GIOVANNI SANZIO 
 
 AND HIS FRESCO AT 
 
 CAGLI. 
 
 By A. H. LAYARD. 
 
 
 PRINTED FOR THE ARUNDEL SOCIETY, 
 1850. 
 
(©rraswmal ^»Wicatwms 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ARUNDEL SOCIETY, 
 
 SOLD INDEPENDENTLY OF THE ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS. 
 
 PORTRAIT OF DANTE, BY GIOTTO. 
 
 Chromolithograph of a facsimile, traced and coloured by Mb. SEYMOUR KIRKUP from the fresco 
 by GIOTTO, in the Bargello at Florence, previously to its restoration. 
 
 Price : — To Members, 7s. 6 d. ; to Strangers, 10s. 6 <2. 
 
 THE ARENA CHAPEL, PADUA. 
 
 A Chromolithograph of the restored interior, from a drawing by Mrs. HIGFORD BURR. 
 (Originally part of the publications for the eighth year, 1850.) 
 
 Price : — To Members, 15s.; to Strangers, 20 s. 
 
 THE VIRGIN AND CHILD, WITH SAINTS AND ANGELS. 
 
 A Chromolithograph of the fresco by OTTAVIANO NELLI, in the Church of S. Maria Nuova, at Gubbio. 
 (Also issued with the publications of the ninth year, 1857.) 
 
 Price : — To Members, 10s. ; to Strangers, 12s. 6d. 
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF ST. SEBASTIAN. 
 
 A Chromolithograph of the fresco by PIETRO PERUGINO, at Panicale. 
 
 (Originally part of the publications for the eighth year, 1856.) 
 
 Price: — To Members, 10s.; to Strangers, 15s. 
 
 ST. CATHERINE BURIED BY ANGELS. 
 
 A Chromolithograph of the fresco by LUINI, in the Brera Gallery, at Milan. 
 
 (Also issued with the publications for the tenth year, 1858.) 
 
 Price : — To Members, 12s. ; to Strangers, 15s. 
 
 PHOTOGRAPHS FROM TINTORETTO. 
 
 CHRIST BEFORE PILATE, and CHRIST BEARING THE CROSS. 
 
 From the paintings by TINTORETTO, in the Scuola di San Rocco, at Venice, with a description 
 extracted from Mr. Ruskin’s ° Stones of Venice;” and a Wrapper. 
 
 Price, each Photograph : — To Members, 5s. ; to Strangers, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Note. — These Publications are delivered free of extra charge at any place within three miles of Charing 
 Cross. Beyond that distance, expenses of carriage and packing must be paid by the purchaser. 
 

 
GIOVANNI SANZIO 
 
 AND HIS 
 
 Jfvxsco al Cagl 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2016 
 
 https://archive.org/details/giovannisanziohiOOIaya 
 
URBINO. 
 
 MONGST the illustrious families who flourished in Italy during 
 
 the fifteenth century, none were more celebrated for the protec- 
 tion and encouragement they extended to learning and the fine arts, 
 than the hereditary rulers of the Duchy of Urbino. Several princes of 
 renown in politics and arms had contributed to establish the freedom 
 and to extend the prosperity of this little district, situated in the very 
 bosom of the Apennines. In the middle of the century it was 
 governed by the Count Federigo da Montefeltro, a prince of prudence, 
 wisdom, and courage, who threw himself with energy into the struggle 
 of Italian politics, taking service as a “condottiere,” or leader of merce- 
 nary troops, with one or other of the great parties then striving for 
 supremacy in the Peninsula. But his name is not stained by any 
 
of those deeds of treachery and violence which have rendered 
 infamous that of almost every prince of the period. To a character 
 remarkable for its faithfulness and humanity, he added an ardent love 
 of literature, science, and the arts. lie gathered around him in his 
 little court many of the most distinguished men of his time, who spread 
 throughout the Peninsula the fame of his capital, which they fondly 
 called “ the Italian Athens.” When the Duke, asPederigo was after- 
 wards created by Pope Sixtus IV., laid the foundations of a palace, 
 which was to excel even the many magnificent edifices of the period 
 in the vastness of its proportions and in the richness and beauty of its 
 decorations, artists flocked from all parts of Italy to aid in its com- 
 pletion. The building was confided to Luciano Lauranna, or da 
 Laurana, one of the most renowned architects of the age ; the 
 ornaments in carved and inlaid marble and wood to Ambrogio Baroccio 
 of Milan, Maestro Giacomo of Florence, Francesco di Giorgio Martini 
 of Siena, and others not less celebrated ; Melozzo da Forli and other 
 eminent painters enriched the halls and library with frescoes and 
 painted panels. Antique statues in marble and bronze were added 
 to the works of living men, and rendered complete the choice collections 
 of art which adorned the interior. 
 
 The palace hangs over a deep ravine, resting, like many edifices 
 of the period, upon a bold and picturesque substruction of arches — a 
 grand and imposing building, somewhat too massive and sombre, but 
 highly characteristic of the dwellings of the warrior princes of the 
 Middle Ages.* Much of the interior decoration — the sculptured 
 chimney-pieces, the subtle carved work in marble and alabaster, and 
 the elaborate “ tarsia,” or inlaid wood — still remains, and here and 
 
 * See woodcut at the head of this notice. 
 
