– P –

PACHECO, FRANCISCO (1564–1644). Spanish painter, best known for his theoretical treatise, the Arte de la Pintura, published in 1649, key work for understanding the history of Spanish painting. It includes information on the proper depiction of religious subjects, discussion on technique, and, more importantly, biographical information on the Spanish painters of the era. Pacheco’s studio in Seville became a center of culture where artists and intellectuals met to discuss learned topics. In this environment, Diego Velázquez, who trained with Pacheco and eventually married his teacher’s daughter, spent his formative years.

PACHER, MICHAEL (c. 1435–1498). Austrian painter and sculptor who commingled Italian and Northern elements in his art, creating a new idiom of expression. He was from the Tyrol region, and was probably born in Neutstift, near Bressanone, Italy, hence the Italianate elements in his works. A trip to Padua and Venice exposed Pacher to the art of Andrea Mantegna, from which he developed an interest in architectural forms viewed from below and figures pushed close to the foreground. In 1467, Pacher is documented as a citizen of Bruneck where he established a workshop. His best-known work is the Altarpiece of St. Wolfgang (1471–1481; Sankt-Wolfgang, Parish Church), which presents the carved Coronation of the Virgin as the central scene. Two sets of painted wings depict Sts. George and Florian in armor and narratives from the lives of St. Wolfgang and Christ. The altarpiece is crowned with elaborately carved Gothic pinnacles and a crucifix in the center, at its base a predella. The work constitutes one of the most impressive carved altarpieces of the 15th century.

PALAEOLOGAN STYLE. A mode of painting embraced by artists active in the Byzantine Empire during the Palaeologan Dynasty (1261–1453). Characterized by the realistic depiction of figures and draperies combined with deep expressions of emotion, this style seems to have influenced the art of Pietro Cavallini, from the Roman School, whose apostles at Santa Cecilia in Trastevere (c. 1290) closely resemble the figures of the Palaeologan frescoes in the Church of the Trinity at Sopočani in Serbia, painted for King Stefan Uroš in 1263–1268 by Greek masters. Palaeologan icons were available in Italy, yet it is possible that Cavallini may have visited Sopočani as exchanges between East and West were not uncommon. King Stefan’s wife, in fact, was French, and his mother the Venetian granddaughter of Doge Enrico Dandolo.

PALAZZO DEL TÈ, MANTUA (1527–1534). The Palazzo del Tè in Mantua is a suburban villa on the Tè island built by Giulio Romano to be used by Duke Federigo Gonzaga and his family for recreation purposes and also as stables for Federigo’s horse-breeding ventures. The work is a masterpiece of the Mannerist style. The main façade is composed of a long block with three equal arches in the center and four window bays at either side. A Doric frieze is carried by pilasters and the walls are rusticated. The various architectural elements, which High Renaissance masters such as Donato Bramante and Antonio da Sangallo the Younger would have kept separate, are here deliberately combined so that the keystones above the windows disrupt the stringcourses. Giulio also rejected the order, symmetry, and balance of the High Renaissance, instead including asymmetrical spacings between the pilasters. The rustication on the walls is rather flat when compared to the aggressive rustications on the windows and arches. The rustication in the courtyard is more pronounced. Here, blind windows are capped by massive pediments and the keystone above the doorway is also large and breaks the pediment above in an anticlassical manner. A Doric frieze that drops every so often is carried along the length of the structure and supported by engaged columns. Surprisingly, the garden façade is more subdued, without the heavy rustications and anticlassical elements of the main façade and courtyard. Instead, a soft rhythmic quality is established by the repetition of arches.

Giulio was also responsible for the frescoed decorations. In the Sala dei Cavalli (Room of the Horses) he portrayed Federigo’s favorite horses on the walls overseen by the gods on Mount Olympus painted on the vault above them (1530–1532). In preparation for Charles V’s visit to Mantua, Giulio also frescoed in the Sala dei Giganti (Room of the Giants) the Fall of the Giants (1530–1532), a tour de force of illusionism as the image seems to collapse around the viewer. Like the architecture, the frescoes offer visitors moments of agitation alternating with serene pauses. For this reason, Giulio’s commission has been read as an attempt to translate music, with its crescendos and varying rhythms, into visual form.

PALAZZO FARNESE, ROME (c. 1513–c. 1589). Commissioned from Antonio da Sangallo the Younger by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese who in 1534 was elected to the papal throne as Paul III. After his election, the pope asked Sangallo to modify the original design to create a more imposing structure that reflected his newly acquired position of power. As a result, the palace is the largest and among the most magnificent examples of Renaissance domestic structures. Sangallo designed a freestanding block built around a central courtyard with a loggia that affords a view of the Tiber River. Only the corners of the façade and its main entrance are rusticated, granting little texture to the building. The three stories are emphatically separated by entablatures and the windows of the lower story are capped by lintels supported by brackets. Those on the upper stories are framed by columns and capped by pediments that alternate at the second level. The entrance vestibule, one of the most interesting features of the building, was designed all’ antica as a barrel-vaulted tunnel with a coffered ceiling supported by granite columns. The space was inspired by the Theater of Marcellus in Rome and the Colosseum, as was the courtyard, which features superimposed arches that follow the Colosseum principle. When Sangallo died, the pope charged Michelangelo with the completion of the project. Michelangelo had already won the competition for the palace’s heavy cornice, initiated by Paul III while Sangallo was still living. Not only was the cornice designed by Michelangelo but so was the central window of the façade, which is more recessed than the other windows and is crowned by the Farnese coat-of-arms. The third story in the courtyard is also Michelangelo’s. After Michelangelo’s death, his pupil Giacomo della Porta is the one who finally brought the palace to completion. In the interior, the Palazzo Farnese boasts frescoes by the Carracci, with the Farnese ceiling (c. 1597–1600) as its crowning jewel.

PALAZZO MEDICI-RICCARDI, FLORENCE (beg. 1436). The most important commission Michelozzo received from Cosimo de’ Medici was to build for him a family palace to be used as his principal residence in Florence. Cosimo was exiled in 1433 and returned to Florence in the following year, becoming the city’s ruler for the next three decades. He was careful to hide any outward manifestations of his position of power and this is reflected in the simplicity of the design chosen for the Palazzo Medici. Giorgio Vasari wrote that Cosimo first asked Filippo Brunelleschi to provide a design, but he rejected it for being too intricate, remarking that envy is a plant that should not be nurtured. Brunelleschi destroyed the model he made and the commission instead went to his follower, Michelozzo.

The building is three stories high, with an arcade in the lower level that was originally open but filled in the 16th century when the Riccardi purchased and extended the palace. The upper story is capped by a heavy cornice, giving the structure a sense of completion. The rustications on the façade, which diminish as the structure ascends, add a rugged appearance and grant the impression of a taller building. Michelozzo added a courtyard in the middle of the structure, based on Brunelleschi’s façade of the Ospedale degli Innocenti (1419–1424). Here, round arches supported by Corinthian columns carry an entablature. Above, windows are strategically lined with the arches below. Unlike Brunelleschi’s design, however, Michelozzo’s placement of the corner windows is somewhat awkward as they are too close to one another, breaking the harmony of the design. There is also a lack of definition at the corners of the arcade, a problem that could have been solved had Michelozzo added heavy pilasters similar to those used by Brunelleschi at the ends of the loggia in his Ospedale degli Innocenti. In spite of these problems, Michelozzo’s design became the prototype for Florentine palace design for the rest of the century.

PALAZZO PUBBLICO, SIENA (beg. 1298). The Palazzo Pubblico was built to function as Siena’s city hall. A fortified structure with a belvedere in the center, a massive tower, and crenellations, the structure bends slightly to accommodate the Piazza del Campo in front. Like the Palazzo Vecchio (1299–1310) in Florence, the Palazzo Pubblico housed the priori, members of the city’s highest governing body. These individuals lived and worked in the Palazzo and were subject to physical attacks from a sometimes discontented Sienese population. Therefore, it was important to build a structure that gave these men protection, hence the fortified design. To further express visually this idea that the building safeguarded the governing body, the lower story is built in stone while the upper levels are in brick. Lined with the tower is the palazzo’s chapel that juts into the piazza as if to denote the interconnections that then existed between religion and politics.

The Palazzo Pubblico’s interior boasts a number of notable frescoes. In the Council Chamber is the Maestà by Simone Martini (1311–1317; partially repainted in 1321). Here, the Virgin is flanked by the city’s patron saints who implore her to show goodwill toward Siena. The canopy above the figures includes the Sienese coat of arms and an inscription that reads, “The Virgin protects Siena which she has long marked for favor.” At the base of the fresco a second inscription asks the men who convened in this room to please the Virgin by engaging in wise rulership. In the Sala della Pace (Room of Peace), where the members of the Great Council met, Ambrogio Lorenzetti painted one of the most ambitious fresco decorations of the 14th century, the Allegory of Good and Bad Government (1338–1339), which expounds the principles of good government through wisdom and justice and the consequences of poor judgments. The Sala del Mappamondo (Room of the Maps) features a monochromatic fresco by Lippo Vanni that documents the victory of the Sienese troops against British mercenaries at the Val de Chiana (c. 1363), while Taddeo di Bartolo’s scenes from the life of the Virgin, patroness of Siena, grace the walls of the building’s chapel (1406–1407). To Taddeo di Bartolo also belong the scenes in the antechapel (1412–1414) of ancient Roman personages, such as Cato and Scipio Africanus, that communicate civic concepts of justice and magnanimity. Finally, the Sala dei Priori was frescoed by Spinello Aretino (1407) with scenes from the life of Sienese Pope Alexander III to indicate that Siena honors its citizens who achieve distinction.

