Introduction | Florence and Rome | Giulio Romano | Polidoro da Caravaggio | Perino del Vaga
Perino del Vaga
Perino
was born in Florence in 1501 and moved to Rome in about 1516. He entered
Raphael's workshop soon thereafter and seems to have served primarily as an
assistant on the frescoes in the Loggia of the Vatican. After Raphael's
death, Perino worked independently of the studio, which was under the
control of Giulio Romano, but retained a strong connection with it. He
quickly established himself as a specialist in fresco, executing paintings
in the Vatican, private palaces, and several churches.
His
growing success in Rome was abruptly curtailed in 1527 by the Sack of
Rome, when the Holy Roman Emperor's soldiers invaded the city. As Rome's
economy and its art market collapsed, Perino left to enter the service
of Andrea Doria in Genoa, but by 1538 he had returned to a recovered Rome.
He was soon established as the city's leading decorative painter, controlling
a studio approaching the size and complexity of Raphael's thirty years
earlier. Among his major commissions were decorative projects for Pope
Paul III in his private apartments; the Vatican's main reception hall
(the Sala Regia); and the Castel Sant'Angelo, which formed part of the
Vatican's fortifications. His death in 1547 was, according to his biographer
Giorgio Vasari, caused by overwork.
Introduction | Florence and Rome | Giulio Romano | Polidoro da Caravaggio | Perino del Vaga