5 
 
 there painted ornaments may be traced on the walls ; but much has 
 been disfigured or destroyed, even of late, by a Papal Legate, who has 
 fitted up this, his official, residence, in the improved French taste, with 
 tawdry paper-hangings and modern stoves. The collection of antique 
 sculpture, the pictures, and the library of books and manuscripts, 
 have long been scattered or removed.* 
 
 Although strangers had been called from various parts of Italy 
 to adorn the new building, Urbino, like most other Italian cities, 
 could boast of her own painters. The most celebrated was Giovanni 
 Santi, or Sanzio, whose fame, such as it is, rests somewhat unjustly, 
 not so much upon the intrinsic merits of his works, as upon 
 the honour which the fatherhood of the greatest of painters has 
 conferred upon him. He was the son of one Sante, whose father, 
 Peruzzolo, could trace his descent from an ancestor, also named 
 Sante, living in the beginning of the fourteenth century.f The 
 family possessed a little land, which they cultivated for their own 
 wants, and inhabited the castle of Colbordolo, whose deserted 
 ruins still crown a hill top overlooking a smiling valley watered by 
 the Isauro and the Apsa between Urbino and the Adriatic. Their 
 dwelling was sacked, and their property destroyed, during a foray 
 made upon the Urbinese territory, in 1446, by Sigismondo Malatesta, 
 the Lord of Rimini. For better security, Peruzzolo moved 
 with his family into the city, where he occupied a house which 
 is still standing. His son Sante was already married and had 
 
 * These collections are now for the most part in the Vatican. 
 
 t From this ancestor Giovanni, according to Italian custom, took the name of 
 “ de’ Santi,” latinised into “Sanctius,” and hence Italianised into “Sanzio.” He 
 signs himself on his pictures, “ Io. de Santis,” “ Iohannes Santis de Urbino,” and 
 “ Ioanne Sancto.” 
 
6 
 
 four children, the eldest of whom was Giovanni. Sante became 
 a broker and corn-dealer, and so improved his fortunes that he was 
 soon able to purchase two houses in Urbino and some land in the 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 The date of Giovanni’s birth is not known. He was probably a 
 child when his father left Colbordolo, but yet old enough to feel 
 deeply the ruin that had fallen on his home, to which in after days he 
 touchingly alluded. He appears to have shown an early taste for the 
 arts, and to have chosen painting as a profession. Under what 
 master he first studied there is no record, but there must have been 
 some school in the city in which he could learn at least the elements 
 of the art. 
 
 Urbino could scarcely have escaped the impulse which Giotto and 
 his followers had given to the revival of painting throughout Italy. 
 It is even probable that the great Florentine himself had left there 
 traces of his genius. In the neighbouring city of Gubbio, Oderigi 
 and his scholar, Guido Palmerucci, had founded a school, which pro- 
 duced some fresco-painters of eminence.* One of them, Ottaviano 
 Nelli, is known to have executed important w T orks at Urbino in the 
 first half of the fifteenth century. Of earlier artists who were 
 employed in the city and the neighbourhood, the names of two only 
 have been preserved ; Giuliano, from Rimini, who painted at Urbania, 
 in 1307, a large wooden crucifix, such as were carried in processions 
 — a rude work in the style of Margheritone of Arezzo ; and another 
 Giuliano, who painted in Urbino some sixty years later, f 
 
 * See my memoir of Ottaviano Nelli. Publications of the Arundel Society for 1857. 
 
 t Passavant, Raphael von Urbino, vol. i. p. 425. 
 
7 
 
 The earliest paintings of any importance now existing in Urbino, 
 are the frescoes of the oratory of St. John the Baptist, executed in 
 1416, by the brothers Lorenzo and Jacopo from San Severino. 
 The Crucifixion, a large composition crowded with figures, occupies 
 the end of the chapel. The side walls are covered with subjects 
 taken chiefly from the history of the Baptist. These frescoes are 
 interesting both on account of their actual merit, and for the place 
 they hold in the Umbrian school of painting. They bear evident 
 traces of the influence of the “ Giotteschi,” or followers of Giotto, 
 but the colouring is warmer, the drawing less mannered, and the 
 sentiment more devotional than in their works. In composition, 
 too, they show originality of treatment, and considerable dramatic 
 power. Many of the heads, especially in the Crucifixion, are 
 very dignified, and have at the same time a natural and portrait-like 
 character. The drawing of the nude is as faulty, as might be 
 expected in a work of the period.* 
 
 It was probably upon these frescoes that Giovanni Santi first 
 studied. His earliest style may also have been affected by the 
 works which the graceful pencil of Gentile da Fabriano had left in 
 the Hermitage of Val di Sasso, and the altar-piece which Fra 
 Angelico had stopped to paint at Forano. But a still more 
 direct influence may, perhaps, be traced to Ottaviano Nelli, of 
 whom Rosini, in his “ History of Italian Painting,” assumes that 
 he may actually have been the pupil. f A comparison of dates 
 will, however, show that Ottaviano was, in all probability, dead 
 
 * Of the two brothers, Lorenzo the eldest appears to have been the most skilful 
 artist. An altar-piece by him iu the National Gallery is a good example of his style, 
 t See my memoir of Ottaviano Nelli, p. 12. 
 
