Raphael`s altar-piece patrons in Cittd di Castello

TOM HENRY
Raphael'saltar-piecepatronsin Cittd di Castello*
RAIHAEL's earliestdocumentedactMty as a painter was in
Citta di Castello, where he painted three altar-piecesand a
confraternity banner. Investigation of the individuals who
commissionedthe altar-piecesshedsnew light on Raphael's
work in the city and revealsthat the artist's private patrons
there formed a close-knit coterie whose commissionsshould
be seenas part of the extensiverenovation of chapelsin the
city's churchesin the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.
Cittn di Castello is a small city in the upper Tiber valley,'
fifteen miles south of Borgo Sansepolcro,with good accessby
road to Florence,Urbino and Perugia,thirty-five miles to the
south (Fig.l). In this period it was part of the Papal States,
but was elfectively ruled by the Vitelli family and their associates.Documentationfor the period c.1485-1505givesevidence of a high level of artistic patronage in the city with a
concertedprogramme of altar renewal.For most of the 1490s
the local artistic scene was dominated by the presence of
Luca Signorelli (c.1450-1523),who painted altar-piecesfor
many of the same churches as Raphael and whose patrons
were closelylinked to his. Signorelli was first documented in
Citti di Castello in 1486,'?and was granted local citizenship
in 14BBwhile painting a processionalbanner (now lost) for
the most important local confraternity, S. Maria della Pietd.3
He subsequentlypainted portraits of three members of the
ruling family, and an unpublished letter of l6th December
l49B demonstrateshis intimacy with the Vitelli and with the
political6lite of Citti di Castello.aSignorelli alsopainted five
altar-piecesfor the city between 1493 and 1498: the high
altar-piecesof S. Maria dei Servi and S. Agostino (the latter
now in the Louwe) for which he was paid two hundred and
150 florins in 1493 and 1494 respectively,'and other altarpiecesin S. Agostino (for Luca Feriani'schapel,probably the
Natiuigtnow in Naples),uand in S. Francesco(theNatiuiE now
in the National Gallery London, apparendy for the Tiberti
family, 1496).'In 1497-98 - immediately prior to his depar-
ture from the city - Signorelli painted the MarErdom 0f St
Sebastianfor Tommaso Brozzi's chapel in S. Domenico
(Fig.7),further discussedbelow.sThis appears to have been
Signorelli's last commission in Citta di Castello for twenty
years,ashe waslured awaybyprestigiousfrescocommissions
at Monteolive to Maggiore and Orvieto. His departure left
something of an artistic vacuum, soon to be filled by the
young Raphael.
The account of Raphael'sactivity in Cittd di Castello that
appears in Vasari's Liues,with its perceptive comments on
the young artist's stylisticdevelopment,has been the cornerstonefor all subsequentdiscussions,but Vasari provides relatively little detailed information. He mentions the three
altar-piecespainted for S. Agostino, S. Domenico and S.
Francescoin such away that two of the three can be securely identified, but doesnot identify their patrons or give their
dates.sHe does not refer at aII to the double-sided banner
depicting the TiiniQ with StsSebastian
andRochand The Creation
of Eue,'onor does he offer any explanation of how the artist
came to the attention of the citizens of Cittd di Castello
(although he does add the interesting, and verifiable, information that the artist came to the city 'conalcuniamici suof).
Vasari's account has been supplementedby information
from the pictures themselvesand their frames, and by the
researchesof various scholars,especiallyGiovanni Magherini Graziani, who identified the patrons of Raphael's three
altar-pieces,and made a first attempt to reconstruct their
biographies." The two documents he found for the altarpiece that Raphael painted for Andrea Baronci in S. Agostino (1500-01)have been republishedon various occasions,"
but, with the exceptionof a small study of Baronci,r3there has
been no attempt until now to investigatethe links between
Raphael'svarious patrons.
The documents for the Baronci painting Raphael's first
altar-piececommissionin Cittd di Castello,remains the only
direct archival evidencefor his activity in the ciry.In Decem-
*For the great kindnesses a{forded to me in Cittd di Caste11o,I would like to thank
Anna Maria Traversini, Alba Ghelli, Corrado Rosini, Don Paolo Schivo, Olita
Franceschini,Donal Cooper and the lateJoyce Plesters.For opportunities to discuss
this material, I am grate{ir.l to Nicholas Penny, CarolPlazzotia,Marreen Banker and
Lee Hendrix. I would also like to thank David Steel andJos6 Luis Porfirio for information about Raphaei's panels in Raleigh and Lisbon. The Archivio Storico,
Archivio Notarile and Archivio Vescovile in Cittd di Castello are hereafter referred
to in thesenotes as CDCAS. CDCAN and CDCAV
'Cittd di Castello may well be representedin the background of the Mond Crucifaion,
as first suggestedin c. uecrm,nnr cRAzrAM: LAxe a Ciad di Castel/a,Cittd di Castello
r. HENRvand r.. xarlrr,t: Iaca Signorelli.The CompletePaintings,London 12002], cat.
nos.4244.
'The documents for these comissions are transcribed in rn'nnv 1996, pp.422-29
and 437-39 (and seepp.145-62).
uSeenrl'nv and reNren op.cit. at note 4 above, no.45.
,
'Ibil., no.5l.
oSeenpxny 1996, pp.1 73-81 and rmrny and xewrnr., op.cit. at note 4 above,no.55.
nc. vesanr: Za Wtede'pii unllmti pittori, vultori earchiteftorinelle
redazionidel 1550 e 1568,
ed. n. sertAx-tr\'rand e. renoccHr, Florence [1976], I! pp.158 59. The substantive
inlormation is unchanged between the two editions.
'oThisbanner, probably Raphael'sfirstwork for the city, is first mentioned in the confraternity church of S. Triniti in 1627 (a. comr: fiori aaghidelk uitade'SantieBeati fulla
Chiesae reliquiedtlk Cittddi Castelk,Cittd di Castello [1627], p.179). For the painting
which is now in the PinacotecaComunale, seee. MARABoTTIM,
in r.r. rueNcnn,ed.:
Pinacoteca
Comunale
di Cittddi Castelll:Dipinti,PertgSa [1989], pp.1 70-72.
op. cit. at note 1 above, pp.236-37, and idem:'Documenti
"MAGHERInGRAZTAM,
inediti relativi al "San Niccold da Tolentino" e allo "Sposalizio" di RaJfaello', .Bof
kttino dellatugin Depunaionedi StorinPahiaper I'Umbria,XfV [1908], pp.83-95.
''lCDCAN, 48.8, Gentile di Ser Giovanni Buratti, fo1s.94vand
211 (fust published
by uecnr,nnn cn-ezl.tttt, loc.cit. at note 11 above, and again in v. cor-zro: Rffiello nei
docummti,nellztestimonianze
fui contanporanei
e nella Letttraturadel suosecolo,Vatican City
ll8s7l,p.237.
'?Thedetached and fragmentary lresco ofthe Wgin and Child mthronedwith StsPaul and
jeromztrt the Pinacoteca Comunale, Cittd di Castello, is usually acceptedas a documented and dated work by Signorelli of 1474, but he is not in fact named in the
'Signorelli e Perugino', Aai del Conugno
contempomry documents; see r. HENRv:
intnnazionalen PietroVannucci
dettoil Puugino,Pmqia 25-28.10.2000,Perugia,2003,
forthcoming.
3The documents for this processionalbanner and Signorelli's receipt oflocal citizenship are transcribed in r. HENRv:The Caren of Luca Signorelliin the 1490s, tnpublished doctoral dissertation, University oflondon, 1996 (hereafter referred to as
uornv 1996),pp.396 and 40M4.
'Luca Signorelli to Corrado Salimbeni, 16th December 1498 (Pierpont Morgan
Library New Yo*, MS MA 4261, gift of Mrs Landon K. Thorne,Jq 1985).I wiII
discussthis letter (the text of which can be found in rnxpv 1996, pp.458-59) in a
forthcoming article in PagineAltotiberine.For Signorelli's portraits of the Vitelli, see
268
pp.7-B).
[1e36],
"F,. rrtr-r.ce:rrAndreaBaronciegli altri committmtitfrnati di Rffiello. Condocummtiinediti,
Cittd di Castello f19941.