PALAZZO VECCHIO, FLORENCE (PALAZZO DELLA SIGNORIA; 1299–1310). The architectural design of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, built to house the city’s government body, the priori, has been attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio. The building was conceived as a fortified structure from which protrudes a crenellated tower. The main block is composed of three stories that diminish in height as they ascend, the two upper levels pierced by French Gothic windows with tracery. The block is capped by a crenellated arcade supported by corbels. To further emphasize the protective appearance of the structure, the architect rusticated the façade, a feature normally used in military architecture that consists of applying rough-cut stones to the exterior surfaces. The structure was built at a time when Guelf and Ghibelline rivalries in Florence had peaked. The Guelfs, composed of the merchant class, wrested power from the aristocratic Ghibellines, destroyed the palace of the Ghibelline Uberti family, and erected the Palazzo Vecchio on its site. They placed the Palazzo’s tower off center, building it on the base of a former Ghibelline tower to denote symbolically their political triumph. That the building looks impenetrable was meant to reflect the strength of the Florentine Republic as a city capable of governing itself and maintaining order. See also STUDIOLO OF FRANCESCO I DE’ MEDICI, PALAZZO VECCHIO, FLORENCE.

PALEOTTI, ARCHBISHOP GABRIELE (1522–1597). A key player in the Council of Trent, Gabriele Paleotti kept a diary during the council meetings, one of the great historic documents of the period. In 1565, he was granted the cardinalate and, in 1567, he was appointed archbishop of Bologna. In that capacity, he immediately set out to introduce the reforms enacted by the Council of Trent to his archdiocese, including the proper representation of religious subjects in art. His treatise, the Discorso intorno alle imagini sacre e profane (1582), became the catalyst for the Bolognese art reform. It criticized the ambiguities of Mannerist paintings and called instead for clarity of representation and works that appealed to the emotions of the faithful. The first to fulfill Paleotti’s demands were the Carracci who, by following the archbishop’s prescriptions, ushered in the classicist Baroque mode of painting.

PALLADIO, ANDREA (ANDREA DI PIETRO DELLA GONDOLA; 1508–1580). Architect and theorist from Vincenza who trained in Padua as a stonemason and was active in Venice and its outlying areas. The name Palladio derives from Pallas Athena (Minerva), goddess of wisdom, bestowed on him by his protector and earliest patron, the humanist and amateur architect Giangiorgio Trissino. Trissino took Palladio to Rome in 1541 so he could study the ancient remains and the works of the moderns. The work that established Palladio’s reputation is the Basilica of Vincenza (beg. 1549), a commission he received after Giulio Romano’s design was rejected by the town council. Palladio’s design for this structure borrows heavily from Jacopo Sansovino’s Library of St. Mark in Venice (1537–1580s), particularly in the repetition of arches and the play of voids and solids that grant the structure a rhythmic quality. After this, Palladio became the favored architect of the aristocracy in Vincenza. Among the palaces he built for them are the Palazzo Thiene (beg. c. 1542), the Palazzo Valmarana (beg. 1565), and the Villa Rotonda (c. 1566–1570), this last among his greatest masterpieces. Built as a pleasure home for the wealthy patrician Paolo Almerico, the building features four classical porticoes situated on the cardinal points and a dome inspired by that of the Pantheon in Rome. The numerical proportions of the building’s plan are based on ancient Greek musical ratios, embracing a concept that had existed since antiquity that the same numerical relations that are pleasing to the ear can also be pleasing to the eye. Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico (1580–1584), also in Vincenza, was an attempt to reconstruct an ancient Roman theater Vitruvius described in his architectural treatise. In Venice, Palladio built two major churches, San Giorgio Maggiore (beg. 1566) and Il Redentore (beg. 1577). Both present two interlocking temple façades to compensate for the different heights of the interior nave and aisles. Palladio’s Quattro Libri, a treatise on architecture, caused wide diffusion of his works, particularly in England where Inigo Jones introduced the Palladian vocabulary, thereby initiating a new movement that was to last well into the 18th century.

PALOMINO, ANTONIO (1653–1726). Spanish painter from Bujalance, near Cordoba, best known for his Museo pictórico y escala óptica (1715–1724), a treatise on painting invaluable for its biographical material that has earned him the sobriquet The Spanish Vasari. In Cordoba, Palomino studied law, theology, and philosophy. He also took painting lessons from Juan de Valdés Leal, who figures in his treatise. In 1688, he became court painter to King Charles II of Spain and, in 1725, after his wife’s death, he entered the priesthood, dying in the following year. The first and second volumes of his Museo pictórico expound his theory of painting and provide material on the processes involved in creating art. These two were of little impact, yet the third volume, subtitled El Parnaso español pintoresco laureado, today serves as one of the major biographical sources for the Spanish artists of the Baroque era.

PAOLO, GIOVANNI DI (active c. 1425–1483). One of the leading masters of the Sienese School of the 15th century; however, the details of his life are scarce. He may have studied with the local master Taddeo di Bartolo, though his works show the influence of Gentile da Fabriano who is known to have worked in Siena in c. 1425. Giovanni’s St. Catherine of Siena before the Pope (c. 1460; Madrid, Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection) betrays his fealty to the Sienese tradition. The gilded background, brilliant colors, and courtly figures in this work are all typical of the Sienese style of painting. Giovanni’s Creation and Expulsion from Paradise (c. 1445; New York, Metropolitan Museum) is part of the predella to an altarpiece he rendered for the Church of San Domenico, Siena. It includes an unusual depiction of God the Father suspended in midair while creating the Earth. The world he has formed is surrounded by concentric circles meant to denote the elements, planets, and zodiac belt. Giovanni’s Madonna of Humility (c. 1435; Siena, Pinacoteca Nazionale) presents the Virgin sitting on the ground amidst flowers, behind her a panoramic view of the landscape. She holds the Christ Child in a loving gesture, her facial expression denoting the sadness she feels over her son’s future sacrifice. Giovanni was to use this Madonna type again in his Virgin and Child in a Landscape (1460s; Boston, Museum of Fine Arts) where Mary sits on a cushion. The substantial number of scenes by Giovanni to have survived—most predella panels now scattered in museums around the world—speak of the fruitful career the artist enjoyed.

PARMIGIANINO (FRANCESCO MAZZOLA; 1503–1540). Mannerist painter from Parma, where he had the opportunity to study the works of Correggio. In 1524 Parmigianino traveled to Rome, where he remained until 1527 when the city was sacked. From there, he fled to Bologna and by 1531 he was back in his hometown. His famed Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum) he painted in 1524 prior to his visit to Rome. The work is rendered on a convex wooden panel and mimics the distortions one would see in an image reflected in a convex mirror, recalling the optical experiments of Jan van Eyck and Petrus Christus. Parmigianino’s Madonna with the Long Neck (1534–1540; Florence, Uffizi) he created for the Church of Santa Maria dei Servi in Parma. It shows his exposure to the works of Michelangelo and Raphael in Rome as the figures possess the same monumentality as those rendered by these masters. The Christ Child, asleep on his mother’s lap, in fact depends on Michelangelo’s Christ in his Vatican Pietà (1498/1499–1500) and the position of Mary’s left foot is taken directly from Michelangelo’s Libyan Sibyl on the Sistine ceiling, Vatican (1508–1512). The influence of Leonardo da Vinci is also felt in this work, particularly in the use of sfumato, though perhaps Parmigianino adopted this technique from studying the art of Correggio. The disparate proportions and ambiguities, including columns that lead to nowhere and angels who share one leg, mark this work as decidedly Mannerist. In 1535, Parmigianino painted Cupid Carving His Bow (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum), a sensuous mythological work so admired by Peter Paul Rubens that he copied it. Parmigianino’s Pallas Athena (c. 1539, Windsor Collection) is an example of his late phase. A bust portrait of the goddess of wisdom (Minerva), it shows her wearing an armor adorned with a cameo that depicts in grisaille a winged Victory with palm and olive branch in hand flying over the city of Athens, which she won in a contest with Poseidon (Neptune).

Parmigianino is known for his graceful forms and complex iconographic programs that in some ways reflect his own complex personality. Upon his return to Parma, he received a commission to render frescoes in the Church of Santa Maria della Steccata. But instead of fulfilling the commission, he spent most of his time engaged in alchemy. Having breached his contract, he was imprisoned for almost a decade until he escaped. He died at 37, yet in spite of his short career, he became the most influential painter of the Mannerist movement.

PASSION OF CHRIST. The Passion refers to the suffering of Christ during the last days of his life, culminating in his Crucifixion and burial. It begins with his entry into Jerusalem and continues with the Last Supper, Agony in the Garden, betrayal of Judas and Christ’s arrest, his trial before Caiaphas, his sentencing by Pontius Pilate, his Flagellation and mocking, the road to Calvary, Crucifixion, Deposition, and Entombment. These events are commemorated by Christians throughout the world during Holy Week, with Easter marking Christ’s Resurrection. As the basic tenet of Christianity, the scenes from the Passion are among the most often depicted in art as a way to translate visually the narratives from the Gospels to instruct the faithful.

PATINIR, JOACHIM (c. 1480–1524). Flemish painter, the first in history to have specialized in landscapes. Patinir was from Bouvignes and by 1515 he was an independent master enrolled in the painter’s guild of Antwerp. Nothing is known of his training, though it has been suggested that he apprenticed either with Gerard David or Hieronymus Bosch. Albrecht Dürer mentioned in his journal that he traveled with Patinir to the Netherlands in 1521 and commented on the artist’s abilities as a landscapist.

Patinir’s Baptism of Christ (c. 1515–1520; Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum) is a signed work. It presents a panoramic landscape with rock formations in the middle ground that serve to enframe the central scene. On the left, in the distance is St. John the Baptist preaching, this episode and the baptism of Christ united through the repetition of colors. Patinir’s Passage to the Infernal Regions (c. 1520–1524; Madrid, Prado) presents a Bosch-like representation of hell with Charon, a character from Dante’s Inferno, transporting a soul to the underworld that is guarded by Cerberus, the three-headed dog. On the river’s left bank, angels escort other souls who await their fate, the atmospheric and light effects on the sky and water surface lending particular visual interest to the work. His Rest on the Flight into Egypt (c. 1520–1524; Madrid, Prado) shows the Madonna nursing. On the right, peasants cut the wheat that, according to the Apocrypha, the Christ Child caused to grow to prevent his capture and premature death. On a rock sits a sphere upon which sculpture fragments rest as another apocryphal reference, in this case that of the fall of idols as Christ and his family traveled to Egypt.

