Perino del Vaga

Training under Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio is recorded. Pellegrini Tiballdi is recorded as having studied under Perino del Vaga. The recorded working language is Italian. Works named in the authority record are Justice of Zaleuco, Tarquinius Priscus founds the Temple of Jupiter on the Campidoglio, Fall of the Giants, Holy Family with John the Baptist, Madonna enthroned with Child and Saints Joseph, Francis, and Dominic and Sacrifices and Allegories of the Seasons. Work by Perino del Vaga is recorded in the collections of Städel Museum, Museo del Prado, J. Paul Getty Museum, National Gallery of Victoria and Nationalmuseum.

Perino was born near Florence. His father ruined himself by gambling, and became a soldier in the invading army of Charles VIII. His mother died when he was but two months old; but shortly afterwards he was taken up by his father's second wife. Perino was first apprenticed to a druggist, but soon passed into the hands of a mediocre painter, Andrea de' Ceri, and when eleven years of age, of Ridolfo Ghirlandaio. Perino was one of Ghirlandaio's most talented pupils. Another mediocre painter, Vaga from Toscanella, undertook to settle the boy in Rome. Perino, when he at last reached Rome, was utterly poor, and with no clear prospect beyond journey-work for trading decorators. He was eventually entrusted with some of the subordinate work undertaken by Raphael in the Vatican. He assisted Giovanni da Udine in the stucco and arabesque decorations of the Loggie Vaticane, and executed some of those small but finely composed scriptural subjects which go by the name of Raphael's Bible, Raphael himself furnishing the designs. Perino's examples are: Abraham and Isaac, Jacob wrestling with the Angel, Joseph and his Brothers, the Hebrews crossing the Jordan, Fall and Capture of Jericho, Joshua commanding Sun to stand still, Birth of Christ, Baptism and the Last Supper. Some of these are in bronze-tint, while others are in full color. He also painted, after Raphael's drawings, figures of the planets in the great hall of the Appartamenti Borgia. Perino was soon regarded as his major assistant, second only to Giulio Romano. To Raphael himself he was always exceedingly attentive. His solo works in the city include the hall of Palazzo Baldassini (1520–1522), a noble building in the center of the city, and the Pietà in the church of Santo Stefano del Cacco. After Raphael's death in 1520 and the plague of 1523, a troubled period ensued for Perino. He returned to Florence, and befriended Rosso Fiorentino and executed an admirable design of 10,000 Martyrs (now lost).

In 1527, Andrea Doria invited Perino to Genoa to decorate the newly rebuilt Villa del Principe. Work commenced in 1529, with Perino employing a style similar to that of Giulio Romano in the Mantuan Palazzo Te. The finished palace contained frescoes of mythological and historical subjects, augmented by fanciful and graceful arabesque work and by sculptural details in stucco. Among the principal works are: the War between the Gods and Giants, Horatius Cocles defending the Bridge, and the Fortitude of Mutius Scaevola. The most important work of all, the Shipwreck of Aeneas, is no longer extant. Perino also executed numerous altarpieces and designs for tapestries, rapidly founding a quasi-Roman school of art in the Ligurian city. He made two visits to Pisa, and began some painting in the cathedral. A year later, Perino returned to Rome and frescoed the Pucci Chapel in the Trinità dei Monti. Pope Paul III granted him a regular salary. He retouched many works of Raphael. He painted the decoration for the Pauline Chapel and other halls of Castel Sant'Angelo, some frescoes in the church of San Marcello, a monochrome in the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican and a cartoon of the Sistine Chapel. Perino was engaged in the general decoration of the Sala Reale, begun by Paul III when he died on October 19, 1547, in Rome. He is buried in the Pantheon. His work in the Castel Sant'Angelo was continued by his student Pellegrino Tibaldi.