8 
 
 before Giovanni came, as a boy, to Urbino.* He was still young 
 when, in 1469, Pietro della Francesca became his guest. This 
 eminent painter, one of the most learned and original of his time, 
 had been called to Urbino by the munificence of Federigo, whose 
 portrait, with that of Battista Sforza, his wife, he was invited to 
 paint. f Giovanni profited by his teaching, especially in perspective, 
 of which Pietro had been one of the first to determine and explain 
 the true principles.]: Other painters of scarcely less merit had been 
 
 drawn from various parts of Italy to the enlightened cojirt of the 
 Count of Montefeltro. Amongst them the most distinguished were 
 Bartolomeo Coradini, more generally called, from his profession of 
 a Dominican monk, Fra Carnevale, whose works have, for the 
 most part, perished, but who, judging from such as remain, was 
 a painter of singular ability ; § Melozzo, from Forli, scarcely better 
 known than Fra Carnevale, but the few fragments of whose frescoes 
 are to be classed amongst the most remarkable productions of the 
 age in which he lived; || and the Florentine, Paolo Ucello, who 
 
 * Peruzzolo, Giovanni’s grandfather, sold his house at Colbordolo in 1454. He may 
 have previously settled his family in Urbino, as the foray of Sigismondo Malatesta, in 
 which he suffered, probably took place eight years before. No notice of Ottaviano Nelli 
 exists after 1444, and his careful biographer, Sig. Bonfatti, conjectures that he died 
 about this time. He painted at Urbino between 1428 and 1433. No traces of his works 
 are now to be found there. (Pungileoni, Elogio Storico di Giovanni Santi.) 
 
 t These portraits are now in the gallery of the Uffizi at Florence. A memorandum of 
 the payment of ten “ Bolognini” to Santi for the entertainment of Pietro della Francesca 
 is still preserved. 
 
 f Santi, in his poem, terms perspective a new art, “ invention del nostro secul nova.” 
 
 § His altar-piece in the Brera may be particularly mentioned. 
 
 || Of authentic works by this very original and remarkable painter, I am only acquainted 
 with the following : — A fresco painted in 1475, representing Sixtus IV. appointing 
 Platina Librarian of the Vatican, with portraits besides of the Cardinal Pietro Riario, 
 Giuliano della Rovere (afterwards Pope Julius II.), and of their brothers Girolamo Riario 
 and Giovanni della Rovere, a work of great vigour and character, formerly in the 
 “ Floreria” of the Vatican, but now transferred to canvas and in the Picture Gallery ; 
 the fragments of a fresco painted in the tribune of the church of the Santi Apostoli at 
 
9 
 
 had advanced his art a step by novel effects of foreshortening. 
 Lastly, Luca Signorelli, whose daring attempts in the same direc- 
 tion, and whose rich imagination, were preparing the way for 
 Michelangelo, was painting in Urbino in 1484. Giovanni was 
 well acquainted with the works of these masters, and had carefully 
 studied them. 
 
 Even the school of painting which had arisen in Flanders, and used 
 oil as a vehicle, thus introducing a new era in the art, was not 
 unrepresented at Urbino. Count Federigo, not satisfied with obtaining 
 a picture by the greatest of its masters, John van Eyck, had invited 
 to his Court one of that painter’s scholars, Justus of Ghent. An 
 altar-piece by this artist, dated in 1474, still exists in the church 
 of S. Agata. It is of very inferior merit when compared with the 
 masterpieces of his great contemporaries, and is chiefly interesting 
 as being probably one of the first pictures painted in Italy on the 
 new method, and as containing portraits of Federigo and of Caterino 
 Zeno, a Venetian sent as ambassador from the Persian King, 
 Ussun Khan.* 
 
 Home, in 1472, and destroyed in 1711, — one part consisting of Christ ascending to 
 heaven surrounded by angels, is now on the great staircase of the Quirinal, and fourteen 
 heads of apostles and angels are in the Sacristy of St. Peter’s, the latter singularly 
 beautiful, and executed with a freedom and breadth of style much in advance of his 
 time ; and a fresco in a very dilapidated state, lately removed from above the shop- 
 door of an apothecary at Forli, and known as the “ Pestapepe.” To these may be 
 added some heads remarkable for their vigorous character and truth, which probably 
 once adorned the library of Federigo’s palace at Urbino. Copies of some of them were 
 made by Raphael in his sketch-book, now preserved at Venice. They were formerly in 
 the Campana collection at Rome. The works of his pupil, Marco Palmezzano, a painter 
 far inferior in merit, have frequently been attributed to him, owing to the signature 
 “ Marcus de Melotius,” t. e., Marcus the pupil of Melozzo, sometimes appended to them ; 
 as by the editors of the Le Monnier edition of Vasari’s Lives. — Commentario alia vita di 
 Benozzo Gozzoli, vol. 4. 
 
 * I’assavant, however, thinks very highly of this work by Justus of Ghent, especially 
 
10 
 
 But Giovanni’s style seems to have undergone the greatest change 
 after he became acquainted with the works of Andrea Mantegna. 
 He appears to have accompanied Federigo to Mantua in 1482, and 
 to have there acquired the friendship of that most original and 
 thoughtful of painters. 
 