Patinir’s panoramic landscape constructions, composed of earth tones for the foreground, greens for the middle ground, and blues for the background, united by transitional hues and broad lighting and charged with atmospheric effects, were widely copied. This has caused an unfortunate overattribution to Patinir of any work that utilizes this formula, complicating the reconstruction of the master’s career. Clear is the fact that Patinir was the first to give predominance to nature and to relegate the figures to a subordinate position, and the first to emphasize the sacredness of nature as God’s creation, thereby enhancing the spiritual content of the religious scenes portrayed within it.

PAUL III (ALESSANDRO FARNESE; r. 1534–1549). Paul III was born in Canino in the province of Viterbo in 1468 and received a humanist education in Rome, Florence, and Pisa. He obtained the post of cardinal-deacon in 1493 from Pope Alexander VI whose mistress was Giulia Farnese, Paul III’s sister. Paul himself had a mistress who bore him three sons and a daughter. Upon ascending the papal throne, he set up a humanist court composed of artists, writers, and scholars. He also hosted masquerades and feasts, and in 1536 restored the practice of celebrating carnival. His appointment of his two teenage grandsons to the cardinalate in 1534 provoked protests within the curia. Nepotistic practices aside, Paul was a hard worker. He recognized the need to address the spread of Protestantism and to enact church reform. To this end he convoked a general council, revitalized the sacred college, and set up a commission to examine the state of the Church that became the basis for the work carried out by the Council of Trent. He also encouraged the reform of religious orders and the formation of new ones, including the Theatines and Ursulines. He was the one to approve the formation of the Jesuit Order and to establish the Congregation of the Roman Inquisition.

Paul was depicted on two occasions by Titian: in 1543 (Toledo, Cathedral Museum) and in 1546 with his grandsons Alessandro and Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma (Naples, Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte). Under Paul, Michelangelo painted the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel (1536–1541) and the frescoes in the Pauline Chapel at the Vatican (1542–1550), this last built by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger in 1537–1540. Sangallo also built for Paul the Palazzo Farnese, Rome (c. 1513–c. 1589) while still a cardinal, and Michelangelo built the Piazza del Campidoglio (1538–1564) and began the construction of New St. Peter’s (1546).

PAUL V (CAMILLO BORGHESE; r. 1605–1621). Paul V was of Sienese origin. He studied law in Perugia and Padua and received the cardinalate in 1596 after a successful mission to Spain. In 1603, he was appointed vicar of Rome and inquisitor. As pope, Paul’s outmoded views on papal supremacy led to collisions with Savoy, Genoa, Venice, and Naples. Venice imposed severe restrictions on the Church’s acquisition of land and construction of new ecclesiastic buildings in its territory and brought two priests to trial to which the pope responded by excommunicating all of the Venetian senate and by placing the city under an interdict (suspension of public worship and withdrawal of the Church’s sacraments). In return, Venice declared the interdict invalid and expelled the Jesuits. The issue was not settled until 1607 when France mediated between the papacy and Venice, though the Jesuits were not allowed to return and the whole episode proved to be a major moral defeat for the pope. Paul’s relations with England were also difficult. In 1605, he sent a letter to James I of England urging him to exonerate British Catholics from persecution resulting from the failed Gunpowder Plot carried out against the king and members of Parliament. When in the following year Parliament demanded from Catholics an oath denying the pope’s right to depose princes, Paul forbade them to take it. This move caused the British Catholics to become divided as their archpriest, George Blackwell, urged them to ignore the pope’s prohibition and swear as demanded by Parliament.

Paul was responsible for the canonization of St. Charles Borromeo and the beatification of Sts. Ignatius of Loyola, Philip Neri, Theresa of Avila, and Francis Xavier. He is also the one to have censured Galileo Galilei for teaching the heliocentric theory of the universe. Paul’s pet art project was the Cappella Paolina in Santa Maria Maggiore where Giovanni Baglione and others were involved in its decoration (1611–1612). Giovanni Lanfranco worked for the pope in the Sala Reggia of the Palazzo Quirinale, Rome (c. 1616), and Carlo Maderno added the transept and façade to St. Peter’s (1606–1612) under his patronage. It was Paul who, along with his nephew Scipione Borghese, acted as the protector of the young Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and the one to have pardoned Caravaggio for the murder charges levied against him.

PAUL, SAINT. Paul was born to Jewish parents who named him Saul and he was educated by the rabbi Gamaliel. As a native of Tarsus, now Turkey, he was considered a Roman citizen. He became a radical persecutor of Christians and, on his way to Damascus to arrest some of these faithful and to bring them back to Jerusalem for prosecution, he experienced a vision that caused his conversion to Christianity—a scene depicted dramatically by Caravaggio in the Cerasi Chapel (1600) at Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome. Rejected by his own people for converting, Paul spent three years in Arabia and then in Damascus where he preached. Back in Jerusalem, he met up with the apostles and was accepted into the Christian community. He set out to preach the Gospel in Cyprus, Perga, Antioch, and Lycaonia, and, during this journey, he changed his name from Saul to Paul. A second mission led him to Europe and he founded churches in Philippi, Thessalonica, Beroea, and Corinth. After a third journey to evangelize the world, Paul was arrested in Jerusalem, tried, and beheaded in Rome on the same day as St. Peter’s crucifixion.

Since the martyrdoms of these two saints coincide, the two scenes are often paired in art, as the example of the Cerasi Chapel denotes. Michelangelo also paired them in the Pauline Chapel at the Vatican (1542–1550), while scenes from the lives of both saints are included in Cimabue’s frescoes in the transept of the Upper Church of San Francesco in Assisi (after 1279). In 1515, Leo X commissioned Raphael to render cartoons for a series of 10 tapestries to be hung on the lower walls of the Sistine Chapel, Vatican, depicting the Acts of Sts. Peter and Paul (London, Victoria and Albert Museum). These include St. Paul preaching to the Athenians and the blinding of Elymas, a magus who prevented Proconsul Sergius Paulus from hearing the word of God from Paul, so the saint struck him with temporary blindness, effecting Sergius’ immediate conversion to Christianity.

PAZZI CHAPEL, SANTA CROCE, FLORENCE (1433–1461). Filippo Brunelleschi received the commission to build the Pazzi Chapel from Andrea Pazzi, the Medici’s rival. It was to function as the chapter house for the convent attached to the Church of Santa Croce, Florence, as well as a place for the Pazzi to engage in private devotion. In 1433 part of Santa Croce’s cloister was removed to make way for the new chapel. Some doubt whether the portico was built according to Brunelleschi’s design, its Roman triumphal arch motif suitable for a religious structure as it speaks of the triumph of Christianity over paganism. The chapel’s central plan is a more complex version of Brunelleschi’s Old Sacristy at San Lorenzo (1421–1428). It consists of a central square capped by a dome and flanked at either side by rectangles that are half its width. A smaller square protrudes from the center to form the apse, a space that is also domed. This plan, completely based on geometric forms and a mathematical system of proportions, reflects Brunelleschi’s rational approach to architecture. The domes are supported by pendentives, the largest pierced by a lantern and 12 oculi (rounded openings) that refer to the 12 apostles and the 12 gates of Jerusalem. When light enters the interior through these openings, it grants the illusion of a dome floating in midair as if supported by divine forces rather than actual architectural elements. Brunelleschi stuccoed the walls in white and trimmed them with pietra serena, a local tan-colored stone. As added ornamentation, Luca della Robbia created terracotta reliefs of the Evangelists for the pendentives and of saints for the roundels below the entablature. Brunelleschi purposely picked della Robbia for the execution of the reliefs since he found him better suited to the task than Donatello, who had contributed the reliefs in the Old Sacristy and that, in Brunelleschi’s view, were too busy and infringed upon his architectural design. Considered one of the architectural masterpieces of the Renaissance, the Pazzi Chapel rejects the ornamentations of the Gothic style, instead embracing the ancient principles of harmony, balance, and symmetry.

PAZZI CONSPIRACY (1478). A plot devised to rid Florence of the Medici for thwarting papal expansion. Pope Sixtus IV wished to acquire Imola for his nephew, Girolamo Riario. The Medici denied the financial backing needed for this purpose, so instead the pope obtained it from their rivals, the Pazzi. Further resentment between Sixtus and the Florentine rulers resulted when the pope appointed Cardinal Francesco Salviati, a staunch enemy of the Medici, archbishop of Pisa, resulting in Lorenzo “the Magnificent” de’ Medici’s order that the cardinal be excluded from his see. In retaliation, Sixtus, the Salviati, and the Pazzi planned the murder of Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano in the Cathedral of Florence during the mass. This would take place at the moment when the priest raised the Eucharist in front of the congregation and then Girolamo Riario would be installed as the city’s new ruler. On 26 April 1478, at the signal, Giuliano was stabbed multiple times and died. Lorenzo, who was also wounded, managed to escape. The conspirators were seized and executed. Jacopo Pazzi was tossed from a window, dragged naked through the streets of Florence, and thrown into the Arno River. His family’s possessions were confiscated; Salviati was hung, and others who were involved were hunted down through Italy and murdered.

