In 1492, Pinturicchio was summoned to
Orvieto Cathedral. However, he was also commissioned by
Pope Alexander VI (Borgia) to decorate a recently completed suite of six rooms, the
Borgia Apartments in the
Apostolic Palace of the Vatican. These rooms now form part of the
Vatican Library, and five still retain a series of Pinturicchio frescoes. He worked in these rooms until around 1494, assisted by his pupils, and not without interruption. It was not until Pope Alexander VI died that Pinturicchio left Rome for Umbria, leaving much of the work in Rome to be completed by Michelangelo, Raphael, and others. Among other important frescoes by Pinturicchio that still exist in Rome and are in good condition, are in the
Bufalini Chapel in the southwest sector of
Santa Maria in Ara Coeli, probably executed around 1484–1486. On the altar wall is a grand painting of
St. Bernardino of Siena between two other saints, crowned by angels; in the upper part is a figure of Christ in a
mandorla, surrounded by angel musicians; on the left wall is a large fresco of the miracles performed by the corpse of St. Bernardino, which includes portraits of members of the sponsoring Bufalini family. One group of three women, the central figure with a child at her breast, recalls the grace of
Raphael's second manner. The composition of the main group around the saint's corpse appears to have been suggested by
Giotto's painting of
St. Francis on his bier that is found in
Santa Croce at Florence. On the vault are four noble figures of the Evangelists, usually attributed to
Luca Signorelli, but as with the rest of the frescoes in this chapel, they are more probably by Pinturicchio. On the vault of the sacristy of
Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Pinturicchio painted the Almighty surrounded by the Evangelists. During a visit to Orvieto in 1496, Pinturicchio painted in the choir of the Duomo two more figures of the Latin Doctors. For these he received fifty gold ducats. Now, like the rest of his work at Orvieto, these figures are almost destroyed. In Umbria, his masterpiece is the
Baglioni Chapel in the church of S. Maria Maggiore in
Spello. Among his panel paintings the following are the most important: an altarpiece for S. Maria de' Fossi at Perugia, painted in 1496–1498, now moved to the city gallery, depicts a
Madonna enthroned among Saints, very minutely painted; the wings of the retable have standing figures of
St. Augustine and St. Jerome; and the
predella has paintings in miniature of the Annunciation and the Evangelists. Another fine altarpiece, similar in delicacy of detail, and probably painted about the same time, is that in the cathedral of San Severino — the Madonna enthroned looks down toward the kneeling donor. In beauty of face and expression, the angels at the sides recall the manner of
Lorenzo di Credi or
Leonardo da Vinci. The Vatican galleries have the largest of Pinturicchio's panels — the Coronation of the Virgin, with the apostles and other saints below. Several well-executed portraits occur among the kneeling saints. The Virgin, who kneels at Christ's feet to receive her crown, is a figure of great tenderness and beauty, and the lower group is composed with great skill and grace in arrangement. In 1504, Pinturicchio designed a mosaic floor panel for the
Cathedral of Siena:
the Story of Fortuna, or the Hill of Virtue. This was executed by
Paolo Mannucci in 1506. On top of the panel, a symbolic representation of Knowledge hands the palm of victory to
Socrates. Among the public collections holding works by Pinturicchio are, the
Ashmolean Museum (University of Oxford),
Biblioteca Ambrosiana (Milan), the
Cleveland Museum of Art, the
Courtauld Institute of Art (London), the
Denver Art Museum, the
Fitzwilliam Museum (University of Cambridge), the
Honolulu Museum of Art, the
Louvre, the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the
National Gallery, London,
Palazzo Ruspoli (Rome), the
Philadelphia Museum of Art, the
Pinacoteca Ambrosiana (Milan),
Princeton University Art Museum,
Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, the
Vatican Museums, and the
Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest). == Works ==