 Giovanni, like many of the great artists of his day, united with 
 the practice of his art an ardent .love for polite literature. This 
 taste was fostered by his intercourse with the eminent men of letters 
 w'ho frequented the Court of Urbino. He sought to repay the 
 benefits he had received from his generous patron by recording in 
 verse, and dedicating to his son and successor Guidubaldo I., the 
 principal events of Federigo’s life. The ease with which Giovanni’s 
 beautiful native tongue lends itself to rhythm and rhyme, enabled 
 him to compose, in what he terms “ the little-used metre of terza- 
 rima,” a poem of no less than 23 cantos and 24,000 lines.* The 
 verse is commonplace ; and this rhymed chronicle, like most other 
 compositions of the period, is rendered tedious by details of unim- 
 portant events related with precise minuteness. Still it contains 
 passages which show that the author w 7 as not without true poetic 
 feeling, and that he possessed a highly cultivated mind, well stored 
 with the learning of his day. The sentiments are always praise- 
 worthy, sometimes lofty and noble ; and he displays an ardent love 
 of his country, and a deep sense of the calamities hanging over her 
 
 extolling the composition and the vigorous treatment of the heads (Rafael von Urbino, 
 vol. i. p. 430). It appeared to me quite undeserving of the praise he bestows upon it. 
 
 * The MS. of this poem is preserved in the Vatican. Extracts of it are given by Pas- 
 savant in his Life of Raphael, and by Dennistonn in his “Dukes of Urbino.” It is 
 entitled “ Principio del* Opera compos ta da Giohanni de Sante pictore: nela quale se 
 contiene la vita e gesti de lo 111® et invictissimo principe Federico feretrano, duca de 
 Urbino.” 
 
from the internal dissensions which were then tearing her asunder. 
 Although his poem is valuable for its illustrations of contemporary 
 history, it is chiefly noticeable here on account of the record it 
 contains of the principal artists living at the period in different 
 parts of Italy ; proving that the author was well acquainted with 
 their works, and had studied the principal characteristics of their 
 styles, which he generally describes by an appropriate epithet. There 
 are no names of eminence which he does not mention, except those 
 of the two masters of the Bolognese school, Francia and Lorenzo 
 Costa (an omission not to be accounted for), and Pinturicchio, with 
 whose works nevertheless he must have been familiar. He calls 
 John van Eyck “the great,” and alludes to his pupil Roger Yander 
 Weyden ; but in no way notices Justus of Ghent, who, as we have 
 seen, was actually painting at Urbino. Giovanni appears, therefore, 
 to have appreciated at their just value the works of this artist.* 
 The painter who receives the amplest tribute of his praise is Andrea 
 Mantegna. Him he calls “ the most excellent and worthy in the 
 art of painting of all those who flourished in that illustrious age ; ” 
 and describes as uniting those various great qualities and beauties 
 which others only possessed singly, and which Giovanni enumerates 
 as, in his opinion, required to form the truly great painter ; namely, 
 grandeur of design, which he declares to be “ the true foundation 
 of painting,” invention, jndustry^ colour (especially in the art of 
 graduating tints, so as to produce the effects of foreshortening), 
 and the knowledge of the laws of perspective, requiring an 
 acquaintance with arithmetic, geometry, and architecture. He 
 places first amongst those pursuits which confer glory upon man, 
 
 * Passavant (vol. i. p. 431) seems, however, to be of opinion that Justus did exercise 
 some influence over Giovanni, and upon Italian art in general. 
 
Poetry and History, and then Sculpture and Painting, and offers 
 some just and well-considered remarks upon the end and functions 
 of the latter art. 
 
 In his “bottega,” or shop, in which he also carried on the trade of 
 a gilder,* Giovanni appears to have begun by painting devotional 
 pictures for country churches, and for pious customers who had 
 made vows to the Virgin or a patron saint. Occasionally, he was 
 employed in painting frescoes of Holy Families, or some other sacred 
 subject, in the little chapels, and roadside oratories, which 
 nestle in the blue hills and wooded valleys around Urbino. Some of 
 these early works may still be found by the curious traveller, 
 but they have for the most part perished, yielding to the hand of 
 Time, or brought to ruin during the many wars which have swept 
 over this part of Italy. His fame gradually extended beyond his 
 native province, and he was invited to paint altar-pieces in the cities 
 of the Marches — at Fano, Pesaro, Gradara, and Sinigaglia. Several 
 of these pictures are still preserved. His reputation was at the highest, 
 and his talents most matured, for he must have reached his fiftieth 
 year, when he was engaged, in 1490 or 1491, f by Pietro Tiranni, 
 of patrician descent, to decorate a family chapel in the Church of 
 S. Domenico at Cagli, a town of some size near Urbino. He went 
 thither accompanied by his wife and by Ins son, Raphael, then a boy 
 of nine years old. 
 
 * He pursued this calling to the latest period of his life. A year before his death he was 
 paid a small sum for gilding certain candelabra and angels (Pungileoni, p. 44). In 1489 
 we find him employed with other artists in devising triumphal arches, and other fancy 
 decorations, to grace the marriage of Guidubaldo I. and Elizabetta Gonzaga. 
 
 + Or a year later, if Pungileoni’s statement be true that he was accompanied by 
 Raphael’s stepmother (p. 37). Magia Ciarla died in 1491, and Giovanni’s second marriage 
 took place in the following year. 
 