PEDIMENT. A common element of Greco-Roman architecture, a pediment is the triangular area on the façade of a temple formed by the slopes of its pitched roof. Greco-Roman pediments were usually filled with sculpture reliefs that illustrate the myths of the ancients. In the Renaissance, the interest in the revival of classical antiquity resulted in the incorporation of the pediment into the architectural vocabulary of the period. Pediments were used not only on the façade of churches and other buildings but also to cap doors, windows, and niches. Rectilinear pediments many times alternated with segmented pediments, which are semicircular in form, to create a sense of rhythm and movement. Broken pediments became a common feature of Mannerist and Baroque architecture.

PENDENTIVE. Pendentives are the triangular curving segments that support a dome and transfer its weight to the pillars below. They were introduced by Byzantine architects who first used it on a large scale at Hagia Sophia in today’s Istanbul. Its use allowed for more extensive unobstructed interior expanses as well as the enclosure of a square opening with a circular dome. Pendentives provide surfaces that can be decorated with either mosaics, frescoes, or sculpture reliefs. Examples of pendentive mosaics include the Four Doctors of the Church in the Gregorian Chapel at St. Peter’s (1580s), executed by the Mannerist artist Girolamo Muziano. Pinturicchio frescoed the pendentives in the retro-choir of Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome (1508), with the same theme. Terracotta reliefs by Donatello in the pendentives of the Old Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence (1421–1428), and those by Luca della Robbia in the Pazzi Chapel (1433–1461) in the same city provide sculptural examples.

PENTECOST. Ten days after the Ascension of Christ, the apostles gathered for Shavout, a Jewish feast celebrated 50 days after Passover. Suddenly, they heard a noise and tongues of flame descended upon them. As each was filled by the Holy Spirit, they began to speak in foreign tongues. This gift allowed them to go into different parts of the world to preach the word of God. El Greco painted the scene in c. 1608–1610 (Madrid, Prado) with the Virgin Mary at the center and the Holy Dove descending upon her and the apostles, the tongues of flame already above their heads. The scene was depicted similarly by Giotto in the Arena Chapel, Padua (1305), Duccio in the Maestà Altarpiece (1308–1311; Siena, Museo dell’ Opera del Duomo), Andrea da Firenze on the vault of the Guidalotti Chapel at Santa Maria Novella, Florence (1348–1355), and Juan de Flandes on a panel at the Madrid Prado (1514–1518) that originally formed part of the retable of the Church of St. Lazarus in Palencia, Spain.

PENTIMENTI. Strokes of paint added by an artist to correct or modify the various elements of a composition. Pentimenti are invaluable for the art historian in that they reveal the act of creation. These can be observed with the naked eye as the surface layers of paint begin to fade, or through x-rays. A painting where the pentimenti provide a wealth of information is Caravaggio’s Martyrdom of St. Matthew in the Contarelli Chapel, Rome (1599–1600, 1602). Caravaggio painted alla prima, a method that results in many pentimenti as the artist who uses it works out the composition directly on the panel or canvas. The pentimenti in Caravaggio’s work, seen through x-rays, reveal his lack of confidence in tackling the complex composition. The contract for this work called for a scene in a church interior with steps leading up to it and many figures. The x-rays show that the figures were originally smaller and that many modifications were also made to the overall arrangement of the interior space.

PERSPECTIVE. See ATMOSPHERIC PERSPECTIVE; ONE-POINT LINEAR PERSPECTIVE.

PERUGINO, PIETRO (PIETRO VANNUCCI; c. 1445–1523). Italian painter credited with bringing Perugia out of artistic obscurity; the teacher of Raphael. The details of Perugino’s training are unknown, though it possibly took place in Florence, as indicated by the fact that in 1472 he was listed as a member of the Florentine Company of St. Luke, a fraternity of painters. In 1475, he is documented back in Perugia and in 1481 he had acquired enough of a reputation to have been called by Pope Sixtus IV to Rome to work on the wall frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. Art historians believe that Perugino may have been put in charge of directing the commission. Of the scenes he contributed, his Christ Giving the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to St. Peter (1482) represents one of the most successful frescoes in the chapel. He also contributed an Assumption of the Virgin, destroyed when Michelangelo created his Last Judgment (1536–1541) on the altar wall. The first shows the moment when Christ commands St. Peter to establish the first Christian church in Rome and the papacy, visually verbalizing the concept of the pope’s God-given right to rule since Peter received the appointment directly from Christ. The second, known through a drawing in the Albertina in Vienna by one of Perugino’s assistants, showed Sixtus IV kneeling in front of the Virgin, his papal tiara prominently displayed at his side. Also at his side, St. Peter presented him to the Virgin, his keys touching the pontiff on the shoulder to again assert the divine nature of the papal office.

Perugino rendered his Crucifixion (1481; Washington, National Gallery) a year earlier, a work that bears the influence of Early Netherlandish art and, in particular, that of Hans Memlinc. The pale, delicate figure types, the undulating drapery worn by Christ, and the emphasis on every minute detail emulate Memlinc’s style. The scene is calm, with figures passively witnessing the event—an image that invites contemplation. One of the characteristics of Perugino’s art is his use of stock figures in an exaggerated sway that he repeated over and over. His Mary Magdalen in this painting echoes the pose of St. John down to the last detail. Also characteristic of Perugino is the plunging landscape in the center background. All of these elements also form part of his Pazzi Crucifixion (1494–1496) in the Church of Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi, Florence, except that here Perugino included three classical arches to separate the witnessing saints from the crucified Christ and mourning Virgin. Perugino also turned to Memlinc for inspiration when engaging in portraiture. His portrait Francesco delle Opere (1494; Florence, Uffizi), of a Florentine craftsman, utilizes a formula often found in the Northern master’s art that includes an unidealized half figure with face and hands emphasized, one hand resting on a parapet, and the other holding an object—here a scroll with the Latin motto Timete Deum (Fear God).

Among Perugino’s late works are the Virgin Adoring the Child with St. Michael and Tobias and the Angel (c. 1499; London, National Gallery) commissioned for the Certosa di Pavia, the Virgin and Child at the Washington National Gallery (1501), and the Marriage of the Virgin (1500–1504; Caen, Musée des Beaux-Arts) for the Cathedral of Perugia where Mary’s wedding ring is housed. In this late phase, Perugino’s figures adopt a dreamy quality, achieved by softening the contours and rounding and shading the eyes with earth tones. His style in these works so influenced his pupil Raphael that it is sometimes difficult to tell their works apart. In fact, Raphael might not have achieved the visual beauty of his figures and backdrops had it not been for the lessons he learned from Perugino.

PERUZZI CHAPEL, SANTA CROCE, FLORENCE (1320s). The Peruzzi Chapel was owned by one of the leading banking families of Florence. Donato di Arnoldo Peruzzi left funds in his will for the construction and decoration of the family chapel at Santa Croce and his grand-nephew, Giovanni di Rinieri Peruzzi, commissioned Giotto in the 1320s to carry out the fresco decorations. Located next to the Bardi Chapel owned by the wealthiest family of Florence and also decorated by Giotto, the Peruzzi Chapel was conceived in direct competition with it. The scenes chosen by Giovanni were the lives of Sts. John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, his namesaints, with the Baptist also acting as the patron saint of the city of Florence. Among the scenes is the ascension of the Evangelist where a floating God the Father pulls the saint up to heaven while astonished individuals with hands clasped in prayer witness the event. The Birth and Naming of the Baptist shows St. Elizabeth attended by the mid-wives during labor, while in the next room the newborn is presented to his father, Zacharias, who busily writes the boy’s name on a tablet. Both the Bardi and Peruzzi chapels were whitewashed during the 18th century and restored in the 19th century by incompetent individuals who overpainted the frescoes. Eventually, the excess layers of paint were removed and, unfortunately, the Peruzzi Chapel frescoes are now in deplorable condition. One of the main reasons for this is that Giotto, who by now was in high demand, used a fresco secco technique to render the scenes more rapidly.

PESARO ALTARPIECE (1470s; Pesaro, Museo Civico). Commissioned from Giovanni Bellini by Costanzo Sforza, Lord of Pesaro, for the local Church of San Francesco, the work depicts the Coronation of the Virgin with saints. The throne on which the Virgin and Christ sit is of the type rendered by Andrea Mantegna, Bellini’s brother-in-law, reliant on a classical vocabulary. Bellini’s includes reliefs and cosmatesque marble inlays with the figures silhouetted against a landscape seen through its back opening that features Costanzo’s fortress of Gradara, part of his dominion since 1463. With this, the coronation is situated not in heaven as is customary, but on Pesaro’s lands to denote that the region is blessed with divine favor. This message is made more poignant by the bursting vision of the Holy Dove on the top center. Mantegna’s influence is also felt in the solidity of the figures, the crisp rendition of draperies, the bright colors, and the diagonal positioning of the saints to enhance the sense of depth. These and the saints along the left and right sides of the frame are of significance to the church and its patron. Among them are Francis, chosen because the altarpiece was rendered for a Franciscan church, Terence, patron saint of Pesaro, Paul, and George. Narratives from the lives of these saints are included in the predella. So, for example, Terence is shown holding up a model of the fortress of Gradara, St. George slays the dragon, and St. Paul experiences the vision that caused his conversion. Originally, the altarpiece was surmounted by a Pietá, now in the Vatican Museum. The details of the commission are not well known, though clearly the work was meant not only as religious celebration of Catholic doctrines but also as glorification of Costanzo Sforza’s rulership.