RAPHAEL,S
ALTAR.PIECE
PATRONS
IN
CITTA
DI
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!;'::!:4f::. -, .. .'- *::'f:1",':.::Y-|
I. Map of Cittd di Castello,by Filippo Titi. c.1675(?).Engraving. (Biblioteca Comunale, Cittd di Castello).North is at bottom dght. The
churcheswhich housed works byRaphael are nos.1I (S.Agostino), 13 (S. Domenico), 14 (S. Francesco)and 43 (S.Trinitd).
ber 1500 Andrea Baronci commissioned an altar-piece from
Raphael and another painter, Evangelista di Pian di Meleto,
for his chapel in the church of S. Agostino. The two artists
were to receive thirty-three ducats, a small sum compared
with the fees paid to Signorelli in the preceding years, but
one commensurate with their reputation and experience.
Raphael, who was not yet eighteen, is described as'magktef
and had therefore presumably matriculated into a painter's
guild. Evangelista, who had worked with Giovanni Santi, was
considerably older but nonetheless plainly the junior partner.14Baronci's advance was guaranteed by Battista Floridi, a
prominent silversmith in Cittd di Castello. Nine months lateq
in September 1501, the parties made a final quittance, confirming the fee.
The now dismembered and fragmentary Coronationof St
Nicholas of Tblmtino (Figs.2 and 3) described in S. Agostino
from 1627 on is usually associatedwith these documents."
However, the contract does not specify the subject-matter of
the painting (to be determined by Baronci), or the chapel's
dedication, and Enrico Mercati has recently argued that the
Baronci altar-piece is lost and that the Coronationwaspainted
in 1505for an unidentifiedpatron.'6This argumentis based
on seventeenth-and early eighteenth-century descriptions
of the Coronation,
which sometimesstatethat the picture was
painted in 1505, together with some residual di{ficulties in
connecting Baronci to the chapel of St Nicholas, which
had been constructedby another patron, Berto Vanni, a few
yearsearlier.tT
Assessmentof the Coronation
is complicated by the severe
damage it sufleredin an earthquakein September1789.''
S. Agostino was largely destroyed(the church of S. Francesco
di Salesnow occupiesits site), and the then owners of the
chapel agreed that the picture should be sold to pay for the
church'srebuilding.'nIt was evidently acquired by Pope Pius
VI, and subsequentlydismemberedand dispersed.ibur fragments survive in Naples, Paris and Brescia (Figs.2and 3).'?0
Our knowledge of its original appearanceis supplemented
by a partial copy made in Rome in l79l by Ermenegildo
Costantini (Fig.4),by Luigi Lanzi's sensitivedescription,2land
by a number of preparatory drawings (the most important of
which is a double-sidedsheetin Lille; Fig.5)." St Nicholas of
Tolentino (flankedby four angels)wasshown trampling on a
''On 16th October I4B3 Evangelistawas described asfomulus IoannisSanctis
pictoris
deUbino' (seen. scausse: 'Due opere sconosciutedi Evangelistadi Pian di Meleto',
Rassegna
bibli.ogrfuadell'arteitaliana,Iv [1901], p.197). Seealso the crucial, but large'Di Maestro Evangelistada Piandimeleto pittore',
ly overlooked, article ofa. arrppr:
NuouaRiaistaMisena,IV [1891], pp.51 53.
''The fullest discussionis s. n6cuw: 'The St Nicholas of Tolentino Altarpiece', in
in theHi:tor2 0fAr\X\,\I
Raphaelbefore
Rome,Studies
[1986], pp.15 26. v.r.sa.nI(lor.rdL
at note 9 above),mentions a panel by Raphael in S. Agostino in Cittd di Castello ir
'same
without giving its subject.
the
manner' as the Vatican Coronation,
'UMERCATT,
0p.cit. at rote 13 above,pp. 13-1 5.
''For the 1505 dating see coNTr, 0p.cit. at note L0 above, p.159; a. carlrwr Origine
delltchiese
e monasteri
di Cittddi Cutello, 1726-28 (CDCAV MS !, fols.B4vand 92r-v
For Berto Vanni's ownershipof the chapelir 1491 and 1496,seeCDCAN, 29.10,
Argelo di Battista di Angelo, fols.l98v 200v and 46.2, Pietro Laurenzi, fol.226r-u
''c. MUZr:MemorieCiuili d; Cifid di C6tell0,Cittit di Castello
[844], II, pp.155-56.
Gavin Hamilton had attempted to acquire the picture the previous year (rraecrnnnr
eRAZTANT)
0p.cit. atnote 1 above,pp.266 and 371).
cRAZrANr,ibid. The owners were Giovan Vincenzo and Niccold
"'MAGHERNT
Domenichini-Trovi.
'oFora discussionofthe fragrnents,seen6cunv, Ioc.cit. atnore 15 above.For the proand n. crov.tcNor-r:1z PrimaGioainezvenanceof the NapJ.es
panels,seec. Ira.q.ornrnu
za di Rffiello, Citti di Castello [1927], pp.60-61, and n. spNosa: Mzsei e Gallerie
di CapldimlntaDbinti dal XIII al XW serol0,Naples [1999], pp.205 07.
Na<i.onah
''L. r-ANZr:Stlriapittlrica dellaltalia, Bassano 795 96], I, pp.378 79.
[1
TheDrauingsof Raphael,Oxford
"For a discussionof the drawings, seep. JoANNIDEs:
[ 1 e 8 3 ] ,p p . 1 3 6 - 3 7 .
269
RAPHAEL,S
ALTAR-PIECE
PATRONS
IN
CITTA
DI
CASTELLO
2. Angel,by
Raphael.
c . 1 5 0 0 - 01 .
Panel, 58 by 36
cm. (I\4us6edu
Louwe, Pari$.
devil with, above, God the Father, the Virgin Mary and St
Augustine.Although the iconography is unusual, St Nicholas
himself was a common Augustinian subject, with some potentially relevant plague associations.tu
All the various reconstructionsimply that Raphael's altar-piecewould have been
very large indeed, measuring c.390 by 230 cm.'uExamination of the individual fragments and the preparatory drawings makes it impossibleto accept Mercati's conclusionthat
could have been painted in 1505 (i.e. after the
the Coronation
Sposaliaio;
Fig.t3), and the traditional associationwith the
Baronci documentsshould be maintained.
Andrea di Tommaso Baronci, the oldest of Raphael's
patrons, is documented from 1466 and died between May
1503andJuly 1505.*He was a wool merchant(severaldocuments were drawn up in his bottega),26
and was involved in
He lived in the quarter of
numerous property transactions.2T
the Porta Santa Maria (in the south eastof the ciry) and had
a chapel in S. Domenico, as well as maintaining strong connexionswith the more northerly S. Agostino in Porta S. Giacomo. In addition to commissioninghis own altar-piecefrom
Raphael, Baronci had held sums earmarked for Signorelli's
high altar-piece in S. Agostino,'uand had performed a similar r6le n 1497 in S. Maria Nuova;'nit appearsthat he concerned himself with getting pictures painted. He was also
active in city politics, serving as one of the rectors of the Fraternity, as a member of the Consiglio del X\{I, Consiglio del
XXXII and the Officiali della Mercanzia, and he was a Prior
of Citti di Castello on numerous occasionsbetween 1466
and 1502.'oAlthough I have been unable to locate his will,3'
it is clear from the testamentof his widow Clara Baronci, of
di Cittd di Castello,Cittd di Castello [1842-43], IV
"G. wrzr: MemorieEcclesiastiche
pp.238 39, refers to the city giving S. Agostino money for a processionon the feast
ofSt Nicholas ofTolentino in 1455.
'nSeeo. nlsctmr-:'Ralfaels erstesAltarbild, die KrOnung des HI. Nikolaus von TolenKunstsammlungm,
XXXIII [ 9 12] , pp. 105 2 l,
dno' , JahrbuchderKiniglith Preussischm
and w. scnoxe: 'Rapha€ls Kronung des Heiligen Nicolaus von Tolentino', in.Eeza
Gabedn Freundej)rCarl GeorgHeiselum 28.V1.1950,Berlin [950], pp.I l3-36.
" CDC AS, Rforman4, I 466-7 2, fo1.9r(26th February 1466); CDCAN, 52. 1, Battista
di Ser Battista, fols.241r4Ir (24thMay 1503)and 5l.2,Lattanzio diSerBiagio Lattanzi, fols.65v-67r (30thJuly 1505; published in l,m,ncanr,0P.cit. at note 13 above,
pp.77 8l).
'uSee,for example, CDCAN, 52.1, Battista di Ser Battista, fols.102v-03r (15th May
14e8).
"E.g. CDCAN, 29.13,Angelo di BattistadiAngelo, fols.lr-v,4r, 22v,40r (1500-01).
'8In a codicil to his will of November 1492, Baldo di Mariotto Lucarini left fifty
270
Fathn,byRaphael.c.1500-{1. Panel, 112 by 75 cm. (lMuseo
3. HeadofGodthe
Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples).
