PINTORICCHIO IN UMBRIA
Spello Church of S. Andrea,
Via Cavour

Pala con la Madonna col Bambino e Santi

On the 16 April 1506 Pintoricchio received the commission to paint a great altarpiece for the main altar of the franciscan church of Spello. The work began rapidly but the following year the Maestro had to leave Umbria to go to Siena where he had received other important commissions. Pintoricchio entrusted the completion of the painting to another Perugian painter, Eusebio da San Giorgio, but he left a written account that he must follow the drawings that Pintoricchio had prepared. Pintoricchio had mad a commitment, however, to paint at least the heads of the characters and the form of Christ on the moulded cornice - the parts considered most important. In 1508 Bernardino was again in Spello to paint these parts and on this occasion justified his departure with the letter that he had received from Gentile Baglioni begging him to return to Siena. The letter was painted into the painting in a small table, over which was the script of San Giovannino writing the Ecce Agnus Dei in his cartouche. Some consider this as one of the most poetic episodes of all Pintoricchio’s works.

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