which might at first sight appear too short for one person, were he to spend every day without rest; yet Pinturicchio did not devote the whole of his time to it. He was sub jected by the Orvietans to a pressure like that previously exerted on Perugino; and though a brief from Alexander, dated the 29 th of March 1493, required them to wait till “his palace” was done; 1 they succeeded in bringing him back for a while, so that the Pope was obliged, in March 1494, to send for him again. 2 During that year and 1495, the rooms of the Vatican received their last adornments, and a large series, of which not a wreck re mains, was painted in the Castle of S. Angelo. 3 The secret of Pinturicchio’s fecundity lay, as Vasari truly says, in the great practise which he had gained, and in the employment of numerous assistants; 4 and this very facility in carrying out great commissions at a quick pace, for patrons desirous of obtaining and enjoying whatever they undertook without delay, may be the true cause why he was so much in request. His performances at Rome were those of a man without genius, living at a period when great precepts were generally known and used. They were good as representing the skilled labour of art, without great claims to admiration as embodying excep tional talents. As a composer, he had no fertility of ori ginal thought. He was biassed by different influences at various times on that account; but these did not enable him to conceal his deficiencies, although he frequently suc ceeded in single episodes. He had, in the main, the faults and the qualities of Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, corrected later by the companionship of Perugino. A more pleasing system of landscape-painting and more meditative types were, no doubt, derived from the latter, yet Pinturicchio never seriously rivalled Vannucci. His very best landscapes are overcharged with details, and full of minute touches; 1 Della Valle; Storia del Duomo di Orvieto ub. sup. and Verm, app. XL. 2 Annot. Vas. V. 271. 3 Vas. V. 269. 70. 4 lb. ib. 264.