1512 that his estatepassedto her (seethe Appendix below,
Document 1). This also establishesthat Andrea was buried
in S. Domenico - not S. Agostino as had been commonly
supposed- and that the couple were childless.Domenico
Gavari, patron of Raphael's Crucifixion
with Saints,was named
as Clara's universal heiq and numerous documentspoint to
the intimacy betweenBaronci and Gavari.3'
Gavari's Crucifxion,now in the National Gallery London
(Fig.6),was the secondof Raphael's altar-piecesfor Cittd di
Castello.This large panel is signed'napuenr,,/vnnrN/as/p'in
a prominent and highly original way at the foot of the cross.
Vasarimentioned the picture in S. Domenico - adding acutely that had Raphael's name not been on it, no-one would
have believed it was not by Perugino - and it was subsequently recorded in most of the published and manuscript
florins, deposited with Andrea Baronci, to be spent on the high altar-piece of S.
Agostino (CDCAN, 29.11, Angelo di Battista di Angelo, fo1s.53v 54v, 7th NovemLtupro tabula
ber 1492:'rehquisw et legasse
uclesfuSanctiAugustini Ciuitatis Castellifrorcnos
maiorisaltaris . . . depecuniisfupositispmesAndreamBaroncidt dicta ciuitate. . .').
'nMERCArr,
0p.cit. at note 13 above,pp.74-75 (CDCAN, 49. 1, Maccario Paciucchelli, fo1.38v,2ndJuly 1497).The individual involved here was called Marco di Maria.
'uForhis political career from 1495, seeMERcATT,
0p.tit. at note 13 above,pp.32-34;
for the earlier period see CDCAS, Riformm4, 1466-72, fols.9r, 16r, 170v, 169r et
passimn vo1s.5054 (I+7 2 1,504).
"It was apparently drawn up by Ser Antonio di Domenico, for whom only one
protocol, of 1473-83, suwives (CDCAN, 39.I).
3'?Inaddition to those mentioned below, see CDCAN, 52. 1, Battista di Ser Battista,
fols.240r-41r (24thMay 1,503);+8.7, Gentile di Ser Giovanni Buratti, fol.122r-v
(13thAugust 1499).
RAPHAEL'S
ALTAR-PIECE
PATRONS
IN
4. Copy after
Raphael's Coronation
of StNicholas,by
Ermenegildo Costant i d . 1 7 9 1 .3 1 0 b y
176 cm. (Pinacoteca
Comunale, Cittd di
Castello).
.: '1
,'l
ii
i:i..:{.;
: t:i
,',.i,
;:.
. r*&
,. it
.:.;t
:1i
:$
. .:rt
rft
":a?
. ii.
,.,r!
:l*
Lr!
'ti*
t;:
5. Compositional
study for the Coronation
of StNicholas,by
R a p h a e l .c . 1 5 0 0 0 1 .
Black chalk and stylus
on paper, squared for
transfer, 39.4 by 26.3
cm. $4us6e des
Beau-Arts, Lil1e).
-i,ll,
guides to the city.33The inscription on the picture's frame,
which survives'insitu,establishes
that the patron wasDomenico Gavari. The Gavari chapelwas acquiled sometimebefore
I726by the Gualterotti family who sold Raphael's Crucifixion
to Cardinal FeschinJuly 1B0Bfor 2500 scudi.'nLord Ward
(ater Earl of Dudley), acquired the picture soon after the
Fesch sale in 1845; it was purchased by Ludwig Mond in
lB92 and bequeathed by him to the National Gallery in
1924.3'
'[he
Crucfixionwas painted for a chapel at the top of the
aisle
of S. Domenico, just to the right of the high altar
south
and altar-wall chapels.The survivingpietrasuenaframe(Fig.B)
still bears the Gavari stemmaand the inscription: 'Hoc opvs
FrERrFEcrr n fonre]Nrcvs,/ THOME
DEGAVARTS
MDrrr'.The present church of S. Domenico was built between 1400 and
l+24,'uand someremnantsofits fifteenth-centurydecoration
survive, the most significant element for our purposesbeing
the frame for Signorelli's MarQrdom 0f St Sebastian(Fig.7),
discussed below.
The patron of the Crucfixion, Domenico di Tommaso di
Giovanni Gavari, Iived, like Baronci, in the quarter of the
Porta S. Maria, near S. Domenico (probably in the modernday Via dei Gauri
a corruption of Gavari)..' Domenico
Gavaricanbe tracedfrom 1486, anddiedbetween l52l and
1524.38He too was a wool merchant and various documents
refer to his shop, and to the bales of wool and woollen gloves
that were part of his stock-in-trade.3s References to loans
being repaid to Gavart rrray indicate that he was also a
banker.noHe was certainly a significant land-owner, completing numerous property deals in the years 1500-02.n' Gavari
married Angela di Christofano di Jacopo (Sellari?) before
March 1497; they appear to have had no children. Angela
can be traced untilJuly 1505,n2but must have died before
1511, by which date Gavari was remarried, to Mariecta
llc.cit.atnote 9above;coNTr,0l cit.attote 10above,p.156;n.r.r,AzzARr:
"'vAsARr,
Serhdi Vescoui
e breae
storiadi Cittd di Castello,Foligno[1693], p.286; cmrnrr, MS cited
at note 17 above, fol.52r v.
'nThe Gualterotti were granted a papal dispensationto sell the altar-piece to Car'Documenti risdina.l Feschon BthJuly 1808 and did so three days later (e. nossr:
guardanti le vicende delle tre tavole di Raffaele che erano in Cittd di Castello',
Gornalcdtll'Erudizione
Artistica,NS., I. 1 [1883], pp.8 16, esp.pp. 11 13). A copy was
installed in the Gavari chapel (uercnu, 0p.cit. at note 10 above,p.248). For confirmation of the acquisition date of 1808, usually incorrecdy given as lBlB, see o.
rlerilnrur: Ajaccio,musielbsch.Izs Primitlfsitalims,Paris [1987], p.2 1, note I 28.
"For the Fesch sale, see Galeriede lbu S.E. le CardinalFesch,Rome [18a5], pp.1 a
(no.479-700). The National Gallery had consideredbidding lor the Crucfixionbttit
was eventually bought by the Principe di Canino for ten thousand srzdi (National
Gallery Archive, Minutes of the Board of Trustees, 19th February 1844 and 4th
August 1845). For the subsequentprovenance ofNG 3943, seec. cout:o: National
Italian Schools,London 119751,pp.222 23.
Galkrl Cataloguu.The Si-xtemth-Centurl
'oA.AscANr:
ChiesadiSanDomenicoaCittddiCastello,CittddiCastello
[1963],pp.2 23.
op.cit. at note 1 above,pp.236-37, published some biograph"vecrmnnu eR-qzrANr,
ical material relating to Domenico Gavari, much ofwhich is unfortunately incorrect,
and I have had to reconstruct his biography lrom scratch.
*CDCAN, 29.9, Angelo di Battistadi Angelo, fol.34, lor the 1486 mention; 51.5,
Lattanzio di Ser Biagio Lattanz| fo1.548,for that of l52l; Gavari was describedas
'defunct'in 51.6,fol.29Br(2nd Rbruary 1524).
*CDCAN, 50.2, Pietro PaoloPacisordi,fol.76v (9th October 1501);29.12,Angelo
di Battista di Angelo, fols.178v 79v (1 1th May 1498).His worlshop was 'in locodetto
la loggia'(50.2, fol.l98, SthJanuary 1504).
n"SeeCDCAN, 51.4, Lattanzio di Ser Biagio Lattanzi, 1510-17 passim.
,
"E.g. CDCAN, 29.13,Angelo di Battistadi Angelo,fols.lr-v (12thMarch 1500),4r
(23rd March 1500),52v (sthJune 1501).
*CDCAN, 51.2r Lattanzio di Ser Biagio Lattanzi, fols.65v-66r (30thJuly 1505;
published in uoncttr, op.cit. at note 13 above,pp.77 79).
9'71
RAPHAEL-S
ALTAR-PIECE
6. Crucfixionuith Sazts,by Raphael, c. I 502 03. Panel, 283.3 by 167.3 cm
Q\ational Gallery, London).
PATRONS
IN
CITTA
DI
7. MarQrdomof St Sebutian,by Luca Signorelli. c.1498. Panel, 288 by 1 7 5c m
(PinacotecaComunale, Cittd di Castello).
B. Pietra serenaframe for Raphael's Crucfuion
uith Sainh.Dated 1503 (S.Domenico, Ciud di
Castello).
