I mentioned some months ago, in the pages of
this Magazine, some curious facts showing the real sentiments of the
great Perugino on this subject while he was painting Madonnas and
miracles for his ecclesiastical patrons. And the following singular
extract from the archives of the cathedral church of Todi may be added
to what was there written as a proof of the somewhat unexpected fact.
The wood-work of the choir was begun by Maestro Antonio Bencivieni of
Mercatello, in the duchy of Urbino, and was completed in 1530 by his son
Sebastian, who finished his work by inserting in it a singularly haughty
inscription in intarsia. The Latin of the original may be Englished
thus: "Begun by the art and genius of Ant^{o} Bencivieni of Mercatello.
This work was finished by his son Sebastian. Having kept faith and
maintained his honor, he did enough." The worthy canons, however,
discovered just one and forty years afterward that Maestro Sebastiano
had done somewhat too much. For he had on the fourth stall, counting
from the bishop's seat, on the right-hand side of the choir, inserted
amid the ornamentation certain Latin words, inscribed over a carving of
three vases intended to represent reliquaries, which may be translated
thus: Over the first vase, "The shadow of the ass ridden by our Lord;"
over the second, "The feet of the Blessed Virgin as she ascended into
heaven;" over the third, "Relics of the Holy Trinity." These strange
inscriptions remained where Maestro Sebastiano had so audaciously placed
them till the May of 1571.
Pages:
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267