PETER, SAINT. Introduced by his brother Andrew to Christ, Peter became one of the Lord’s disciples. The calling of the two brothers to the apostolate was depicted by Domenico del Ghirlandaio in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican, in 1482. Peter is mentioned in the Gospels more than any other apostle. He was present at the marriage at Cana when Christ effected his first miracle—the turning of water into wine. Christ called him “the rock” upon which his church would be built, a statement used by the papacy to assert the divine sanction of their office, the scene depicted by Pietro Perugino in the Sistine Chapel (Christ Giving the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to St. Peter; 1482). He was present during the Agony in the Garden, as rendered by Giovanni Bellini (c. 1460; London, National Gallery). At Christ’s arrest, he cut off Malchus’ ear in anger, the scene presented by Giotto in his Betrayal of Christ by Judas in the Arena Chapel, Padua (1305). After Christ was arrested, three times Peter denied him but, after the Crucifixion, he was the first of the apostles to preach to the Gentiles, to effect conversions, and to perform miracles. He was imprisoned by Herod Agrippa, but an angel helped him escape so he could continue preaching. Raphael included the Liberation of St. Peter in the decorations of the Stanza d’Eliodoro at the Vatican (1512–1514). Peter became the first bishop of Rome and was crucified there by Emperor Nero. His crucifixion is the subject of one of Caravaggio’s paintings in the Cerasi Chapel, Rome (1600). His remains are kept in the crypt of the Basilica of St. Peter’s, directly under the altar, to assert papal succession from Peter.

PETRARCH (FRANCESCO PETRARCA; 1304–1374). Born in Arezzo, the Italian poet Petrarch was the son of an exiled Florentine notary. In 1311, his family moved to Provence, France, to benefit from the patronage of the papal court of Avignon. Petrarch remained there until 1353, though he traveled extensively during these years in Italy and France. He became one of the humanists at the papal court and spent his time studying the ancient texts, especially those written by Livy. It was in the Church of St. Claire in Avignon that he met his great love, Laura, the woman he celebrated in his Canzionere, written in the vernacular. In 1330, he took minor orders and came under the protection of the Colonna, among the most powerful feudal families of the era. At this time, Petrarch began to write. His biographies of famous Romans, De viris illustribus; his Africa, an account of the life of Scipio Africanus; and his Rerum memorandarum libri, on the cardinal virtues; all belong to this period in his life.

Petrarch recovered a number of ancient texts, including Cicero’s Pro Archia, which he found in Liège in 1333, and his letters, which he obtained in Verona in 1345. His writings earned him a laurel crown from the pope, an honor he received on the Capitoline Hill in Rome in April 1341. This was a practice carried out by the ancients to honor their poets, and Petrarch was the first among modern poets to be granted that tribute. Among the works Petrarch composed in Rome is his De vita solitaria in which he sought to reconcile humanism with Christianity. In 1353, he went to work for the Visconti in Milan, but later moved to Padua, Venice, and Pavia. He died in Arquà where Francesco da Carrara, Lord of Padua, had given him some land.

Considered by many the father of the Renaissance, Petrarch was responsible for perfecting the Italian sonnet form, aptly called the Petrarchan sonnet. His belief in the value of studying the writings of the ancients marked the course of Renaissance intellectual and philosophical thought, while the internal conflicts he expressed in his writings became the basis for humanist debate for the next 200 years.

PHILIP II OF SPAIN (1527–1598). The son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V who appointed him ruler of Naples and Sicily in 1554, of the Netherlands in 1555, and of Milan and Spain in 1556. Upon Charles’ death (1558), Philip also inherited the rulership of the Spanish colonies in the Americas. In 1567, he sent an army to squelch the Calvinist revolt in the Netherlands. The seven United Provinces of Holland, led by William of Orange, signed the Union of Utrecht in 1579 and declared their independence from Spain in 1581. In 1580, Sebastian I of Portugal died leaving no heirs to the throne. Philip seized the opportunity to lay claim to the Portuguese crown as he was the son of Isabella of Portugal. He met little resistance and as the new king he obtained Brazil and the Portuguese colonies in Africa and the West Indies, along with the riches these lands had to offer. In 1588, he sent the Spanish Armada to England, which he ruled briefly while married to Mary Tudor, a Catholic who sought to reinstate Catholicism in her kingdom. She died in 1558 before accomplishing her goal. Her Protestant sister, Queen Elizabeth, ascended the throne as her successor and Philip used the fact that the British had provided support to the Protestants in Holland during their revolt as an excuse to oust her from power. Heavy winds and large ships proved disastrous to the Spanish Armada as they tried to invade England in 1588. In 1590–1598, Philip also involved himself in the French wars of religion against the Huguenots (French Protestants). The French King Henry IV, a Protestant, ended the war when, in 1593 he converted to Catholicism and in 1598 he signed the Treaty of Nantes guaranteeing religious freedom to this group.

Philip was passionate about art and learning. In 1557, during the Battle of San Quentin against the French, he vowed that, if victory was achieved, he would build a monastery in honor of St. Lawrence. Having won, he commissioned the architect Juan Bautista de Toledo to build the Monastery of San Lorenzo in El Escorial, a structure continued by Juan de Herrera when Juan Bautista died in 1567. The decoration of the monastery occupied Philip for several years, with Bartolomé and Vicente Carducho, Juan Fernández de Navarrete, Eugenio Cajés, and El Greco forming part of the group of artists involved in the task. Juan Pantoja de la Cruz, Alfonso Sánchez Coello, and Anthonis Mor were his official portraitists, and Titian also worked for him as he had done for Philip’s father, Charles V.

PHILIP IV OF SPAIN (1605–1665). Philip IV was the son and heir of Philip III of Spain. He was a more capable ruler than his father but, like him, he relied on a minister to run the monarchy. The individual he chose was Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, Count of Olivares, whom he had to dismiss in 1643 after several political and economic failures. Philip’s priorities also matched those of his father: to uphold the Catholic faith against the threat of Protestantism, to assert Spanish control over the Dutch United Provinces, and to extend the Hapsburg dominion. However, these priorities could not be attained. In 1640, Portugal revolted against Spain, and Philip lost his position as their monarch. He had no choice but to recognize the independence of the Dutch Provinces in 1648 when the Peace of Westphalia was negotiated, and, in the following year, Spain lost Roussillon and part of the Spanish Netherlands to France in the Peace of the Pyrenees. While his realm declined politically and economically, artistically it experienced its golden age, mainly thanks to the presence of Diego Velázquez in his court. Also present at his court were Peter Paul Rubens, Juan Bautista Maino, and Juan Martinez Montañéz.

PHILIP THE BOLD, DUKE OF BURGUNDY (1342–1404). The son of King John II of France, Philip married Margaret, heiress of Flanders in 1369, a territory he inherited when his father-in-law, the Count of Flanders, died. Philip was made Duke of Touraine in 1360 and rewarded three years later with the Duchy of Burgundy for his participation in the Battle of Poitiers against England. Along with his brothers, Jean, Duc de Berry, and Louis I D’Anjou, he acted as regent to Charles VI of France. Philip moved his court to Dijon and embellished the city with works of art. One of his main focuses was the Chartreuse de Champmol, the Carthusian monastery he founded and where he established his mortuary chapel. There, Claus Sluter embellished the portals with sculptures (1385–1393), rendered his famed Well of Moses (1395–1406; Dijon, Musée Archéologique), and Philip’s tomb (1390–1393). Melchior Broederlam painted his Dijon Altarpiece (1394–1399; Dijon, Musée des Beaux-Arts) and Jean Malouel the Pietà (c. 1400; Paris, Louvre) and Martyrdom of St. Denis (fin. c. 1416; Paris, Louvre) for the same monastery. The Limbourg brothers also worked for the duke before entering in the service of Jean de Berry.

PIAZZA DEL CAMPIDOGLIO, ROME (1538–1564). The Campidoglio is the piazza on the Capitoline Hill in Rome. In the ancient era, this had been the seat of the Roman government, and Pope Paul III wanted to revive the site to function as the center of the new Rome of the popes. To this effect, he commissioned Michelangelo to design the piazza and refurbish two buildings already on the site, the Senators’ and Conservators’ palaces. These two structures formed an awkward 80° angle. Rather than feeling intimidated by the unusual layout, Michelangelo used the asymmetry to his advantage. He erected a third structure across from the Conservators’ Palace, the Palazzo Nuovo, also placing it at 80° thus attaining a trapezoidal shape for the piazza. He then reworked the façades of the existing buildings to conform to the classical forms of the new structure. Within the trapezoid, Michelangelo added an oval design on the pavement that encloses a series of rhomboids. In the center of the oval, Paul III ordered Michelangelo to place the ancient equestrian statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, until then located near the Church of St. John Lateran and thought to represent Emperor Constantine the Great. Michelangelo designed a pedestal for the statue and complied with the pope’s wishes. Constantine was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity and he therefore is symbolic of the triumph of the faith over paganism. Hence, such a figure was the proper choice for the piazza that was to become the new center of Christendom.

PIETÀ. A scene depicting the dead body of Christ supported by his mother, the Virgin Mary, or his followers. Among the earliest depictions of this sort from the Renaissance is Giovanni da Milano’s rendition of 1365 (Florence, Accademia), which shows the dead body of Christ supported by the Virgin and St. John. Giovanni Bellini’s Pietà (1460; Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera) shows the same three figures against a landscape, with Mary leaning her head on her son’s shoulder. The most famous Pietà is that by Michelangelo (1498/1499–1500; Rome, St. Peter’s), where the Virgin spreads her left arm as if to present the Savior to the faithful. Titian rendered the Pietà (c. 1576; Venice, Galleria dell’ Accademia) as a deeply emotional scene with the seated Virgin holding the dead body of Christ on her lap in the manner of Michelangelo, the distressed St. Jerome (his self-portrait) crawling toward the Savior, and Mary Magdalen in anguish running toward the viewer with right arm raised as if to proclaim his death. Annibale Carracci (1600; London, National Gallery) placed his figures in a pyramid of bodies leaning on each other to denote the extreme sense of sorrow felt by the mourners. See also PIETÀ, ST. PETER’S, ROME.

