DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42861#0378
336 SALAI OFFERS HIS SERVICES
which the abbot and I had pointed out. We will
continue to do our utmost, in order that Your Ex-
cellency may be satisfied. This Salai has a great
wish to do some gallant thing for Your Excellency
himself, so if you desire a little picture, or anything
else from him, you have only to tell me the price
you are ready to give, and I will see that you are
pleased.—Your servant, Aloisius Ciocca.”1 Flo-
rence, Jan. 22, 1505.
At Salai’s suggestion the artist rectified certain
errors of drawing which satisfied Ciocca, who told
the abbot that he thought the picture was as good as
could be expected from Perugino, who excelled in
the treatment of larger forms, but had little ex-
perience in handling small-sized figures and crowded
compositions. Another point which disturbed Isa-
bella considerably was that she heard Perugino had
represented Venus as a nude figure, contrary to her
express directions. This, she told the abbot, must
not be allowed, since, if one single figure were altered,
the whole meaning of the fable would be ruined.2
When the Marchesa’s letter reached Fiesole, the
abbot hastened to Perugino’s shop, but it was only
to find that the painter had left Florence. “ I can-
not understand the man’s behaviour,” he wrote to
Isabella on the 22nd of February 1505, “and begin
to fear he will prove me to be a liar. I find it is
already a fortnight since he left Florence, and I
cannot discover where he has hidden himself, and
when he is likely to return. His wife and friends
either do not know where he is or else they are
hiding it from me, probably because, contrary to all
his promises, he has undertaken some other work.
1 Braghirolli, op. cit. 2 Yriarte, op. cit.
which the abbot and I had pointed out. We will
continue to do our utmost, in order that Your Ex-
cellency may be satisfied. This Salai has a great
wish to do some gallant thing for Your Excellency
himself, so if you desire a little picture, or anything
else from him, you have only to tell me the price
you are ready to give, and I will see that you are
pleased.—Your servant, Aloisius Ciocca.”1 Flo-
rence, Jan. 22, 1505.
At Salai’s suggestion the artist rectified certain
errors of drawing which satisfied Ciocca, who told
the abbot that he thought the picture was as good as
could be expected from Perugino, who excelled in
the treatment of larger forms, but had little ex-
perience in handling small-sized figures and crowded
compositions. Another point which disturbed Isa-
bella considerably was that she heard Perugino had
represented Venus as a nude figure, contrary to her
express directions. This, she told the abbot, must
not be allowed, since, if one single figure were altered,
the whole meaning of the fable would be ruined.2
When the Marchesa’s letter reached Fiesole, the
abbot hastened to Perugino’s shop, but it was only
to find that the painter had left Florence. “ I can-
not understand the man’s behaviour,” he wrote to
Isabella on the 22nd of February 1505, “and begin
to fear he will prove me to be a liar. I find it is
already a fortnight since he left Florence, and I
cannot discover where he has hidden himself, and
when he is likely to return. His wife and friends
either do not know where he is or else they are
hiding it from me, probably because, contrary to all
his promises, he has undertaken some other work.
1 Braghirolli, op. cit. 2 Yriarte, op. cit.