9. Pietra serenaframe for Sienorelli's
Marlrdon of St Sebulian.OriginalJy dated
l49B (S. Domenico, Citti di Castello).
272
CASTELLO
RAPHAEL'S
ALTAR-PIECE
PATRONS
Andreocci (seeAppendix, Document 2). Gavari servedregularly as a Prior of Cittd di Castello and was a Rector of the
Confraternity, as well as serving on the Consiglio del XVI
and del XXXII, and on four or five other governmental
committees.n3
In brief, his civic profile wasvery similar to that
of Andrea Baronci. Confirmation of the close ties between
the two families can, as we have seen, be found in Clara
Baronci's will of September 1512 (drawn up in Gavari's
chapel at the foot of Raphael's Cruc!{txion),
which nuunes
Domenico Gavari as her universal heir (Appendix, Document 1). It seemsreasonableto suggestthat Baronci provided the link between Raphael and Domenico Gavari.
Domenico Gavari made at least six wills, and the changes
in his circumstancesthey revealshedlight upon his choicesas
a patron. In his first testament,of March 1497,he requested
burial in S. Domenico, named his wife as his heir in first
instance,and left fifty florins to each of the major churchesof
the city and twenty-five to the principal confraternity (S.
Maria della Pietd).His two brothers were to receiveone hundred florins each, but the bulk of his estatewas promised after his widow's death - to the friars and chapter of S.
Domenico.*'His secondwill followed fourteen months later
in May 1498.Again specifyingburial in S. Domenico, he bequeathed the friars a specific, inalienable property, and left
them a further ten florins for a new chalice and a black altarcloth."
Most interesting for our purposesis Gavari's third will of
May 1511 (Appendix,Document 2). Burial in S. Domenico
is now specified as'in sepulcro
eiuscapelhsanctiHieronimf to
which the property first mentioned in 1498 is now attached.
His bequeststo other churchesin the city are greatly reduced,
but two new confraternities are added to the beneficiaries:
the local Hieron),rynites,
and the confraternity of S. Maria in
the church of S. Domenico. His new wife, Mariecta, was to
be the beneficiary for life of his estateand his only son by heq
Girolamo, who cannot have been more than five years old,
was instituted as his universal heir. By the time of the fourth
will, inJuly 1514,Domenico and Mariecta now had a daughter, Angela, to be provided with a dowry of four hundred
florins.*uThe most significantchangein his fifth will, made in
1519, is that his universal heir is now named as a previously
unmentioned son, Bernardino, Girolamo having evidently
died in the meantime; another daughter, Giovanna, is also
(
provided for." By August I 52 I , Gavari is describedas clrpnre
languens',but the final will's provisions remain basically
unchanged.nt
It comesaslittle surpriseto learn that Gavari's chapelin S.
Domenico was dedicatedto StJerome. Not only is that saint
presentat the foot ofthe crossin the Mond Crucftxion,but the
two predella panels in Lisbon and Raleigh, North Carolina,
IN
CITTA
DI
CASTELLO
10. Crucfuionuith Salz4 by Perugino and workshop. c.1502 {6. Panel, 240 by 180
cm. (Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia).
associatedwith the altar-piecesince l90B (Figs.l1 and 12)
depict posthumous incidents from his life.n'Both have been
cut at the sidesand there must originally have been at leas
one other panel in the predella.so
The two episodesof Eusebi
of Crmnnaresuscinting
threedeadmm with Stjerome'schak(Fig.ll]
and StJeromesauingSiluanusandpunishingtheHereticSabinian
(Fig.l2) originated in the apocryphal letter of St Cy'ril to S
Augustine and had been popularisedby the Hierorrymianum
a
short text written by Giovanni d'Andrea di Bologna (d.l34B
which was frequently published, often in translation, in the
fifteenth century and appears to have been the principa.
sourcefor the predellasof otherJerome altar-pieces,such as
thoseby Sano di Pietro, Luca Signorelli and Perugino."
Although the altar in S. Domenico may already have
been dedicated to St Jerome, whose cult was promoted by
the Dominicans,s2we may suspect that Domenico Gavar
personally choseits dedication. His later wills show that he
Bevilacqua who was legate in Perugia from 1600 to 1627 (ueonnn-nr GRAzrANr,0p
"'In 1503 alone he served on the XVI and as a Prior; see CDCAS, Rlforman4,
1+91-150+, fols.232v and 247v. For some of these olfices, see unxcerl, ibid.,
cit. atnote I above,p.241). FrancescoAndreocci, on the other hand, recorded thal
pp.32-34.
the friars of S. Domenico gave'un gradinocheerasottoquestoquadroe chesi credtdipintt
*CDCAN, 29.12, Angelo di Battista di Angelo, fol.1 14r-v (16th March 1497).
da Rffielk' to Cardinal Rasponi when he visited the city on 27th October 1668
+5lbid.,fols.I7\v-79v(1
lthMay 1498):'.. .Itanreli4ui;tdhtteccltsizfurmosdectmprouna (c. narcnn: Istruzionestorico-pittnrica
pw aisinre h Chiesee i Palnzzi di Citk di Cdstello
pro dicta eccleiaet unumparimenhlmaltarispanni lnnenigri.'
calicedenouofiendo
Perugia[1832],I, pp.236 37).
*CDCAN, Sl.
trc. D'enoxre: Il DeaotoTransin dzl Gkrioso SanctoHinorrymoridocto
in knguaFiorentina
,Lzttanzio di Ser Biagio Lattanzi, fols.299v-301v (TthJuly 1514).
'CDCAN, 46.11, Pietro Lanrenzi, fols.219r-20r (2OthJuly 15i9).
Florence [1490], unpaginated, chs.XXD( and XXXI. For discussionsofthis icono*CDCAN, 5l.6,Lattanzio di Ser Biagio Lattanzi, fols.90r-91r (19th August 1521).
graphy, see L. pLLroN:'La L6gende de SaintJ6r6me d'aprds quelques peintures
n'Thesepredella panels were first associatedwith the Crucfuionin c. cnoNau: 'Zwei
italiennes du XVe sidcle au Mus6e du Louwe', GazettedzsBeaux-Arts,sOl [1908],
Predellenbilder von Raphael', Monatshefuf)r Kunstutissnschafi,I[1908], pp.l071pp.303-18; and s. nogenrs: 'St. Augustine in 'St. Jerome's Study': Carpaccio's
79, and a.lthoughthe provenance has not been fumly established,it has not been
Painting and its Legendary Source',Art Bulktin,Xll [1959], pp.283-97.
t'See noernrs, Inc.cit. abwe, p.297, and E. TRrMpr:
challenged since.
"'Iohannem BaptGtam Hier5oThereare tlvo, apparently conflicting, versions ofhow the predella was separated
onl,rno aequalem et non maiorem": a predella for Matteo di Giovanni's Placidi
from the main panel. FrancescoVitelli (1582-1646) recorded thatilte'ornammtino
altarpiece', rHE Br,'RLrNGroN
MAGAZTNE,
CXXV [1983], pp.45747.
. . . conalcunefigurinebellissime'wasgiven by the chapel patrons to Cardinal Bonifazio
273
RAPHAEL'S
ALTAR-PIECE
PATRONS
IN
CITTi.
DI
CASTELLO
Il. Eusebius
of Cremona
resuscitating
thru dradmm aitlt StJnome'schak,by Raphael. c.1502-03. Panel, 25.1 by 43.2 cm. (tr4useu
Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon).
was a supporter of the local Hieron)rmites (seeAppendix,
Document 2) and when his secondwife finally bore him a
son,the boy was namedJerome.Suchpracticeswere encouragedby the writings and example of Giovanni d'Andrea and
suggesta specialrelationship with the saint.53
StJerome was, of course, famous for his meditations on
the Passionand devotion to the crucifx. The choice of the
Crucifixion may also reflect specialfamily associations- the
Gavari arms as seenin the altar-piece frame (Fig.B)show a
hand clasping a cross- as well as a possiblesecondarydedication of the chapel, which is sometimesdescribedas (altare
Crucftxi' in the documents (seeAppendix, Document l).5'
The particularly eucharisticcharacter of Gavari's Crucifxion,
with angelscatching the blood of Christ in chalices,is often
noted, and its promise of resurrection is perfectly fitting for
a funerary chapel where masseswould have been said for
Gavari'ssoul;his earlier wills included legaciesto pay for new
chalicesfor S. Domenico and other churchesin the city.55
The pietrasererlasurround (Fig.B)is one of the few original
frames to survive for an altar-piece by Raphael. It matches
the one opposite in Tommaso Brozzi's chapel (Fig.9)which
housed Signorelli'sMarfrdom of St Sebastinn.
