Chap. VII. PIETRO PERUGINO. 179 dicious study of the Florentine examples at the Sixtine. Perugino himself had not looked in vain at the produc tions of his cotemporaries; and a strong impression had been created on his mind by the frescos of Domenico Ghirlandaio. In the Baptism at least he reflected this; and Pinturicchio might have been led into a similar path by the necessity of carrying out the designs of his elder partner. The composition of Perugino’s second fresco is essentially Umbrian. It is overcrowded and monotonous; the groups are not bound together with such art as to produce the effect of unity; and simplicity and nature are wanting. Yet, a pleasing impression is created by iso lated parts. The Saviour in front, receiving the water poured on his head by S. John, attracts by an Umbrian softness. The masks and type of both are purely Peru gino’s, 1 whilst the standing acolytes on the right embody something of the grand laws of movement and pose which are illustrated in Ghirlandaio. The nude of a man strip ping near the Baptist is well given, and the youth erect at his side might have been conceived by Pinturicchio. The formal arrangement of the Sermon of John on a hill to the left, and that of Christ on a mound to the right, the kneeling angels, the Eternal in a round glory of cherubs’ heads, with four seraphs in waiting at equal intervals; the wide expanse of country in which the episodes are placed; all these may have been grateful to the eye before time and restoring destroyed their harmony. 2 It is doubtful, however, whether the execution was originally as careful as that of the “Delivery of the keys to Peter”, an out line of which is annexed to these pages. It is rare to find one piece in which the character of a painter is revealed in all its aspects. The arrangement, the drawing, the colour are not all and severally the ar- 1 The drawings of these two figures seem to have found a rest ing place at the Louvre. 2 The head of the Baptist is dis figured by spots. The youth strip ping is injured; and a group on the left foreground is much damaged and restored. The flesh parts are everywhere discoloured, especially in the shadows which have black ened. The entire distance is ab raded. 12*