13 
 
 The principal fresco which he painted there, is the most important, 
 and probably the best preserved, of all his works. It occupies the 
 end of an arched recess behind an altar. On the vaulted roof 
 above, on an azure ground sown with golden stars, is the Almighty, 
 surrounded by boy angels of exquisite grace, who are worshipping 
 and playing on instruments of music. In front of the arch is the 
 Annunciation — a half-figure of the Virgin occupying a medallion on 
 one side, the Angel a similar medallion on the other. The principal 
 fresco is divided horizontally into two distinct parts. In the lower 
 division are eight figures of life size. The Virgin, seated on a richly 
 decorated throne, tenderly supports the Infant Christ, who, standing 
 on her knee, grasps with one hand the scarf thrown across her 
 shoulders. On each side of her is a boy angel ; one stands with his 
 arms folded on his breast, the other, with his hands united, bends 
 in adoration. To her right are St. Peter holding the keys and 
 St. Francis of Assisi, represented, as he sometimes is by the Umbrian 
 painters, without a beard, and without the emaciated form which 
 generally characterises him. To her left are St. John the Baptist 
 pointing to the Saviour and St. Dominic reading in an open book.* 
 In front of the Virgin, upon the pavement, are a candle and two 
 small bottles, such as are used to hold oil or the consecrated elements 
 at the mass. The entire group is enclosed in an architectural recess, 
 the top of which, not unskilfully drawn in perspective, is made to 
 coincide with the spring of the arch, and to divide the fresco into 
 two distinct compartments. In the upper, in a semicircle or lunette, 
 Santi has painted the Resurrection of our Lord. The figures are 
 smaller than those in the lower division. The Saviour, with the white 
 grave-clothes partly thrown from his shoulders, and surrounded by a 
 
 * According to Pungileoni, St. Thomas Aquinas, but this is an error. 
 
14 
 
 glory of gilded rays, issues from the tomb — a chamber excavated in 
 the rock, and entered by a square doorway, like the ancient places of 
 sepulture still seen in Palestine. He holds in one hand the red 
 crossed banner of salvation, and raises the other in the act of blessing. 
 Around him are scattered six sleeping guards, dressed in the costume 
 and armour of the soldiers of the Montefeltri. They are represented 
 in various attitudes ; the legs of two are hanging over the rock 
 above the architectural division of the fresco. The background is 
 formed by a landscape with wooded hills, and the towers of a distant 
 town. 
 
 This fresco is not only the most important work that Giovanni 
 Santi ever executed, but it displays more than any other his peculiar 
 style, and enables us to trace the process by which that style was 
 formed. It is also peculiarly interesting as showing the influence 
 which he exercised over his son Raphael. It may be gathered, from 
 what I have said of Santi, that he was a laborious and loving follower 
 of his art, indebted for any success he attained in it rather to pains- 
 taking and conscientious study, and to a correct taste, than to the 
 fire of genius, and that lofty imagination, which mark the truly 
 great and original painter. His works fully bear out this view of 
 his character as an artist. The tendency of his mind was essentially 
 “ eclectic ” — to use a term subsequently applied to the masters of a 
 celebrated school. His earliest productions, and especially his Holy 
 Families, appear to have been imitated, except as regards colour (and 
 the exception is a curious one, and difficult to be accounted for), 
 from the Umbrian type, such as he had studied it when a boy in the 
 frescoes of the San Severini, Ottaviano Nelli, and Gentile de 
 Fabriano, and later in the pictures of his contemporaries, Benedetto 
 
15 
 
 Bonfigli, and Pietro Perugino. He gradually changed and improved 
 his style as he enlarged his acquaintance with the works of the great 
 masters of other schools which flourished in his day in Italy, and 
 perhaps also by the continued study of the specimens of antique 
 sculpture collected together in the Ducal Palace at Urbino. This 
 progress was constantly going on, and the successive modifications 
 in his style may be very clearly seen in his pictures. In a fresco of 
 the Virgin and Child, originally painted on the wall of his house in 
 Urbino,* and long believed to be a youthful work by his son, with 
 the graceful composition of the Umbrian school he has combined, in 
 the head of the Madonna, the peculiar manner of Pietro della 
 Francesca, or Fra Carnevale. The architecture in an “ Annunciation,” 
 now in the Brera Gallery, shows that he put into practice the rules 
 of perspective which he had learnt from the former master. Whilst 
 one female figure in an altar-piece at Fano, representing the Visitation, 
 reminds one of Pietro Perugino in expression and in grace, others, 
 in the free treatment of drapery, and in the noble and dignified 
 character of the heads, show an imitation of Botticelli or Cosimo 
 Roselli. In a later picture, in the Church of S. Croce at the same 
 place, a S. Sebastian and two Angels are altogether Umbrian in 
 character and feeling, whilst the broad and well studied folds of the 
 draperies point to the influence of Verocchio and the sculpturesque 
 school of painting. In the “ Martyrdom of S. Sebastian,” in an 
 oratory dedicated to the Saint in Urbino, he appears first to have 
 attempted, in certain figures of archers and in an angel, some of those 
 effects of foreshortening which he had been taught by Mantegna 
 
 * This fresco, detached - from a wall on the ground floor, has been removed into one 
 of the upper rooms of the hous^. It has been so frequently restored and repainted that 
 little but the composition and the general forms remain. 
 
16 
 
 or Melozzo. In a votive picture painted in 1488, in the Convent 
 of Montefiorentino, near Urbania, for the Count Carlo Olivo Planiani 
 or Pianani, who is represented in full armour, Santi has successfully 
 united the broad manner of the Plorentine school with the rich and 
 carefully executed details of such Umbrian masters as Gentile da 
 Fabriano and Pietro Perugino. A peacock’s feather, the badge of 
 the Ghibelline party to which the Count belonged, and the reflections 
 and play of light upon the armour, deserve especial notice as 
 examples of highly successful naturalistic painting. A picture in 
 the Church of the Franciscans at Urbino, painted in 1489, evidently 
 shows the influence of Mantegna, with whose works he had now 
 probably become well acquainted through his visit to Mantua, 
 especially in the life-like and dignified character of the heads, and the 
 treatment of the draperies, whilst some lovely angels breathe the true 
 Umbrian spirit. 
 