John Sh.ur-urt
has describedthe two frames as identical, and has suggested
that they mrght both have been designed by Raphael,
c.1502-04.56
He hasalsoquestionedthe reliability of the dat
furnished by the inscription on Gavari's frame, and this scep
ticism plays into the hands of thosescholarswho have doubl
ed the traditional date of c.1503 for the picture (usual
preferring a datec.1500-01,although Shearmanraisedth
possibility that it could postdate 1503).'7Howeveq there wer
severalexperiencedmasonsand sculptorsin Cittd di Caste
lo at the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,s8
and i
seemsmost unlikely that the Brozzi frame, which once car
- ayeat fully in accord with the stylist
ried a date of 14985'g
- could have been con
character of Signorelli'sMarfitrdomuo
structedaslate as 1502.Moreover, the changesthat Tomma
so Brozzi made to his will between l49l and 1498 confirn
that his chapel was constructed in these years,6'ruling ou
Raphael's participation. There is every reason for treatin
both the datesinscribed on thesetwo frames as broadly reli
able indicators of the datesof the paintings they contained.
The last of Raphael'saltar-piecesfor Cittd di Castellowa
the Sposalizioor Marriage of the Wgin now in the Brerr
(Fig.l3).n The picture is signedand dated 1504 (narnem
vRBINAS.
M Drrrr),and was first recorded in the church of S
Francescoby Vasari in 1550.63It stood as an altar-piece or
the left-hand side of the nave, almost opposite the sid
entranceto the church, and was recorded by most publishe
Baltimore and London [1985], p.65;
"See E.F. xrcn: SaintJeromein theRenaissanra,
Laudatu IoannesAndreas,Basel [514], fols.16ff (reprinted n the Acta Sanctorum,
Antwerp and Brussels [1643 1894], Septnnbis2111,pp.659-60):'Imponifui nomen
ipsiuscntis pueis in catechismo
. . . In dfursis ncbsiis ad ipsiushonoremaltaia nigi procuraai.'
'CDCAN, 51.4, Lattanzio di Ser Biagio Lattanzi, fol.155r-v
(17th September
1512). See also the document of 1505 (commissioningan altar-piece for the Magalotti chapel in S. Domenico), published in r.p. uarcnr: 'Raffaello e Frmcesco
Tifernate: un documento e alcune precisazioni', Anthhifd tr/i:ua,
XXI, 5-6 11983],
pp.27-34.
55See
note 45 above.
'f . src,eruren: 'The Born Archltect?' in Raphael
b{ore Rome,cited at note 15 above,
,
pp.203-10, esp. p.209. See a.lsow. scHoNE:Raphael,Berknmd Darmstadt [1958],
pp.35 and 48. The tryo frames me not quite identical: there are sma.llbut marked
differences for instance in the carving ofthe seraphim, and in the decorative detail
(where the Brozzifrme has suns, the Gavari frame has rosettes).
'J. srmarurax: 'On Raphael's Chronology 1503 1508',
in Ars naturamadiuuans.
FestschrififirMatthias Winnn,Mainz [1996], pp.201-07, esp.p.201.
tuCompare the capitals carved for the nave
of the Cathedral in the late 1490s
(rra-l.crrnnwrcRAzrAM, op. cit. at note I above, II, pl.\T), perhaps by the Florentine
stone-masonsClemente di Taddeo Rinaldi and Geremia di Francesco; a local
tradition attributes the design ofthese capitals - along with numerous doorrn'aysan
lavabo
to Raphael; see F. Trrr: Ammaestramtntoutilz e curiosodi pitnra, scolnra
architetturanelle chiese di Roma,Rome [1686], p.439.
5eTheBrozzi frame was once inscribed: 'Trrorrasor sRozzls
El FuNCrsoAuxoR FrE
FEcrr Mccccr,xxxx!'rrr'; seecnnrntr, MS cited at note I 7 above,fols.45v-46r.
uoSee
note B above.
o'On l6th May 1491 Brozzi left twenty florins
to the church, and a further fifty 'co
rrtmdis in effitium site in structionmtcapell"e
sui alnris positein ditn uclesia'(CDCAN, 48. 1
Gentile di Ser Giovanni Buratti, fol.132r-v). By 4th November 1498 the chapel I
described as'constructz'(48.7, fols.lv-4r), and only the costs ofproviding it with
chalice, missal and liturgical vestrnents remained.
6'lForRaphael's altar-piece,acquired by the Brera in 1806
from the OspedaleMag
giore in Milan, see c. BERTELLT,
in r. zrm, ed.: Pinacotecadi Brua: Scuoledell'Itali
cmhalee mnidionale,MlJan[1992], pp.192-200. Scanda"lously,
the picture had bee
given by the Comune of Cittd di Castelloin 1798to General GiuseppeLechi ofBres
cia (r. oo wccrr Lo Sposali{odella Vngine,Milan [1996], pp.9-19), and attempts tl
get it back were vain (uacrmnmn GRAzrANr,op.cit. at note I above, pp.352-69; u.c
MIGNTMoNoFRrand u.r. zANcHrpulcr: 'Breve storia delle rivendicazioni dello Soo
salizio della Vergine di Raffaello Sanzio', Pagine
Altl)tiberine,Il.5[1998], pp.23-32).
uuvASARr,
lnc.cit. atnote 9 above.
274
RAPHAEL'S
ALTAR-PIECE
PATRONS
IN
CITTA
DI
CASTELLO
12. StJeromesauingSt Siluanus
andpunishingthehereticSabinianus,bykaphael. c.1502-03. PaneI,24.7 by 42 cm. (I',lorthCarohna
Museum of Art, Ra.leigh).
and manuscript guidesto the city until its removal in 1798.6n
While a Ranciscan church existed in Cittn di Castello
from 1267, the present building in the north-easternpart of
the city in the quarter of the Porta S. Egidio datesfrom the
early fifteenth century. The last fifteen years of the century
witnessed a concerted programme of altar renewal in this
conventual church, which may have been stimulated by Viteili
interest.6slJnfortunately, the interior of the church was remodelled betvveen1707 and 1727, andvery few vestigesof its
Quattrocento decoration remain.
Despite this restructuring, and the removal of Raphael's
picture to Milan, a certain amount is known about the
patronage of the Sposaliaio,largely
asa result of the interestin
acquiring it expressedby Guidobaldo II della Rovere,Duke
of Urbino, in 1571.Local enquirieson that occasionestablished that the painting had been commissionedby Filippo
Nbizzini, who was said to have died about thirty yearsearlier. The duke did not securethe picture, and a descendantof
the original patron - Aibizzino Albizzuri- was able to renew
his family's patronage of the chapel in l633.uuAt this time
the chapel was said to be dedicated to StJoseph, and it has
generally been assumedthat Filippo di Lodovico Albizzni
(whom Magherini Grazianiidentffied asthe probable patron
of the altar-piece) commissioned Raphael's Marriageof the
Wrgintoreflect this dedication.A newly discovereddocument
(Appendix, Document 3) confirms this, and establishesthat
Filippo Albizzini acquired the chapel in S. Francescoin February 1501.The act was drawn up in the church in the pres
enceof the community of friars and of the provincial vicar o{
the Order, Luca da Siena.Albizzini promised to redecorate
the chapel,which he wished to dedicateto StJosephand the
Holy Name ofJesus, and to provide the necessaryfurnishings, while for their part the friars agreed to celebrate St
Joseph'sfeastday (l9th March) at this altar.
Filippo Albizzini was a notary (who on at least one occasion had a document drawn up in his chapel in S. Frances
He lived in the quarter of the Porta S. Egidio (in the eas
co).67
of the city, near S. Francesco),where he gradually built up
the site that was to become the PafazzoAlbizzini.68In one
of the severalproperty deals he transacted in the 1490s,he
(like Baronci and Gavari) is describedas a cloth merchant.6
Albizzini had married (GelomiaRanuti Peri)by 1515,'oand
was active in local politics. He was Captain of Scalocchioin
1490and servedregularly asa Prior bet\,veenl49l and 1527,
aswell ason the councilsofthe XVI and XXXII." His record
ofpublic serviceis almost identical to thoseofAndrea Baronci and Domenico Gavari, and it comesas no surpdseto find
that he and Gavari appear together in severalnotarial acts.7
Magherini Graziani stated that Albizzini died in 1541 (presumably working from the claim made in l57l that he had
died thirty years previouslr.'u I have found no mention of
him after 1527.I have not located his win. but he is said in
6nSee,inter alia, coNTr, op cit. at note 10 above, p. 157; ueononnr cRAzrANr,op.cit. at
note 1 above,pp.340 and 358. For a plan ofthe church, seeibin.,p.47, and o. coopon: 'Spinello Aretino in Citti di Castello: The lost model for Sassetta'sSansepolcro
poll.'T,tych',Apoll\, CLIV fAugust 20011,pp.22-29, esp.p.25.
uoForthe church and Vitelli patronage there, seel escu'n:. Tilogia Francescana,
CittiL
di Castello [196a], pp.29, 35, 45 and 49, and wsz4 0p. cit. at note 23 above, !
pp.1BB-202. See also J. TRA-EGER:
Rmaissance
und Religion:Die lQtnstdesGlaubens
im
.QitalterRaphaek,Munich [1997], pp.263 66.
