Chapter I

. Perugino is never dramatic, he is always lyric, and the poetical charm of the Umbrian school is at its very zenith in his hands. He is not passionate, as is Botticelli, nor strong, moving, and forceful as is Signorelli.

The delights of movement, the extremes of rage or desire, did not appeal to him. He was not as diversified as was Lippi; he never reached the stolid impressiveness of Ghirlandajo, nor the ecstatic devotion of Fra Angelico. He was not so purely illustrative as was Pinturicchio, but very far exceeded him both in genius and in power. The emotions of pathos were not beyond his reach, the stateliness of dignity he could represent if he desired, but his charm is in the calm quiet of his pictures, in their tender reverence and exquisite sweetness, in their poetry rather than in their power. His creations are dreamy and contemplative, full of faith, hope, and expectation, and they embody and express the reality of a spiritual world of serene peace and satisfaction which, in its contrast to the world around us, speaks of the revelation of a faith that is true. His execution is masterly, his colouring mystic and glorious, his compositions are complete and united, his sense of decoration is excellent. He was himself sincere in his work, and his pictures therefore embody this sincerity, and their teaching is to lift the soul from sordid thoughts, and to raise it to Heaven itself.

FOOTNOTES:

[N] In this same year 1510, Perugino painted a "Virgin and Child between St. Peter and St. Paul," for Agostino Spinola of Savona, Bishop of Perugia.

[O] A letter dated 30th March 1512, and written from Città della Pieve, already mentioned, is in existence, and proves not only his presence in the town in that year but that the St. Agostino altar-piece was at that time in hand, although not finished till 1521.

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