 The fresco at Cagli, being one of the latest of his works, 
 represents his most matured style, founded upon all that he had 
 gathered from the study of the various schools of Italy. It is 
 unquestionably a very remarkable work, whether on account of its 
 actual merits, or considered with reference to the period in which it 
 was executed, entitling Santi to a far higher place amongst the 
 painters of his day than has been assigned to him. In his earlier 
 pictures his principal faults consist of a dark heavy outline, a cold 
 leaden colouring, especially in the shadows, an absence of those 
 delicate and subtle middle-tints and half-tints which give truth and 
 harmony to painting, and the feebly drawn attenuated extremities of 
 his figures. These defects pervade more or less all the works by him 
 I have described. Although he imitated the Florentine masters in 
 
17 
 
 some things, he does not appear to have adopted their grand and 
 natural composition. All his pictures are devotional, and all are 
 treated, in the arrangement of the groups, more or less according to 
 the conventional mode of the previous century. His merits consist 
 in the truthful and animated imitation of nature in single parts and 
 in details, — his portraits, especially, being very life-like and highly 
 individualised, — in the lofty and noble expression of his heads, in 
 the breadth and dignity of his draperies, and in the grace and 
 deeply spiritual feeling which characterises his representations of 
 women and children, more especially of the latter, who are often of 
 exquisite loveliness and simplicity. The Cagli fresco, whilst not 
 without some of the blemishes I have pointed out in his style, unites 
 more of these high qualities than any other of his works.* 
 
 The general arrangement and subject of the fresco are purely 
 conventional. Although apparently very dissimilar in its two parts, 
 the whole is meant to carry out one simple and connected idea. 
 The composition of the lower portion, the Madonna between four 
 saints, two on each side of her, is derived from the early ancona, or 
 altar-piece, in which the Virgin and Child occupied a centre panel, 
 and various holy personages separate compartments on either side of 
 her. This artificial, grouping was occasionally adopted to a late period 
 
 * Kugler (“ Handbook of PaintiDg,” Italian School, vol. i. p. 263) remarks, “ Giovanni 
 is seen in his highest beauty in this fresco . . . His drawing is not only fuller and more 
 animated, and the colouring fresher than in his other works, but in the expression of 
 many of his figures he approaches the grace of his son Raphael.” Passavant, in his Life 
 of Raphael (vol. i. p. 37), also places it first among Santi’s works. See likewise 
 Pungileoni, “ Elogio Storico,” p. 37; and Dennistoun’s “Dukes of Urbino,” vol. ii. 
 p. 208. Rosini in his “ History of Italian Painting ” (vol. iii. p. 171) erroneously 
 describes the subject of this fresco as an “ Epifauia,” and calls the angel to the right 
 St. John the Baptist. 
 
18 
 
 by many even of the great masters of the Florentine school, and 
 was not altogether abandoned by Raphael himself. It was followed 
 by Santi in seven out of the nine important works by him still 
 preserved. In the Cagli fresco the Virgin and Infant Christ are 
 attended by the Baptist as the Precursor, St. Peter as the head of 
 the Catholic Church, and St. Francis and St. Dominic as the 
 founders of the two great religious orders which were mainly in- 
 strumental in establishing its authority. According to a tradition 
 the angel, with his arms crossed, to the right of the throne, is 
 the portrait of Giovanni’s son, Raphael, who accompanied him to 
 Cagli. The age would well agree with that of the boy, then nine 
 years old, and in that gentle and beautiful face may perhaps be 
 traced the features which his fond master Pietro, and he himself in 
 manhood, not unfrequently portrayed.* 
 
 This group of the Virgin and Child, with the two youthful 
 angels, is very graceful and pleasing. It is conceived in the devotional 
 spirit of the Umbrian school, but has less of its affectation and 
 mannerism. The action is very natural, the drawing animated and on 
 the whole correct, the nude being fuller and less hard in outline than in 
 the painter’s easel pictures. The figures of the four saints are grand 
 and dignified, the heads noble, and distinguished by natural and appro- 
 
 * A tracing of this interesting portrait is published by the Arundel Society. Other figures 
 in Santi’s pictures have been pointed out as the portraits of Raphael when a boy. An 
 angel in the altar-piece of the church of the Francescans at Urbino was long believed to 
 represent him, but it has been shown to be that of a child of the Buffi family. An 
 angel in the Montefiorentino altar-piece was also supposed to be the young Raphael, but 
 as he could not have been nine years old when that picture was painted, he could scarcely 
 have sat for a youth of twelve or thirteen. Passavant has suggested that the Madonna 
 and Child preserved in Santi’s house at Urbino are portraits of Magia Ciarla and her 
 infant son ; but this is a mere conjecture. 
 