66See
the notarial document of 1633 oublished in ru.c,cHERrxr
GRAzrANr.
ob.cit.at note
I above,p.358, where the altar is deicribed as'Altaresub titull Sctillrepii and'Altare
sub tinlo S. Iosph, siueSS.miSponsalitiiBeatissimeVirginiscumDiuoJosepho'.
u'Only one ofAlbizzini's protocols, of 1496 97, survivesas CDCAN, 54.1. On 14th
December 1508 Albizzini transferred some land to a cousin in a document dram
up'in nclesiltS.ti Francisciaidelicetin altaredicti SerPhelippi'(CDCAN, 5 1.3, Lattanzio di
Ser Biagio Lattanzi, unfoliated).
ooForAlbizzini's p afazzo on rhe 'uicoloS.teMargaite' in the parish of S. Fortunati, see
CDCAN, 48.16, Gentile di Ser Giovanni Buratti, fols.70r (1st February 1514) and
lB2v (30thJuly 1515).The building now housespart ofthe Burri collection.
oo'uenditor
pannorumlanl (CDC4N,43.15, Antonio Fidanzi, fo1.274, 21st August
r+94).
roCDCAN, 48.16, Gentile di Ser Giovanni Buratti, fol.182v (3OthJuly 1515).
''See o. pezzl: Istoria Geneakgica
fulk FamiglinAlbizzini, 1739, CDCAV MS LI,
fols.36,f-65, a. cnsrrr:n: Istoria di Xvlfamigfu de Cittd di C6tello, CDCAV MS XXDq
fol.1l; CDCAS, Rlforman4, 1491 1504, fol.lSr (30th August 1491) et passim
1504 13,fol.II3r(3OthJune |507)apassim;151tt-30,fol.34r(ZTthJuneI5I4)etpas
sim;CDCAS, Riformanze,l49I-15O4,fo1.24r(l2thJanuary 1492)etpassim:150,$-13
fol.57r (30th December 1505) etpassim;1514-30, fol.70v (29th Augxt l5l5) etpasslm. He first appears in the lessercouncils in 1489 (CDCAS, Rlformarye,I4B9-gI,
firl.l5v, 17th May 1489).
?'E.g.CDCAN,48.7, Gentile di Ser Giovanni Buratti, fols.67r-68r (17th April 1499,
when Albizzini's purchase of some land was drarnmup in Gavari's shop and was
witnessedby him), and CDCAN,50.6, Pietro Paolo Pacisordi,fol.llr-v (19th
November 1507).
"MAGHERIrr GRAZTANT
[1908], /oc.cit. atnote 11 above,pp.94-95.
275
RAPHAEL,S
ALTAR-PIECE
PATRONS
IN
CITTA
DI
CASTELLO
13. Marriageof the Virgin,by Raphael. 1504. Panel, 170 by I 18 cm. (Pinacotecadi Brera, Milan).
1571 to have endowed his chapel with a piece of land, and
to have askedthat massbe celebratedon the anniversary of
his death (aswell as on StJoseph'sday); thesemasseswere
renewedin 1633.^
The chapel Albizzini acquired in 1501 was described as
'suptustabernaculum
lrganlrum in capitecori ipsius ecclesituusus
altaranmailrem',and a copy of Raphael's altar-piece is still
found today in that location, on the fourth altar on the left of
the nave. Ranciscan church interiors in Umbria were originally subdivided between the choir (for the friars), the upper
nave (for the lay-men), and the lower nave (for female worshippers)." Raphael'spicture was in the upper nave,closeto
the screendividing the upper and lower parts of the church,
and the placement of the Virgin Mary and the group of
women on the left of his composition (reversingthe arrangement in Perugino'sprotot)?e in Perugia Cathedral; Fig.14,
discussedbelow) can be seento reflect the actual division of
the congregationwithin the church.
'rlbid., pp.9I-93.
'Franciscan
Choir Enclosures and the function ofDouble-Sided
"See o. coopnn:
Altarpieces in Pre-Tridentine Umbia' , journal of the Warburgand Courauld Irctitutes
276
Albizzini's dedication of his chapel to StJoseph explair
the choice of subject for Raphael's altar-piece.Its probabl
model, Perugino'sMarriageof theVirginnow in Caen (Fig.l4
was painted for an altar dedicatedto the Virgrn Mary and S
Joseph on the retro-faEadeof Perugia Cathedral.'uThe cit
had acquired the ' SantoAnello'- saidto be the ring with whic
Joseph had married the Virgin Mury - n 1473, and prid
in the ownership of this relic bolstered the cult ofJosep
in Umbria. The chapel in Perugia Cathedral was sponsore
by the Franciscanpreacher,Bernardino da Rltre (l+39-9+
and communal funds were voted for it in 1486.It housedth
Holy Ring and (in spite of its full dedication) it was subs
quently referred to as the chapel of StJoseph. A lay confra
ternity dedicated to the saint grew up around the chape
commissioning an altar-piece depicting 'istorinmet sponsa
SantiJosephcumBeata VngineMari"a', first from Pintoricchir
(1489)and subsequently
from Perugino(1499).Fra Bernard
no da Feltre'ssupport for this new chapel was crucial, anr
(forthcoming).
'uFor the documents relating
to this commission, see F. cANUTT:Il Pnugino, Sien
1 1 9 3 1 1I I, , p p . 1 9 9 2 0 3 ( a n dI , p p . 1 6 7 - 7 2 ) .
RAPHAEL'S
ALTAR-PIECE
PATRONS
14. Mmriageof theVirgin,byPerug1no.c.1500-04. Panel,234by lB5 cm. (I\{us6e
des Beaux-Arts, Caen).
Joseph'scult was actively promoted in Umbria by the Franciscans.It seemsclear that the dedicationsof the two chapels
in Perugia and Cittd di Castello are related, and it is not
without significance that the concessionof the chapel in
S. Francescoto Albizzini was authorised by Ihe'Rruuntdus
(Jmbre',
paterministzr
prouincie
who was responsiblefor both the
provincial centre of Perugiaand for the satellite-towns.
The chapel'ssecondarydedication alsohas strongFranciscan associations,sincedevotion to the HolyName, embodied
in his celebratedsign of an IHS within a sunburst,had been
promoted by S. Bernardino; an oratory to the saint was built
beside the church of S. Francescoin Citte di Castello. It is
additionally worth noting that S. Bernardino was the patron
saint of the notaries' confraternity in Cittd di Castello to
which Filippo Albizzini must have belonged." Moreoveq as
Jorg Traeger has recently pointed out,Joseph had a recognised r6le in the naming of Christ, and the two dedications
were probably related.TB
"e. cBccrm.n:ZArchiu;oNltaile eilNltaiatl in Cittddi Cntelll,CittiLdrcastello [899],
p.14.
"IRA.EcER,op.cit. at note 65 above,pp.5 1-53.
"vAsARr, loc.cit. at note 9 above, and for his knowledge of Perugino's picf.lre ed.
cit.,Il 119711,
p.607.
'uFora resum6 of this debate, seep. scARpELLrNr:
Pmtgino,Milan [1984], pp.107-08.
stRaphael'saltar-piecehas alsobeen compared withthe CrucfuionPeruginopainted
for the Chigi chapel in S. Agostino, Siena (commissionedAugust 1502; delivered
1506), but this is a much less successfi.rlcomposition and the connexions with
Raphael are generic (scanrnr.r.nr, 0p.cit. atnote 80 above,pp.1 12-13 and fig.233).
82See,intera/ios,n. nnren voN eAERTRTNGEN:
Rffiels Izrnefahrungmin dn Werkstau
Pnuginos.KartonaerumdungundMotiuiibunahmeim Wandnl,Munich and Berlin [1999],
pp.46-54. His diagram on pp.52-53 shows how the compositional precedentslor
the Monteripido altar-piece can aII be found in Perugino'sown work of the 1490s.
