. The spell of Italy. ion of the walls of the Libre-ria was dated June 29, 1502. It was made betweenthe most reverend lord Cardinal of Siena and MesserBernardino, called il Pinturicchio, painter of Peru-gia. The leading episodes in the life of Pope PiusII (iEneas Silvius Piccolomini, native of Siena),Were to be the subjects of the frescoes, and the ex-press stipulation was that il Pinturicchio shall makeall the designs of the histories with his own hand,in cartoons and on the walls, and paint all the headsof the figures in fresco with his own hand. (Nonethe less it is believed that Raphael him
. The spell of Italy. ion of the walls of the Libre-ria was dated June 29, 1502. It was made betweenthe most reverend lord Cardinal of Siena and MesserBernardino, called il Pinturicchio, painter of Peru-gia. The leading episodes in the life of Pope PiusII (iEneas Silvius Piccolomini, native of Siena),Were to be the subjects of the frescoes, and the ex-press stipulation was that il Pinturicchio shall makeall the designs of the histories with his own hand,in cartoons and on the walls, and paint all the headsof the figures in fresco with his own hand. (Nonethe less it is believed that Raphael himself lent afrequent helping pencil.) Further, great emphasis islaid upon the free use of gold, azure, ultra-marine,enamel-blue, azure-greens and other pleasing truth il Pinturicchio filled his colour contractwell. Peculiar interest attaches to the great scenein which the young Piccolomini rides forth to seekhis fortunes, as one of the retinue, a beautiful youth,mounted on a richly caparisoned bay horse, and. RAPHAEL, DETAIL OF FRESCO BY PINTURICCHIO. ^ Siena the Sorceress 263 holding a hound in leash, is believed to be an authen-tic portrait of Raphael. One might devote days of study to the endlessintricacies of the Cathedral pavement, the famousgrafiti, where in strong contrast of black and whitemarble and in powerful outHnes, Saints and Sybils,heraldic beasts and Scriptural characters appear inendless sequence, so stern, so grotesque, and yetso beautiful that they haunt the memory. And Sienas pulpit, who shall describe it? Thatmasterpiece of Nicola Pisano, which marks so nearlythe year of Dantes birth! The busts of the Popesin the cornice; the Capella del Volte, with its sweet,archaic pictures of the young knight, AlbertoAringhieri, and the lovely scenes in the life of theBaptist; the glories of the choir and high-altar, —should not things Uke these be mentioned ratherthan that small detail of the horizontal layers ofblack and ivory marble in pillars and walls, w
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