PIETÀ, ST. PETER’S, ROME (1498/1499–1500). Commissioned from Michelangelo by the French Cardinal Jean de Bilhères Lagraulas for his family chapel at St. Peter’s. The contract stipulated that this was to be the most beautiful work in marble to exist in Rome, a stipulation Michelangelo may very well have achieved as his Pietà was greatly admired by his contemporaries and continues to serve as one of the prime examples of Renaissance sculpture. Michelangelo made a special trip to Carrara, well known for its white marble quarries, to find the perfect block for the execution of the work. He created a pyramidal composition with the dead Christ lying on his mother’s lap, her crumpled drapery forming a backdrop for his corpse. She stretches her left arm as if revealing the Savior to the faithful. This motif stems from medieval German prototypes, usually heart-wrenching renditions that emphasize the brutality of the Passion and Crucifixion. Michelangelo instead created a restrained, quiet iconic image. Giorgio Vasari wrote in his Lives that a group of Lombards had thought that the work was carved by one of their compatriots. In the middle of the night, Michelangelo sneaked into St. Peter’s and signed his name on the Virgin’s strap that runs across her chest to prevent any further confusion as to the authorship of the work. Originally meant for a niche, the sculpture is now encased in heavy glass and tucked in a dark corner of the basilica. The reason for this is that, in 1972, the work was attacked by a crazed individual who broke the Virgin’s nose and some of her fingers. The work has since been restored.

PILON, GERMAIN (1525/1530–1590). French Mannerist artist who became the leading sculptor of France after Jean Goujon’s death. Most of the works executed by Pilon are funerary in nature. His Tomb of Henry II and Catherine de’ Medici (1563–1570; St. Denis, Paris), the French monarchs, was executed under the direction of Francesco Primaticcio, a member of the Fontainebleau School. The seminude figures are shown as corpses, with the queen in a Venus Pudica pose, her hair sensually cascading over her shoulders. The king is presented with coarse features and greater details of anatomy than his consort. Pilon’s Lamentation (c. 1580–1585; Paris, Louvre) was originally part of the decoration in the Chapel of René de Birague, chancellor of France, in the Church of Ste-Catherine du Valdes-Écoliers in Paris. The relief shows overstated curvilinear forms, complex drapery arrangements, and expressive poses and gestures, typical of Pilon’s Mannerist style.

PINNACLE. In altarpieces, pinnacles are the ornamental tops that imitate the lacelike spires of Gothic structures. In sculpted altarpieces, such as Michael Pacher’s Altarpiece of St. Wolfgang (1471–1481; Sankt-Wolfgang, Parish Church), the pinnacles serve to extend the space of the main scene and place it within a Gothic church setting. In painted examples, the pinnacles can be filled with imagery, as in Duccio’s Maestà Altarpiece (1308–1311; Siena, Museo dell’ Opera del Duomo), where scenes from the life of the Virgin are depicted, and Piero della Francesca’s Misericordia Altarpiece (beg. 1445; San Sepolcro, Museo Civico), where the Virgin Annunciate, the angel Gabriel, and saints are included.

PISANELLO, ANTONIO (bef. 1395–1455). The last of the Italian painters to work in the International Style, a mode he learned from his master, Gentile da Fabriano. Pisanello was born in Verona to a Pisan family. He was active in the courts of Milan, Ferrara, and Rimini, working primarily as a medallist. He achieved great fame during his lifetime, as attested by a number of poems written in his honor. His most famous work is the St. George and the Princess (c. 1437–1438), a fresco in the Pellegrini Chapel in the Church of Sant’ Anastasia, Verona. Here St. George arrives to rescue the princess of Libya who has been offered as sacrifice to a dragon. The scene is a courtly representation with elegant knights, horses, and even a castle in the background. Pisanello had a particular interest in the depiction of animals, denoted here by the different angles in which he presents the horses. His Vision of St. Eustace (c. 1440; London, National Gallery) also demonstrates his interest in this genre. The saint was converted to Christianity when, during a hunt, he saw the figure of the crucified Christ between the antlers of a stag. Pisanello’s rendering shows the saint mounted on a horse experiencing the vision while surrounded by animals of prey and hunting dogs. Pisanello was also an accomplished portraitist. His Portrait of Lionello d’Este (1441; Bergamo, Accademia Carrara) and the Portrait of a Princess from the d’Este House (1436–1438; Paris, Louvre) show the sitters in profile in emulation of ancient Roman coinage to give a sense of permanence. The abundant patterning and emphasis on courtly elegance in these paintings are characteristic of Pisanello’s art and the features that place him among the leading masters of the International Style.

PISANO, ANDREA (ANDREA DI PONTEDERA; c. 1290–1348). Italian sculptor and architect from Pontedera on Pisan territory. Andrea, who is unrelated to Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, was the son of a notary named Ser Ugolino Nini. Nothing is known of his training or artistic activity before 1330 when he is documented working on the bronze doors for the Baptistery of Florence. In 1337, Andrea modified the upper part of the Campanile of the Cathedral of Florence, originally designed by Giotto, by adding niches to contain sculptures. He then executed four prophets, kings Solomon and David, and two sibyls for these niches. In the same year, he executed a series of rhomboid reliefs for the Campanile’s base. These are arranged in two rows, the upper row depicting seven planets, seven Virtues, seven sacraments, and seven liberal arts. In the lower row are scenes from the Book of Genesis, the arts, the sciences, and the labors of man. They refer to the perfection of God’s creation and human accomplishment. In 1340, Andrea continued the building of the Cathedral of Florence following the plans provided by Arnolfo di Cambio, who died in 1302, leaving the structure incomplete. Seven years later he was in Orvieto, working on the cathedral. He died in 1348, victim to the Black Death.

PISANO, GIOVANNI (c. 1248–after 1314). Italian sculptor and architect, son of Nicola Pisano. As noted in inscriptions that accompany his works, Giovanni was born in Pisa. He is mentioned in 1265 in the documentation relating to his father’s commission for the pulpit of the Cathedral of Siena (1265–1268) on which he assisted. In 1278, he is again mentioned as his father’s assistant in an inscription on the Fontana Maggiore in Perugia (fin. 1278), and he is also documented as an architect in Siena and at Massa Maritima. There is a gap in written records relating to Giovanni from 1270–1276, which some believe may signify that he took a trip to France since his works are closely tied to the French Gothic tradition. In 1285, he surrendered his Pisan citizenship to become a citizen of Siena where he worked until 1299. In the decade from 1285 to 1295, Giovanni provided the rich decoration of the lower part of the Siena Cathedral façade. In 1301 he executed the pulpit for Sant’ Andrea in Pistoia, a work he signed and dated. In the following year he began the pulpit for the Cathedral of Pisa (fin. 1311), and in c. 1313 he created the Monument to Margaret of Luxemburg (Genoa, Palazzo Bianco) for the Church of San Francesco di Castelletto in Genoa. Though Giovanni worked with his father, the styles of these two masters are quite distinctive. While Nicola blended Gothic elements with the classicism found in Roman sarcophagi and other remains, his son depended mainly on the expressiveness of medieval forms.

PISANO, NICOLA (active 1258–1278). Italian sculptor, credited with introducing the Gothic vocabulary to Tuscany. Nicola is believed to have been born in Apulia, then ruled by Frederick II (d. 1250) who brought French masters, mainly architects, to his kingdom, and this is how the sculptor may have been exposed to the Gothic style. In 1258, Nicola is documented in Pisa. His best-known commission is the pulpit for the Pisan Baptistery (1255–1260), a work he signed and dated. For this building, he also provided exterior sculptures (c. 1278), including the figures of the arcade on the second level, the Gothic tracery above it, and the half-figures of Christ and the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, and other saints at the points of the tracery. In 1265, Nicola was in Siena executing a pulpit for the cathedral, a commission completed in 1268. He was also involved in the execution of an elaborate fountain, the Fontana Maggiore, in Perugia (fin. 1278) along with his son, Giovanni Pisano. Nicola’s work mingles the French Gothic style with ancient Roman elements, as exemplified by his pulpit in Pisa. Here, the overall form is Gothic (the trilobed columns and the lions that support them), yet the individual reliefs make extensive use of ancient prototypes.

PLAGUE. See BLACK DEATH.

PLATO (427–347 BCE). Greek philosopher whose writings exerted major influence in almost every field of the Renaissance, including literature, the arts, and the sciences. Plato was the student of Socrates. Upon his master’s execution, which deeply affected him, he traveled to Egypt and Italy. He returned to Athens and established his own school of philosophy where he applied the Socratic method of teaching and where Aristotle became one of his pupils. Plato wrote approximately 30 treatises, most in dialogue form, including the Republic, Symposium, Phaedrus, Timaeus, and Laws. He emphasized the abstract and spiritual aspects of reality, contrasting with Aristotle’s advocacy for the empirical observation of nature and its phenomena. Only a handful of works by Plato were known in the West during the medieval era. It was not until 1400 that most of his manuscripts were recovered when copies arrived in Italy from Constantinople. These were systematically translated into Latin in the early 15th century and made available to a wider audience. Marsilio Ficino, the humanist employed by Cosimo de’ Medici, was the one to finally complete the translations of all of Plato’s known works. Ficino also founded the Platonic Academy with Cosimo’s backing and tried in his own writings to reconcile Platonism with Christianity. See also NEOPLATONISM.

PLEYDENWURFF, HANS (1420–1472). The most important painter in Nuremberg, Germany, in the third quarter of the 15th century. Originally from Bamberg, Pleydenwurff arrived in Nuremberg in c. 1451, where he remained until his death in 1472. His Descent from the Cross (1462; Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum), originally part of the Breslau Altarpiece, is typical of his style and reveals his debt to the Early Netherlandish masters in the solidity of the figures, their deep pathos, and the angularity of their drapery folds. More vertical in terms of the compositional arrangement than Early Netherlandish prototypes, the work includes a patterned gold brocade sky that flattens the background space. In a later version of the scene (c. 1470; Munich, Alte Pinakothek), originally one of the panels of the Hof Altarpiece, Pleydenwurff exchanged the gold brocade for a true blue sky. He also increased the solidity of the figures and gave them a greater sense of movement, contrasting the compact arrangement of the figures in the foreground with the ample landscape in the background. In his Resurrection (c. 1470; Munich, Alte Pinakothek) also part of the Hof Altarpiece, these contrasting elements of closed and opened spaces is also seen. His portrait Count Georg von Loewenstein (c. 1456; Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum) is a naturalistic, nonidealized rendition of an aging male also inspired by Flemish precedents. Originally the work formed part of a diptych, with the Man of Sorrows on the accompanying panel. When together, the count, with book of devotions in hand, seemed to be meditating on the suffering of Christ. Along with Stephan Lochner and Konrad Witz, Pleydenwurff was among the first artists in Germany to experiment with the Flemish naturalism recently introduced by Robert Campin, Jan van Eyck, and Roger van der Weyden, thereby inaugurating a new phase in the art of the region.