"'For the documents of commission, and discussionof the picture and its date, see
cANUrr,0p cit. at note 76 above, I, pp. 179-80, Il, p.237, and scanprr.r.nu, 0p.cit. at
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The origins of Raphael's Umbrian altar-piecesin Perugino's repertoire have alwaysbeen clear (the connexionsmay
indeed have been requested by his patrons), and the very
closesimilarities between the two artists' compositionshave
inevitably featuredin the debateabout the nature and dateof
Raphael'sapprenticeshipwith Perugino,and who influenced
whom. It is now generally acceptedthat Raphael'sSposalia
(Fig.l3), which Vasari already selectedas the prime example
of how the younger artist surpassedhis maste!7ewas developed from Perugino's altar-piece for Perugia Cathedral
(Fig.14,although the opposite has sometimesbeen argued).
Indeed, the comparison between the two paintings has
become one of the most common exercisesin the study of
renaissanceart Raphael can be seen as adding physicality
convincing narrative and a greater senseof spaceto Perugino's original idea.'oSimilar observationscan be made of the
relationship between Perugino'saltar-piece for S. Francesco
a Monteripido (Fig.10)and Raphael's Mond Crucifxion@ig.
6). Raphael borrowed the foreground setting,the basiccompositional solution, the essentialposesof the Virgin Mary St
John and the Magdalen (whosepose is reversed),as well as
the golden sun and silvermoon, and the flutteringbanderoles
In addition to thesedetails,the mannered
of the two angels.B'
angling of the figures' heads, the cast of the faces and the
expressivenature of the hands come straight out of Perugino's corpus. The greater spatial,pattern-making and figural
sophisticationof the Mond Crucfixionagain appear to reflect
Raphael'stranslation of a Peruginocomposition into his own
idiom.u2
Perugino'sSposalizio
was commissionedin April 1499.He
had still not completed the painting by December 1503,but
probably deliveredit in the courseof 1504.The Monteripido
altar-piecewas commissionedfrom Perugino in September
1502 (for delivery by Easter 1503),but completion is usually
dated c. 150,1-06on the grounds that Peruginowas extremely busy c.1502-03 and was not in a position to deliver the
picture on time.B3
Nevertheless,i{ asit has often been argued,
the picture was executedin Perugiaby one of Perugino'sbest
assistants,this could have taken place within a year of the
commission (with Perugino overseeingcompletion on the
various occasionson which he returned to Perugiain 1503).u
At all events,it seemsin the casesof both the Sposali/oand
the Crucfixionthat Raphael had knowledge of Perugino's
compositionsbefore they were unveiled (which suggeststhat
he had accessto the older artist's workshop in the Ospedale
della Misericordia in Perugia).85
As it happens,Raphael was
documentedin PerugiainJanuary and March 1503,when he
was named as the local representativeof an Urbinate merchant who neededto collect a debt there,B6
strongly i-ply-g
that he wasbasedin Perugiaat the time. This runs againstthe
note 80 above,pp.106-07.
snForPerugino'smovements in 1502 03, seescAReELLIM)
ibi.d.,p.65.
85Thisconclusion regarding the relationship between the Monteripido altar-piece
and the Mond Crucifxion undermines attempts to see the latter (Raphael's most
Peruginesquework) as the artist's first independent work of c.1500-0 1, since it folIows that Raphael'spicture was probably not desigred until late 1502 at the earliest.
A terminusantequernfor Raphael's altar-piece of November 1505 is establishedby
Francesco Tifernate's commission to paint m altar-piece for Ludovica Magalotti's
chapel in S. Domenico (an Annunciation,
now in the PinacotecaComunale, Cittd di
Castello): 'ad instar et simil:indinan quoa.dmagniadirwn tabulecrucfici Dominici Thomedt
Gauariisexistentisin capellaipsiusDominici in dicta ecchda'(rraaNcwr,hc. cit. at note 54
aDovel.
uuF.F.
r.rA.xcnu:Rffadlo in Umbria. Cronologiaecommittmza.NuouiStudiedocummti,Perugia [1987], pp.33-37. The networks ofFranciscan patronage in Perugia apparendy
played an important r61ein Raphael's early successin the city.
277
RAPHAEL,S
ALTAR-PIECE
PATRONS
prevailing view that Raphael took up residencein Cittd di
Castello while painting his altar-piecesfor the city.B'Crowe
and Cavalcaselle'ssuggestionthat 'there is nothing to prevent
us from assumingthat the masterpieceswhich Raphael created ffor Cittd di Castello] were executedat Perugia' should
therefore be considered afresh, and indeed Raphael's base
may have been in Perugiafor much of the period c.1500
07." This would also explain why he did not leavemuch of a
documentary trace in Citta di Castello, and might suggest
that it was his connexion with Perugino (then the most
sought-afterartist in Central ltaly) that helped him securehis
earliestaltar-piececommissionsin Umbria.
OxfordBroolvs UniaersiEt
Appendix
l. Will of Clua Baronci, 17th Septernber 1512
(Cittd di Castello, Archivio Notarile fhereafter CDCANI,5l.4,
Biagio Lattanzi, fol.155r v)
Lattanzio di Ser
Die wii Septembris
Honesta mulier domina Clara uxor olim Aldree Thome de Baruntiis de Civitate
Castelli vidua sana dei [gratia] mente et intellectu ac bone valitudinis licet sit etiam
in decrepita etate constituta et quia nihil est certius morte nilque incertius hora eius
et ne inter posteros suos aliqua lis seu questio horiatur hoc presensnuncupatiuum
testamentum facereprocuravit et fecit et quia anima est nobilior corpore ideo ipsam
omnipotenti deo a quo creata extitit commendavit et voluit quando mori contigerit
corpus suum sepelliri in ecclesiaScti. Dominici cui ecclesieet conventui reliquit iure
legati medietatem unius poteris positi in villa montis Roselli infra suos confines ex
latere et parrochias posite. Item reliquit ?liam medietatem dicti poderis Cesari alevo
Andree Thome de Baruntiis dummodo dictum potere sive dictam medietatem dictus Cesar non possit vendere nec pignorare .t ridi.tr. Cesar morietur absquefiliis
Iegiptimis tunc dicta medietas recadat et diveniat ad dictum conventum Scti
Dominici et quod dictum potere teneat laborare BarnabeusJacobi de Corneta presenslaborator qui non possit aliquo pacto donec vixerit expelli. Item reliquit iure
legati domile Bartolomee Rentii sue alevate florenos quatraginta in tot terreno ibi
ad Pa"lazectumdicti olim Andree. Item reliquit iure legati domine Marine sue alevate florenos decem in pecuniis sive in terreno. Item reliquit iure legati bisocharis
S.te Cecilie florenos decem monete currentis castellane.Item voluit ut heresAndree
^Ihome
lfol.155r] Andree de Baruntiis et eius r.rxoret exposuit dictis fratribus sancti
Dominici eos etiam humiliter rogando quod in sepultura dicti olim Andree aliquo
pacto non intret nec intrari permittetur aliquod cadaver Hieronimi Peri Turris sive
alicuius de eius familia etc. ln omnibus auiem aliis suis bonis mobilibus et immobilibus iuribus et actionibus tacitis et expressiseius heredem universalemfecit et esse
voluit Dominicum Thome de Gavaris de dicta civitate et etim exequtorem sive
fideicommissarium presentistestamenti fecit et essevoluit etc. Cassansit cancellans
omne aliud testamentum per eam hactenusforsitan factum etc. Et hoc voluit cunctis aliis propterea lectis et [ . . . ] valeret iure testamentivalere voluit iure codicillorum
sive donationis causa mortis sive cuiuscumque alterius donationis etc. Et hanc
asseruitet voluit esseeius ultimam voluntatem etc.
Actum in ecclesiaS. Dominici videlicet apud altare Crucifixi presentibusibidem
fratre Luminato Bartolomei, frarre Mariano magistri Bartolomei de Riguriis de
Castello, lratre Felice Martini de Lucha, fratre Matthia Luce de Forosemproni,
fratre Alexandro Stephani de Castello, fratre PetroJohannesBaptiste de Perusiaet
fratre Mariotto Alexandri de Cava prioris [........] habitis vocatis et rogatis.
