count Marescotti before the ridiculous reports circulating in Lucca reached him.
"Per Bacco!" he replied, "when the count is as old as I am, he will have learned that quiet is the greatest luxury a man can enjoy—especially in Italy, where the climate is hot and fevers frequent." ”

“ The life of Montefiore was in his hands; he would wash away his remorse in the blood of that Italian.
“Out, out, out! out, all of you!” cried the Marana, springing like a tigress on the dagger, which she wrenched from the hand of the astonished Perez. “Out, Perez,” she continued more calmly, “out, you and your wife and servants! There will be murder here. You might be shot by the French. Have nothing to do with this; it is my affair, mine only. Between my daughter and me there is none but God. As for the man, he belongs to me. The whole earth could not tear him from my grasp. ”