PLUTO AND PROSERPINA (1621–1622; Rome, Galleria Borghese). Commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese from Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the work depicts the god of the underworld abducting Proserpina, the daughter of Jupiter and Ceres, to make her his consort. At Pluto’s feet is Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guards the entrance to Hades. Bernini here manipulated the marble as if it were soft clay. Pluto digs his fingers into Proserpina’s thighs and her flesh responds to the pressure he applies, while his face wrinkles as she pushes her hand against it. The composition borrows from Giovanni da Bologna’s serpentinate (serpentine compositions). As in Bologna’s Rape of the Sabine Woman (1581–1582; Florence, Loggia dei Lanzi), the work offers a different view on each side. Limbs push away from the central axis in a balanced and credible manner. By this time, Cardinal Scipione Borghese had fallen in disfavor as his uncle, Paul V, had died and been replaced by Gregory XV. To ingratiate himself with the new papal family, the Ludovisi, Cardinal Scipione gave the new papal nephew, Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi, the Pluto and Proserpina as a gift and ordered from Bernini the Apollo and Daphne (1622–1625; Rome, Galleria Borghese) as its replacement.

POLLAIUOLO, ANTONIO DEL (c. 1431–1498). Italian goldsmith, painter, sculptor, engraver, and draughtsman. Pollaiuolo was among the earliest masters to perform autopsies to gain full understanding of the anatomical constitution of the human form. He was particularly interested in depicting the human body in motion. His two versions of Hercules and Antaeus, one painted in c. 1460 (Florence, Uffizi) for the Medici and the other sculpted in the 1470s (Florence, Museo Nazionale del Bargello), clearly reflect his scientific approach as they show the strain of men engaged in physical struggle. His Battle of the Ten Nudes, an engraving from c. 1465 (New York, Metropolitan Museum), reads like a page in an anatomy book. This has led some to propose that the work was meant as a teaching tool used to demonstrate to students in Pollaiuolo’s workshop the intricacies of rendering the body in movement. Pollaiuolo’s St. Sebastian (fin. 1475; London, National Gallery), painted for the Oratory of San Sebastiano in the Church of Santisima Annunziata, Florence, shows six figures around the saint. Four shoot at him with arrows, while two others reload their crossbows, their muscles flexing and distending in response to their actions. Pollaiuolo preferred mythological scenes to religious representations. In fact, his Uffizi Hercules and Antaeus is among the earliest large-scale painted mythologies of the Renaissance. Another example is his Apollo and Daphne (London, National Gallery) of c. 1470–1480. His Portrait of a Young Woman (1460s; Milan, Museo Poldi Pezzoli) rejects the flat, caricature-like approach of previous masters in favor of a more realistic representation achieved by the inclusion of subtle details of anatomy. Pollaiuolo’s paintings show that, for him, the human form was as worthy of study as light and space.

POLYPTYCH. See ALTARPIECE.

PONTORMO, JACOPO DA (JACOPO CARUCCI; 1494–1557). Mannerist Florentine painter who studied under Leonardo da Vinci, Piero di Cosimo, and Andrea del Sarto. Pontormo’s personal diary has survived and reveals that the man had a neurotic personality. At the end of his life he became a recluse and made his studio accessible only through a ladder that he would draw up after himself so no one could gain entry. The Mannerist style, which is full of illogical elements, was well suited for his temperament. In c. 1518, Pontormo received a commission to paint Joseph in Egypt (London, National Gallery) for the Florentine Pier Francesco Borgherini, Michelangelo’s friend, a work that falls in the early stages of his career. Borgherini wanted a series depicting the story of this biblical character for his nuptial chamber on occasion of his marriage to Margherita Acciaioli (1515) and he asked Michelangelo to recommend artists for its execution. Among those Michelangelo recommended were Pontormo and Andrea del Sarto. Pontormo’s is a complex work with no specific central focus, with stairways that lead to nowhere, and crowded with figures and illogical proportions—all characteristic of the Mannerist style. It depicts various scenes at once, including the pharaoh’s dream that Joseph interpreted, the discovery of the cup that leads to Joseph’s reunion with his brothers who sold him into slavery, and his forgiveness of their deed.

In 1525–1528, Pontormo painted one of his most highly regarded works, the Deposition for the Capponi Chapel in the Church of Santa Felicità in Florence. This ambiguous representation of the removal of the body of Christ from the cross includes neither the cross nor a tomb. Inspired by Michelangelo’s muscular figures, Pontormo’s feature massive torsos, contorted, almost impossible poses, and sculptural draperies. The focus of the work is not on the dead body of Christ but on the hands that are stacked in the middle of the oval composition. The colors are applied in unusual combinations, with blue being the dominant hue. Lighting is harsh, facial expressions are strange, and some body parts do not seem to belong to any of the figures included. To this period also belongs his Madonna and Child with Saints (c. 1529; Paris, Louvre), painted for the Convent of St. Anne in Verzaia, just outside Florence, and his Visitation (1528–1529) for the Church of San Michele, Carmignano. Pontormo’s restless images with at times perplexing components provided an inventive alternative to the harmonious, more forthright compositions of the High Renaissance style.

POUSSIN, NICOLAS (1594–1665). French artist who was mainly active in Rome. Little is known of Poussin’s activities in France prior to his arrival in the papal city in 1624. He is then documented living with Simon Vouet, and in 1626 with François Duquesnoy. The earliest works Poussin executed in Italy were rendered in the Venetian mode he was able to study when he stopped in Venice on his way to Rome. His Et in Arcadia Ego (c. 1627; Chatsworth, Devonshire Collection), a work inspired by Guercino’s painting of the same title (c. 1618; Rome, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica) provides an example of his Venetianized phase. Here, as in many of the works by Venetian masters, the brushwork is loose, the colors Titian-like, the landscape lush, and the figures fleshy. To this period also belongs the Triumph of Flora (c. 1627; Paris, Louvre) and the Martyrdom of St. Erasmus (1628–1629; Rome, Vatican Pinacoteca), this last commission meant for one of the altars in St. Peter’s dedicated to the saint.

In the 1630s, Poussin changed his style to conform to the classicist-idealist mode of the Carracci and their followers, resulting from his contact with Andrea Sacchi, a member of the Carracci School. A work by Poussin that presents this change is the Rape of the Sabine Women (c. 1635; New York, Metropolitan Museum), a scene that seems as a choreographed ballet with figures in repetitive yet elegant poses. Poussin by now had become keenly interested in antiquity and had gained access to Cassiano dal Pozzo’s Museo Cartaceo, which provided information on the architecture, sculpture, artifacts, and everyday objects of the ancients. The details in the Rape of the Sabine Women, down to the costumes and hairstyles, are based on these materials in Pozzo’s collection.

In 1640, Poussin was invited by King Louis XIII of France to Paris, a trip that turned out to be somewhat of a catastrophe. He clashed with local artists, among them Vouet who by now had returned to France and become the king’s official painter. Poussin was given commissions that were unsuitable for his temperament, including the decoration of the Great Gallery in the Louvre, which he left unfinished. In 1642, he returned to Rome feeling defeated, yet he maintained contacts with French patrons and stoicist philosophers, resulting in yet another change in his style. In the mid-1640s, he developed what he called the Grande Maniera, a type of painting based on the classical Greek modes of music used to express different moods. As a result, the movements and gestures of his figures became codified to denote piety, celebrations, or violence. His subjects also changed. He now favored stories with moral and heroic content, as his works the Funeral of Phocion (1648; Louvre, Paris) and the Gathering of the Ashes of Phocion (1648; Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery) exemplify. These scenes, taken from the writings of Plutarch, speak of a hero’s fall and the triumph of truth and virtue.

To this period in Poussin’s career also belong the Madonna of the Steps (1648; Washington, National Gallery) and the Holy Family (1651; Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum). These works mimic the reliefs of the ancients and present clear, linear renditions. Unfortunately, they represent a decline in Poussin’s art in that his figures are painted in unusually orange flesh tones with strange faces, the lines have become too stiff, and the color contrasts too jarring. In spite of this decline, Poussin’s mature works of moral rectitude and vindication and his view that painting must appeal to reason and improve upon nature became the canon adopted by the French Academy. With this, Poussin determined the course of art in France during the second half of the 17th century and beyond.

PRATO CATHEDRAL, CHOIR FRESCO CYCLE (1452–1466). Commissioned by the Datini family from Fra Filippo Lippi, who settled in Prato, near Florence, these frescoes depict scenes from the life of Sts. Stephen, the cathedral’s dedicatee, and John the Baptist, patron saint of Florence under whose rule Prato submitted, with the four Evangelists on the vault. Of the scenes depicting St. Stephen, the most complex from a compositional standpoint is his funeral. Here the saint’s corpse is laid out on a bier surrounded by mourning figures with members of the clergy and the nobility of Prato at either side, some of which may portray actual individuals. The scene takes place in a complex church setting that features a classical vocabulary not unlike that introduced in architecture by Filippo Brunelleschi and developed further by Leon Battista Alberti. Rendered through the use of one-point linear perspective, the vanishing point in this work is on the altar upon which sits a simple cross that casts a shadow on the aedicula (small shrine) behind it. With this, Lippi paralleled the life of St. Stephen with that of Christ, and particularly his martyrdom for the sake of the faith. Other scenes on the saint’s life include his birth, his disputation with the elder Jews, and his martyrdom.

