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Chap. VII. PIETRO PERUGINO. 193 the wreck was taken to S. Giovannino della Calza, or S. Giusto where two or three pictures remained until the time of their transfer to the Academy of Arts. 1 Of these the earliesl^eems to have been the Pieta in which the dead Saviour lying on the lap of the grieving Virgin, is supported by the head on the shoulders of Joseph, by the feet on the knees of the sitting Magdalen, whilst S. John the Evangelist looks up in prayer to heaven on the left, and another saint stands silently mourning on the right. The scene is laid in front of a colonnade, drawn in bold perspective with a low centre of vision. Any one familiar with Francia’s lunette in the National Gallery will be able to understand the beauty of this very similar composition which, in Perugino’s hands, is treated with greater success and feeling, and with a higher command than he had yet exhibited, of correct proportion. By giving great melancholy to the Virgin who bears the weight of her Son’s frame, thoughtful intentness to the Magdalen who gazes at the feet once anointed by her care, delicate tenderness to Joseph, presenting the full face of the Saviour to the spectator, and a natural rigidity to the select shape of the Redeemer, Perugino showed a sense of discrimination worthy of praise. He proved himself a judicious observer of the Floren tines, without losing the characteristic features of the Umbrian, preserving certain foreshortened movements re miniscent of the Perugian school in the upturned head of the longing Evangelist, keeping up its old fashion of drapery, but applying renewed vigour and conscientious ness to the clear rendering of form and the true perspec tive of its lines, and clothing it in a broader cast of fold. All this he accompanied originally with clearness in the handling of oil-colours partaking in tone of the greyness of tempera, and justly balanced in harmonies. 2 It was a work which probably created a great impression on ' Vas. VI. 35. 2 This Pietk is now in the Aca demy of Arts at Florence. Salle des VOL. III. grands tableaux. No. 58. It was taken, says Riclia(Chiese IX. 103), by Mary Magdalen of Austria to 13
