1507, Perugino (Pietro Vannucci), St. Philip Benizi -- Palazzo Barberini (Rome)
From the museum label: This small panel, further reduced compared to its original size, formed part of a complex polyptych commissioned by the Servites for their church of the Santissima Annunziata in Florence ca. 1500. This demanding commission was originally given to Filippino Lippi, passing into Perugino's hands on Filippino's death in 1504.
The panel with the image of the Blessed Philip Benizi, a 13th century Florentine Servite friar canonised in 1671, reveals the qualities that decreed the success, but also the limits, of Perugino's style: a consistent bond in light and space between the figure and the architectural setting, calm and elegance in the design, soft modelling, a devout serenity of expression and a luminous palette.
The text in the book, from Psalm 116 (16), alludes to the Virgin Annunciate, to whom the altar was dedicated.
1507, Perugino (Pietro Vannucci), St. Philip Benizi -- Palazzo Barberini (Rome)
From the museum label: This small panel, further reduced compared to its original size, formed part of a complex polyptych commissioned by the Servites for their church of the Santissima Annunziata in Florence ca. 1500. This demanding commission was originally given to Filippino Lippi, passing into Perugino's hands on Filippino's death in 1504.
The panel with the image of the Blessed Philip Benizi, a 13th century Florentine Servite friar canonised in 1671, reveals the qualities that decreed the success, but also the limits, of Perugino's style: a consistent bond in light and space between the figure and the architectural setting, calm and elegance in the design, soft modelling, a devout serenity of expression and a luminous palette.
The text in the book, from Psalm 116 (16), alludes to the Virgin Annunciate, to whom the altar was dedicated.