19 
 
 priate expression; the draperies are broadly treated and the extremities, 
 the hands and feet, are less attenuated and meagre, except, perhaps, in 
 the figure of the Baptist, than in other works of the painter. Whilst the 
 influence of Mantegna can be detected in these figures, that of the 
 Florentine school is perhaps still more evident, especially in the very 
 fine representation of St. Peter, which reminds one of Era Bartolomeo. 
 The conventional division of the picture into two distinct parts 
 produces an awkward effect, especially as the figure of Christ in the 
 upper compartment is of smaller proportions than the figures in the 
 lower. The artist evidently intended, by this difference of size, to 
 show that the upper part represented a vision, or the revelation of 
 a future event foreshadowed at the birth of the Saviour. The 
 figure of Christ is fairly drawn, but a little weak. The expression 
 is marked by solemn majesty. The sleeping guards, tossed in various 
 attitudes, are skilfully foreshortened after the manner of Mantegna, 
 which Giovanni in this instance evidently imitated. The landscape 
 is altogether conventional, too green and monotonous in colour, and 
 very inferior in sentiment and true feeling for nature to the back- 
 grounds of Pietro Perugino. 
 
 Except in the upper division, where it is somewhat raw, the 
 colouring is in good keeping, more harmonious and lively, more 
 transparent and less heavy in the shadows than is usual with the 
 painter. That of the masses of drapery is light and simple, according 
 to the habit of the painters of the fifteenth century. The carnations 
 and luminous high white lights in the flesh tints, especially in the 
 heads of the Virgin and Child, have a rich and pleasing effect. 
 Still the general tone of colour is deficient in that brilliant glow, 
 so characteristic of the best painters of the Umbrian school, nor 
 
20 
 
 lias it the sober truthfulness which distinguishes the great Florentine 
 masters of the period. It is peculiarly Giovanni’s own, and gives 
 that distinguishing character or style to his works by which they 
 may be at once detected. He has profusely touched some of the 
 draperies with gold, and has surrounded the figure of Christ in the 
 lunette, and the head of the Child in the lower part, with gilded 
 rays, a common practice of the painters of the period to give 
 additional brilliancy to their pictures. 
 
 The technical qualities of the fresco show that Santi had great 
 command over the material, and it is to be regretted that more of 
 his works in it have not been preserved. With the exception of a 
 “ Pieta,” or dead Christ, with St. Jerome and St. Bonaventura, 
 over the tomb of the wife of Pietro Tiranni, adjoining the chapel 
 of the family, and the Virgin and Child in the house at Urbino, 
 I know of no other fresco by him. A short time ago one discovered 
 under whitewash, in the same church of the Dominicans at Cagli, 
 and attributed to him, was destroyed by the monks. I saw a head 
 cut from it, which had all the characteristics of Santi’s style. 
 
 It was during his sojourn at Cagli, or shortly after his return to 
 Urbino, that Santi lost his wife, Magia Ciarla, the mother of Raphael. 
 He married a year after, Bernardina the daughter of Piero di Parte, 
 a goldsmith. On the 1st of August 1494, about three years after 
 he had painted his great fresco, he died and was buried in the 
 church of the Franciscans at Urbino. A life of careful industry 
 had enabled him to save property to the value of 860 florins, which 
 he divided by his will between his wife, his only son,* and his 
 
 * Giovanni had a daughter by his second wife, but she died an infant. 
 
21 
 
 sister’s husband Bartolomeo, leaving to the Brotherhood of the 
 Sta. Maria della Misericordia in Urbino such property as might 
 remain undisposed of, in the event of the failure of his descendants. 
 That event was not long in occurring ; for on the death of his 
 illustrious son in 1520, the Brotherhood claimed their right, and 
 received, after various deductions for legacies, 355 florins.* 
 
 Santi left his son to the care of Magia Ciarla’s brother, Simone. 
 His uncle and guardian, and not his father as erroneously stated by 
 Vasari, placed Raphael to complete his education as a painter with 
 one of the most distinguished masters of the time, Pietro Perugino. 
 The youth was then about twelve years old, and had already shown 
 proofs of the genius which afterwards raised him to the summit of 
 his art. That genius had been lovingly developed by his father, 
 whose constant companion he had been. Brought up in the society 
 of those men eminent in literature and art who frequented the Court 
 of Urbino, surrounded by the monuments of modern painting and 
 ancient sculpture which adorned Federigo’s palace, and under the 
 guidance of one well able to direct his taste and cultivate his 
 understanding, Raphael’s training as an artist had already far 
 advanced when his father died. That Santi’s early teaching and 
 example exercised a permanent influence upon his son, to be traced 
 
 * To his wife Bernardina, Santi left various rioh articles of apparel, which are curiously 
 specified in the barbarous law Latin of the period in his will. She also had the use of 
 his house in Urbino. Passavant, “ Rafael von Urbino,” vol. i. p. 407. The principal 
 authorities for the life of Giovanni Santi are, Pungileoni, who, in his “ Elogio Storico,” 
 first collected with curious diligence all that could be found relative to the painter in the 
 archives and traditions of his native country ; and Passavant, who has added some inte- 
 resting documents to this collection, and has illustrated Santi’s works by his able criti- 
 cisms. See also a notice of the painter in Dennistoun’s “Dukes of Urbino,” vol. ii. ; 
 and in the Commentary to the Life of Raphael in Le Monnier’s edition of Vasari's Lives, 
 published at Florence. 
 