Scenes from the life of the Baptist are correlated thematically and compositionally to those of St. Stephen and include his birth and naming, his taking leave of his parents to live in the wilderness, and his preaching in the desert. Most noteworthy is the Feast of Herod, which shows Salome dancing, receiving the head of the Baptist as reward, and presenting the head to her mother, Herodias. In this scene, the vanishing point is on the Datini’s coat of arms to call attention to the fact that they financed the commission. These frescoes must have presented a major challenge for the aging Lippi as their considerable distance from the ground demanded substantial figures and details. The officials of the cathedral in fact complained to the Medici that the artist was slow in completing the commission. The billowing draperies in these frescoes that vary from thick to diaphanous, the diverse poses of the figures, the impeccably rendered perspective of the interior spaces, and the elegant gestures that punctuate the dramatic moments in each episode are all part of Lippi’s usual visual language.

PREDELLA. A predella is the base on which an altarpiece sits. It is usually decorated with sculpture relief or painting and the subject chosen normally refers to that of the main scenes of the altarpiece. So, for example, the predella in Gentile da Fabriano’s Adoration of the Magi (1423; Florence, Uffizi) complements the central scene with narratives from the infancy of Christ, namely the Nativity, Flight into Egypt, and Presentation in the Temple. Giovanni Bellini’s Pesaro Altarpiece (1470s; Pesaro, Museo Civico) includes St. George along the frame and his killing the dragon on the predella. A final example is Fra Angelico’s Linaiuoli Altarpiece (1433; Florence, Museo di San Marco), which shows Sts. Peter and Mark in the outer panels and St. Peter Preaching and the Martyrdom of St. Mark on the predella.

PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. Jewish law requires that male children be circumcised eight days after birth, that mothers engage in a purification rite 40 days after the delivery, and that the firstborn be presented to the temple and consecrated to God. Scenes of Christ’s Presentation in the Temple sometimes conflate these events into one. In Melchior Broederlam’s Presentation in the Dijon Altarpiece (1394–1399; Dijon, Musée des Beaux-Arts), the Virgin Mary hands over the Christ Child to the prophet Simeon who welcomes him into the temple and recognizes him as the Messiah, while a female on the right holds a basket with the two doves required as offering for the purification. In Stephan Lochner’s Presentation (1447; Darmstadt, Hessisches Landesmuseum), the Virgin herself holds the doves while Simeon places the Christ Child on the altar to denote his future sacrifice. Other presentations to the temple include Jan van Scorel’s version (c. 1530–1535; Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum), where Simeon kisses the Christ Child as he lowers him onto the altar, and Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s (1342; Florence, Uffizi), where the prophetess Anna, who also recognized Christ’s divinity, points to the child and holds the scroll that records her prophecy.

PRIMATICCIO, FRANCESCO (c. 1504–1570). Italian Mannerist painter, sculptor, and architect who studied under Giulio Romano in Mantua. Along with Rosso Fiorentino, Primaticcio headed the Fontainebleau School in France. He arrived at the French court in 1532, invited by Francis I, and remained there for the rest of his life save for a few short trips to Italy. Many of his works, particularly his buildings, were destroyed and are known only through prints and drawings. He is best remembered for his decorations in the Chambre de la Duchesse d’Étampes (c. 1541–1545) and his mantelpiece in the Chambre de la Reine (1533–1537), both at the Fontainebleau Palace. In the first, he created a series of sculpted caryatids, meant to enframe painted scenes, that do not follow classical forms. Rather, they are placed in profile or in three-quarter turns and support stylized cartouches. As Mannerist figures, they feature elongated proportions and little sense of musculature. The mantelpiece in the second room presents a play of circular and square forms that contrast with the elongations of the relief figures.

Primaticcio’s Ulysses and Penelope (c. 1545; Toledo, Museum of Art) is an example of his painting abilities. Related to the decorative scheme of the Galerie d’Ulysse in the Fontainebleau Palace, now destroyed, the work presents an intimate moment between husband and wife influenced by the sculptural figures of Michelangelo. The differing scales between the main characters and the two who converse in the background, the elegant elongations, and vague details of anatomy translate the stylizations of Primaticcio’s sculptures into painting. Along with Rosso, Primaticcio is credited with bringing the Mannerist mode to France. The combination of painting and relief sculpture he introduced at Fontainebleau and his graceful lengthened forms were to have an impact on French art for many decades.

PRIMAVERA (c. 1482; Florence, Uffizi). A mythological painting created by Sandro Botticelli for the Medici family. The work was commissioned on the occasion of the wedding of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici, Lorenzo “the Magnificent’s” cousin, to Semiramide d’Appiani. Appropriately, Venus, the goddess of love, stands in the center with Cupid hovering above her. To the right is Zephirus, the west wind, about to ravage the nymph Chloris who is rewarded for his transgression with marriage and her transformation into Flora, the goddess of flowers. To the left are the Graces, Venus’ attendants, and Mercury, god of commerce, a reference to the Medici’s banking activities. The orange grove in the background is a common feature in works commissioned by the Medici as the oranges recall their heraldic palle (balls).

The meaning of the painting has not been fully deciphered. Some scholars have interpreted it along the lines of Neoplatonism, a philosophy of great interest in the Medici court thanks to the presence of Marsilio Ficino, who revived Platonic thought and established the Platonic Academy in Florence. Others relate it to ancient and contemporary literature, and particularly the work of the poet Angelo Poliziano who also belonged to the Medici circle. A third school of thought considers the work in the context of marriage, viewing the image as admonition to the bride on the importance of chastity, submission to her husband’s family, and procreation (Venus and Flora in the painting are pregnant).

In this work, Botticelli purposely rejected a construction of space in perspective and a rendition of accurate anatomies, favoring instead a stylized depiction of the human form. His figures gracefully prance in the flowered grove in a manner that is aesthetically pleasing but optically inaccurate. The liberties Botticelli took have resulted in a lyrical representation of the mythic scene.

PROPHETS. Prophets are figures from the Old Testament who conveyed the word of God, among them Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Elijah, Ezekiel, and Habbakuk. Their prophecies usually admonished the Israelites and inspired their choice of a proper moral path. The message underscored the well-being of the Jewish nation and typically contained warnings against disobedience to God and promises of rewards for submission to his wishes. These biblical personages are not only key to Judaism but also to the Christian faith as they are the ones who foretold the coming of Christ. Isaiah, for instance, spoke of the virgin birth of the Messiah and Elijah spoke of his second coming.

The prophets are often represented in religious art, the most remarkable examples rendered by Michelangelo on the Sistine ceiling at the Vatican (1508–1512). They also appear in the Psalter of Jean, Duke of Berry (c. 1380–1385; Paris Bibliothèque Nationale) rendered by André Beauneveu and on the predella in Pedro Berruguete’s Retablo de Santa Eulalia (after 1483; Paredes de Nava, Church of Santa Eulalia). From 1415 to 1435, Donatello sculpted a series of prophets for the niches in the Campanile of the Cathedral of Florence, now housed in the Museo dell’ Opera del Duomo.

PUCELLE, JEAN (c. 1300–1355). French manuscript illuminator who introduced Italianate elements into his works. His illuminations owe debt to the art of Duccio, especially in the treatment of space, and this he combined with the elegance of the French court. His is the use of varying tonal values to add volume to his draperies. Pucelle is among the first in France to view the elements of each page, including the illustration, text, and borders, as a whole rather than a set of distinctive components. His works therefore possess a harmony of design never before seen in French illuminations. His Belleville Breviary (1323–1326; Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Ms. Lat. 10483) includes these features. The page depicting David before Saul (fol. 24v), for example, presents the characters enclosed in a Duccio-like architectural setting that shows his attempt at perspective. The drolleries on the margins, composed of plants, birds, insects, and figures, enrich the aesthetic appeal of the page. In this same breviary, Pucelle illuminated the calendar pages with landscapes fit for each season. So, for example, the month of January features bare trees, heavy rain in February, and so on, showing his interest in studying nature and its phenomena. His Book of Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux (1325–1328, New York, The Cloisters), queen of France, is executed in grisaille with only a few added touches of color in tempera. The manuscript includes scenes of the infancy and Passion of Christ, as well as episodes from the life of St. Louis. Along the margins are beggars, musicians, dancers, and other characters found in the streets of medieval France, as well as animals, attesting to Pucelle’s keen observation of his surroundings and desire to replicate on the page these details of everyday life. See also ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT.

PULPIT. An elevated platform used by the clergy to address the congregation during religious ceremonies. In Italy in the 13th century, Nicola Pisano created a striking hexagonal pulpit for the Baptistery of Pisa (1255–1260). Supported by seven columns adorned at the base with animals and grotesques and at the capitals with the Virtues and St. John the Baptist, the pulpit features five relief sculptures with scenes from the infancy of Christ, his death, and judgment. In 1301, his son, Giovanni Pisano, also executed a pulpit, his for the Church of Sant’ Andrea in Pistoia. This example follows Nicola’s hexagonal form and support system. The scenes are also the same, except that Giovanni added the Warning for the Holy Family to Flee to Egypt, and the Massacre of the Innocents. While similarities of form and content exist between the works of father and son, stylistically they differ. Nicola’s pulpit betrays his interest in classical antiquity. Templelike structures fill his backgrounds, his figures are crowded as they are in ancient Roman sarcophagi, and a nude male figure of the Hercules type stands in contrapposto. Giovanni’s reliefs, on the other hand, are more slender than his father’s and less dependent on ancient prototypes. His carving goes deeper than Nicolas’ and his figures show greater activity and emotional content.