CHAPTER IX. LO SPAGNA. The most interesting figure amongst the Peruginesques, Raphael always excepted, is that of Giovanni di Pietro, known in his own time and by posterity as lo Spagna. The darkness which conceals the history of his birth overspreads the greatest part of his career. There is no knowledge of the period when he joined Perugino. His life is a blank until 1507, when he appears for the first time as an independent master at Todi. 1 The qualifica tion of Spaniard appended to his name in a document of that period leaves no doubt as to his nationality; but the artistic education which he received was purely Italian; and he seems to have been bred to the profession of a painter under Perugino and Pinturicchio. As such he is as a candidate for a share in the exe cution of the ceiling at the hall of the Cambio, or of the double altarpiece at S. Francesco al Monte, ordered of Vannucci in 1502. The style which characterizes his au thentic works in Spoleto may be traced in the Martyrdom of S. Sebastian of 1505 at Panicale, and in a fresco of the same period in S. Agostino of that place. 2 He was the companion of Raphael at Perugia during their joint stay in the school of Perugino, and after Sanzio began to labour on his own account in Citta di Castello. His manner is a mixture of the Peruginesque and Raphael- esque, without the high qualities of either; and its ear- ' See postea. 2 See antea. Penigino’s life.