2. Will of Domenico
(Ibid., fols.4Br49v)
Gavri.
l3th Mav l5ll
Die xiiiu Maii 1511 Indiction: XIIIIU
Spectabilis Vir Dominicus Thome de Gavaris de Civitate Castelli et porte Ste
Marie sanusdei gratia mente corpore et intellectu volensprovidere saluti anime sue
et ne inter eius posterosaliqua lis seu questio de bonis suis horiatur. Ideo hoc suum
presensnuncupatiuum testmentum quod de [vero] dicitur sine scriptis in hunc qui
sequitur modum facere procuravit et fecit. Et quia nihil est certius morte nihilque
incertius hora eius et quia anima est nobilior corpore ideo eam omnipotenti deo a
quo creata extitit commendavit et voluit quando casus evenerit quod [?quo]
87Forthe assumption that Raphael executed the pictures in
Cittd di Castello, see
'The
MAGHERTNT
and crovacNor-y op. cit. at note 20 above, p.26; n. wuxowrn:
Young Raphael', Allm MemorialAil MuseumBulletin,XX 11963],pp.150-68; and c.
cTLBERT:'Signorelli and the Young Raphael' in Raphatl beforeRome,cited at note 15
above,pp. I 09-24, esp.p.1 10. It should be noted that Evangelistadi Pian di Meleto
was in Urbino on 29th and 30th March 1501 (Jrbino, Archivio di Stato, Div I,
Cas.7,N.153, Ser Matteo Geri, fol.6; seeAtrrppr)loc.cit. atnote 14 above).
Raphael,Life and Works,London [1882-85], I,
";.a. cnom and c.n. cAvAr-cAsELLE:
p.1.2+.
278
IN
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moriatur corpus suum sepelliri in ecclesia S.ti Dominici in sepulcro eius cape
sancti Hieronimi cui reliquit iure legati unum petium terre laboiatir,um positm
fvocabulo?] el peglio in parrochia S.ti Petri de Petriolo cui a duobus vie vicinal
aliter strata communis et a-1iterbona canonice vel siqui wlgariter dicto el campo i
Barzocto. Item reliquit episcopatui pro omni eius canonica portione solidosvigir
denariorum. Item reliquit iure legati ecclesieconventui et fratribus S.Johanni Ba
tiste extra muros de observantiaflorenos [fol.49u]decem monete curentis castella
Item reliquit iure legati ecclesieconventui et frahibus S.ti Augustini florenos dece
Item reliquit iure legati ecclesieS.te Marie maioris florenos quinque. Item reliqr
iure legati sotietati sive confraternitati S.te Marie apud S.ti Dominicum floren
quinque. Item reliquit iure legati capelle et sotietati corpus christi in ecclesiaS
Floridi florenos quinque. Item reliquit iure legati monia"libusmonasteri Paradisifl
renos quinque. Item reliquit iure legati fratribus ingesuatisS.ti Hieronimi floren
quinque. Item reliquit iure legati fratribus et conventui S.ti Rancisci floren
quinque. Item reliquit iure J.egatiser Francescoser Pierpaulo de Pacesordisfloren
centum dicte monete castellane.Item reliquit dominam Mariectam eius uorem
essevoluit dominam et usufructuariam omnium et sineuLorum suorum bonoru
mobilium et imobilium presentium et futurorum et tutricem infrascripti sui filii
heredis et que habeat victum et vestimenta et ex eius domo non possit aliquo mo<
expelli dummodo vitam honestam et vidua-1emservaverit. In omnibus autem al
suis bonis mobilibus et imobilibus iuribus et actionibus lfol.49r] tacis et expres
suum heredem universa-lemfecit et essevoluit Hieronimum eius filium legiptimu
et natumlem qui si decederetin pupillari etate vel sine filiis legiptimis et naturalib
tunc substituit heredespro medietate omium suorum bonorum lratres et conve
tum S.ti Dominici et pro quarta parte fratres et conventum S.tiJoannis Baptiste r
observantiaextra muros et pro alia quarta pmte fraternitatem pauperum S.teMar
de Civitate Castelli. Item reliquit et essevoluit essevoluit eius fidei commisarios
exequtorespresentissui testamenti ser Blasium Nieri de Silice canonicum catedra
ecc.eS.ti Floridi, Petrum [Angele] de Meglioratis e1ser Franciscum ser Pierpauli.
post mortem domine Mariecte eius uoris [et] tutores et curatores prefati sui filii
heredestunc essevoluit et hanc voluit esseeius ultimam voluntatem et eiusultimu
testamentum quam et quod voluit valere iure codicillorum sive cuiuscumque don
tionis inter vivos et ultime sue voluntatis. Cassanset cancellans omne aliud tes
mentum et omnem aliam eius ultimam voluntatem per dictum testatorem hacten
factm er hoc voluit cunctisaJiisprevalereerc.lfo!.4b[
Actum factum et conditum fuit dictum testamentum oer dictum testatorem
Civitate Castelli videlicet in conventu ecclesieS.ti Augusiini in loco que dicitur
capitulo dicti conventus.Presentibusibidem fratre Benedicto Michaelis de Serad
vicario dictorum fratruum, lratre Gabriele Thome de Florentia, fratre Luchir
Ioannis de Marchetis de Brissia,fratre Antonio Ioannis de Hostiano, fratre Salvato
Bernardini de Brissia, fratre Sebastiano Stephani Pecci de Florentia et Don Pie
nicola Francisci de Civitate Castelli testibus ad predicta habitis vocatis et ab io
testatorerogatrs.
3. Acquisition ofthe Chapel ofStJoseph in S. Francesco, Cittir di Caste
lo, by Filippo Albizzini,2TthFebruary
1501
(CDCAN, 50.2, Pietro Paolo Pacisordi,fols.29r-30r)
lmargin] Ser Felippi de Albezinis)
MCCCCCI Inditione quarta tempore pontificatus sanctissimi in Christo patris
domini domini Alexandri divina providentia pape sesti die vero wigesimaseptin
mensisfebruari.
Congregato et coadunato capitulo fratrum minorum Sancti Francisci de Civita
Castelli in curia dicti Sancti Francisciad sonum campanelle ut moris est.In quo qr
dem capitulo infrascripti fuerunt Magister Bernardinus Antonii de Fratta pat
guardianus dicte ecclesia,frater Antonius Spinonis Gallus, frater Claudius franci
sus, frater Bernardinus de Gaeta, frater Michelangelus de Castello, lrater Hier
nimus de Plebe Sancti Stefani, frater AndreasJohanni Marci, frater Bartolomeus<
Castello, frater Lodovichus de Corigis, frater Battista Hieronimi de Castello, frat
Daniel Ser Caruli de Castello fratres et sacerdoteshabitantes in dicto conven
Sancti Francisci duo partes et plus de tribus partibus fratrum dicti conventusfacie
infrascriptam de presentis consensu et voluntate lfol.29a] mzgSsttiLuce de Sen
Reverendi patris ministri provincie IJmbre et Sacre Theologie doctoris ac etiam r
consensuet voluntate spectabilium virorum Mariotti Anselmi et Caruli Pauli sind
corum de Civitate Castelli procuratorum dicti conventus Sancti Francisci pro bor
commodo et utilitate dicti conventus Sancti Francisci et omni meliori modo et
dederunt et tradiderunt et concesseruntSer Felippo Lodovici de Albezzinis de dic
Civitate Castelii tunc presenti et acceptanti stipulanti et recipienti pro se et su
heredibus quamdam Capellam existentem in dicta ecclesiaSancti Rancisci supt
tabernaculum organorum in capite cori ipsius ecclesieversusaltarem maiorem pr,
fate ecclesie.Et hoc ideo fecerunt dicti fratres cum consensudicti Reverendi patr
ministri quod prefatus Ser Felippuspromixit et solempniter convenit dictam cape
lam bene et ornate reatere et em bonis et ornatis lapidibus conicere et de pert
nenctis pro altari et ca-1ice
et de indumentis pro sacerdoteeam lLlcire et decorari,
alia faciesse] ad decus et ornamentum dicte capelle quamquidem capellam appe
lari et nuncupari voluit Ia capella de Sancto Yoseph et sanctissiminominis Yhesu
In qua quidem festo sancti Yosephi idem Ser Feiippus promixit piatanzamfzcet
dictis fratribus et conventui prout fieri solet in festivitatibus celebrandis ab a.l
civibus dicte Civitatis etc. ad habendum, tenendum etc. lfol.30r] Que omnia et
Promittentes etc. Renumptiantes etc. Rogantes me notario etc. Quibus quider
omnibus prefatus Reverenduspater minister Lucas provincialis minister fsenarun
et sancteromane ecclesiainde potiut autem et decretum etc.
Actum in Civitate Castelli et in ecclesiaSancti Francisci de dicta civitate orese
tibus Ser Nicole Ser Antonii Ser Nicole PSJ et Batista alias Pebonisde Burgo Sanr
ti Sepulcri calderario habitantibus de dicta civitate testibusetc.