22 
 
 even at the period of the highest development of his powers, can 
 scarcely be doubted when the works of the two are compared. In 
 the Cagli fresco, for instance, Passavant has pointed out the 
 resemblance between the Virgin and Child and the group in a picture 
 painted by Raphael in his youth, and now in the possession of the 
 Alfani family at Perugia, and the Baptist seems to have suggested 
 the figure of the same saint in the well-known ‘ Madonna di Fuligno.’ 
 Raphael closely copied the Christ in the same fresco in a cartoon 
 for tapestry now in the Vatican. An archer in the Martyrdom of 
 S. Sebastian at Urbino is recognised in the young man breaking 
 the rod in the beautiful picture of the Sposalizio now in the Brera. 
 Many other analogies could be pointed out. A ‘Tobit and the 
 Angel’ in the Church of St. Francis in the same city, was long 
 believed to be by Raphael, and the peculiarly “ Raphaelesque ” 
 character of a Saint Sebastian and some angels in the picture at 
 Fano leads Passavant to remark, “ that these figures have a charm 
 which gives a foreshadowing of Raphael,” whilst he observes in 
 reference to Santi’s representation of the heads of children “ that both 
 in type and expression they have a striking resemblance to those of 
 his son.” The influence of his father is very visible in the earliest of 
 his works, painted when he was still Pietro’s scholar, and was imitating 
 his manner. For he soon exceeded his new master in the dignified 
 and unconventional character of his heads, in the broad treatment of 
 his draperies, and in the exceeding loveliness and natural grace of 
 his angels and children — precisely the characteristics of his father’s 
 style. Passavant has remarked that in his clear white lights and 
 reddish transitions, especially in the flesh tints, Raphael imitated the 
 principles of colouring adopted by Santi, and especially observable in 
 his representations of children and young persons. But it was 
 
23 
 
 undoubtedly from Pietro’s teaching that he acquired that richness 
 and brilliancy yet perfect harmony of colour, which give such 
 exquisite beauty to his earliest pictures, and to which Santi never 
 attained. 
 
 Vasari declares that Raphael helped his father in many of his 
 works. This may have been the case, but he was too young to 
 have rendered him any material assistance, and it is idle now to seek 
 in Santi’s productions traces of the hand of his son. 
 
 Whilst Santi, by his knowledge, experience, and taste, had 
 exercised upon Raphael the influence I have attempted to describe, 
 he was deficient in that vigour and originality which lead to the 
 foundation of a school or to the real progress of art. Praiseworthy 
 diligence may end in excellent mediocrity. The conscientious 
 
 imitation of nature in details and in parts may produce very valuable 
 and interesting pictures. But it required the genius of a Mantegna, a 
 Verocchio, or a Luca Signorelli to mould their generation, and to 
 prepare the way for those who have carried their art to the highest 
 perfection it has attained. The works of such painters may have a 
 thousand faults, may even be repulsive to those who cannot 
 appreciate their merits, or feel the inspiration that produced them. 
 But they mark an epoch in painting, and furnish the ideas and 
 materials which others under more favourable circumstances, and 
 enjoying the advantages those very works confer, have been able to 
 develop. Thus it was that the visit of Raphael to Florence and his 
 contemplation of the masterpieces of its school, fired the genius 
 which gave birth to the Frescoes of the Vatican, the Cartoons and 
 the Madonna di S. Sisto. 
 
24 
 
 Although, therefore, Santi founded no school and left no professed 
 followers, yet his conscientious study of nature, his feeling for beauty, 
 and his endeavour to select and combine that which was most 
 truthful and dignified in the styles of his contemporaries, entitle him 
 to a high rank amongst the painters of his day. That he was the 
 father of Raphael and his earliest teacher gives him an additional 
 claim to the respect of posterity. In their desire to preserve the 
 works of such men — works likely to perish and men less known 
 than from their intrinsic merits they deserve — the Council of the 
 Arundel Society have selected for publication Santi’s fresco at 
 Cagli.* 
 
 A. H. LAYARD. 
 
 * I cannot forbear noticing the admirable manner in which this fresco has been 
 executed in chromo-lithography from Signor Mariannecci’s excellent copy, by Messrs. 
 Storch and Kramer of Berlin, under the able superintendence and direction of Mr. L. 
 Gruner. It is the best specimen with which I am acquainted of a process that is being 
 gradually brought to high perfection under these skilful chromo-lithographers. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
^facsimiles of Ancient |ferg Cartings. 
 
 To facilitate the sale of the fictile ivory casts, the Council have resolved to 
 modify one of the conditions hitherto imposed on purchasers. The entire collection, 
 which numbers about 170 pieces, is divided into classes, corresponding to the principal 
 schools and periods of the art of ivory-carving. These classes have always been sold 
 separately from each other ; but as yet no individual casts have been allowed to be 
 taken from their proper classes, a collection of specimens, called the Select Class, 
 having been made by the authority of the Council, and sold to those who desired 
 only one or two examples of each school and period. The price of this Select Class 
 is, to Members of the Society, £3 3s. ; those of the other classes vary from £1 to 
 £2 10s. It has now been determined that, in addition to the sale in classes, Members 
 shall be allowed to select casts for purchase at their own option, without reference 
 to the classification, on condition of their taking not less than the value of £2 in one 
 purchase. For this purpose the casts have been all separately priced; and a list of 
 the prices, which range from 10c?. up to 14s. 3d., is supplied with the Catalogue. The 
 entire Collection, which is sold to Members at £21, may be seen at the Society’s Rooms. 
 The following may be obtained, post free, by application to the Assistant-Secretary : — 
 
 s. d. 
 
 Mr. M. Digby Wyatt’s Lecture on Ivory-Carving - - - 1 6 
 
 Mr. Oldfield’s Classified Catalogue of the Collection (with list of 
 
 prices) 10 
 
 The Lecture and Catalogue bound together 2 6