Born in Siena, Pacchiarotti’s artistic training probably took place in the studio of one of his compatriots, Bernardino Fungai or perhaps Matteo di Giovanni but the other clear influence on the artist was the Umbrian tradition as exemplified by Perugino and Pinturicchio. He worked mainly in Siena, for a considerable period in the Duomo, although little from this project survives but prior to this, he also spent a brief time circa 1500 working with Bernardino Pinturicchio in Rome in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo. Pinturicchio’s influence on the younger artist becomes particularly clear in his paintings for the Libreria Piccolomini of the Duomo. A number of his paintings are conserved in the Pinacoteca of Siena such as the triptych of The Visitation, and the panels of the Assumption and the Ascension and these works also reveal the influence of Florentine artists such as Ghirlandaio and Signorelli. Pacchiarotti is also documented as a designer of pageants and was active in Siena’s resistance against Florence.
In the centre of the composition is the half-length Madonna, holding the Christ Child in her arms. At her shoulders stand San Jerome, to the left, with his white beard and Cardinal’s cloak and, to the right, St Francis, holding the Cross. This type of composition, in which the figures are presented as if seen through a window, is very common in Sienese painting in the period circa 1500. Even the young Raphael uses this device, paying homage to this tradition in a small picture of the same subject, now in Berlin and probably executed during Raphael’s stay in Siena in around 15021.
This picture is particularly comparable to a fresco depicting a Madonna and Child with Saints, in the chapel of Sant’Ippolito in Asciano. The fresco is known to date from the first decade of the 16th Century, the period when Pinturicchio’s influence was still pre-eminent. The use of tempera as the medium, with its delicate detail and milky colours emphasises the connection between the present work and the fresco. The facial types and the elaborate halos are strongly redolent of Quattrocento traditions while the tender representation of the Christ Child, with his rosy complexion, round face and small features, is clearly indebted to Pinturicchian prototypes. The composition was obviously successful within Pacchiarotti’s studio as the artist has used the same exact arrangement of figures – though the identity of the Saints has changed – for a painting now in the Pinacoteca in Siena (Fig.1). Most probably, Pacchiarotti simply used a single cartoon for the two pictures. In the version in the Pinacoteca, the artist has depicted St Anthony of Padua in place of Saint Francis . It would seem most likely that the present picture is the first version as the one in the Pinacoteca is slightly looser in the handling and therefore similar to his later works which tend to show the influence of Perugino more clearly
In the present picture, Pacchiarotti’s graceful handling, with its flashes of colour and richness as seen in the cross held by St. Francis and the gilded cushion on which the Christ Child is seated, exemplifies the eclectic and elegant style of Sienese painting.
Alessandro Angelini
1. See T. Henry, Hugo Chapman et al., in Raphael from Urbino to Rome , exhibition catalogue, London-Milan, 2004, pp.116 and 117, cat.25, p.116, illus. p.117
