"Il Pintoricchio"

Bernardino di Betto, known also as Pintoricchio, was born between 1456 and 1460 in Perugia to a modest family of artisans. The early life of the painter seems to have been very unhappy and was further complicated in 1475 when his father, a simple cloth tanner, died of the plague.
Some years before, however, Giapeco Caporali, the extraordinary miniaturist, opened a bottega on the same street as the young Bernardino’s family home and it is assumed that the young boy had his first experiences with brushes and colours in the Caporali bottega. These were years of a great artistic fervour in Perugia; the city was becoming an eminent centre for artistic activities in central Italy. In the early years, Pintoricchio participated in this artistic revival, sometimes as a spectator, other times as a protagonist; he is recognised to have worked on the majestic tables that recount the stories of San Bernardino in 1473, while also working alongside Perugino on the scaffolding of the Sistina.
It was not, however, until 1481 that his first authored works are documented, following his enrolment in the guild of Artists and Painters in Porta Sant’Angelo, Perugia. Working in Rome allowed him to meet new and influential figures: between 1482 and 1485 he painted the cappella Bufalini all’Aracoeli, he intermittently returned to his home town to complete some of his works and to carry out small commissions, some of which were obtained thanks to his nephew, Girolamo di Simone - the extremely young Canon of the Cathedral of San Lorenzo of Perugia. This fact may also explain the excellent relationship that Pintoricchio had with Innocenzo VIII, for whom, between 1487 and 1488, he worked on the site of his apartments in the Vatican: unfortunately only part of these are still in existence as the rest was destroyed in order to make space for the Pio Clementino Museum.
In 1490 Bernardino was at work in the Sala dei Mesi in the Palace of Cardinal Domenico Delle Rovere and in the Chapel Santa Maria del Popolo.
Two years later he came to Orvieto for a commission in the Duomo that was completed only in 1496. In the meantime Alessandro VI Borgia had become Pope and commissioned the Umbrian artist to decorate his apartments in the Vatican, a grandiose project that kept Pintoricchio busy in Rome until 1495.
By the 2nd January of the same year, the altarpiece of Santa Maria dei Fossi, perhaps one of his most significant works, was still awaiting completion. The works in Spoleto, Perugia and Orvieto brought money and in 1501 also recognition from the political powers that appointed him to hold the position of prior of the Arts in Perugia.
The events in the life of Pintoricchio are closely linked to the political landscape of Perugia, he was a familiar and loyal servant to Cesare Borgia and he was also connected to the Baglioni family, from whom he received the commission to decorate the walls of the Capella Bella in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Spello, where - between the autumn of 1500 and the spring of 1501 - he created paintings of such magnificent beauty and skill that his fame and eminence in artistic circles in Umbria was ensured for many years to come.
Many consider his crowning achievement to be the stunning cycle of frescoes that illustrated the life of Enea Silvio Piccolomini, Pope Pio II, located in the Piccolomini library in Siena. Ambroggio Barocci designed the grandiose architectural structure and the draughts for the illustrated scenes were prepared by a young Raffaello; these details only serve to underline the greatness achieved by the Perugian painter.
In 1506 the frescoes were completed and Pintoricchio received the commission to paint the pala di Sant’Andrea in Spello, which he eventually left to Eusebio da San Giorgio to complete.
Between 1509 and 1510 he painted his last Roman work, the vaulted ceilings on the Capella Delle Rovere in Santa Maria del Popolo.
In 1513 he retired, due to ill health, to the Sienan countryside, where he died on the 11th December. He was rich but alone, following abandonment by his wife. It was a sad and lonely end for an artist that was initially considered, “deaf, small and unprepossessing,” yet nonetheless, had managed to attain greatness.
Information and Bookings
199 199 111 servizi@civita.it Civita Servizi
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Perugia Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria at Palazzo dei Priori
Corso Vannucci, 19

Daily Opening hours
2nd February -30th March 2008 from 9.30 to 19.00
31st March – 29th June 2008 from 9.30 to 20.00
(The ticket office will close one hour prior to closing time)

Tickets (including bag deposit)

Exhibition at Palazzo dei Priori, Perugia
- Adult € 10,00
- Reductions € 8,00 for under 18s and over 65s , groups (minimum 15 people), University student cardholders, Perugia City Museum Card Holders
- School reductions € 4,00
- Free children under 6 years old, two accompanying teachers, wheelchair users, press-card holders
Combined € 12,00 (Exhibition + Galleria Nazionale dell’ Umbria )
- Cumulative € 12,00 (exhibition in Perugina + Cappella Baglioni and the Pinacoteca Civica in Spello )
- Pintoricchio Card € 17,00 (Exhibition in Perugia+Cappella Baglioni and the Pinacoteca Civica in Spello + Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria and other sites and privileges of the Perugia City Museum ).

Information - Booking