Chap. VIII. BERNARDINO PINTURICCHIO 271 and some prophets and angels bear the impress of his manner, yet they are so rudely handled and so dull in tone, in consequence of original neglect or of subse quent injury that were there no records, one might be lieve Pinturicchio never visited Orvieto at all. 1 The ef fects of time have been equally disastrous to the frescos which he undertook in a chapel of the cathedral at Spo- leto, where a small tribune contains the Eternal on clouds amongst angels, a Virgin and child between SS. John the Baptist and Stephen, and an Ecce Homo, all more or less verging on total obliteration. 2 About the beginning of March 1498, if Pinturicchio punctually performed his obligations to the Brotherhood and chapter of S. Maria de’ Fossi, the altarpiece of the Virgin, child, and Baptist, with its side panels, pinnacles, and predella, were delivered, and it is but fair to say, that no one was now more solicitous to furnish care ful and thoroughly finished work. If we consider the time in which this masterpiece 3 was produced, and think of the numerous graceful variations on the same theme, composed by Perugino and Raphael, with the suggestive help of Leonardo, we are struck by the old fashioned Um brian air of Pinturicchio’s conception. The Virgin sits in a wide and highly ornamented niche bordered with “gro tesques” as they were called at this time, a head of Me dusa in the key of the arch, a griffin and a satyr on the arms of the chair, candelabra with pendent corals on the capitals of the pilasters. With a sentimental bend of her 1 On tho same wall, the Annuncia tion anil the Visitation seem by a painter following Pinturicchio’s manner at the close of the sixteenth century. Two angels on the bottom wall of the right nave in the Dnomo support the arms of the “Opera”; they have also some character reminiscent of Pintu ricchio. 2 These frescos are in the first chapel to the right of tho entrance. The Eternal, seated on a cloud, gives the blessing in an almond shaped glory of cherubs’ heads, a figure in Pinturicchio’s manner and softly coloured. Of the two angels at the sides one is almost gone. The Ecce Homo is scarcely vis ible ; the child and saints in a similar condition. The frescos of the Baptistery at Spoleto are by another hand (see postea Spagna and Jacopo Siculo). 3 Now in the gallery of Perugia No. 30.
