Bartolomeo Caporali Author(s): Stanley Lothrop Source: Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, Vol. 1 (1915/1916), pp. 87-102 Published by: University of Michigan Press for the American Academy in Rome Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4238501 Accessed: 16-02-2016 04:04 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. American Academy in Rome and University of Michigan Press are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 132.239.1.231 on Tue, 16 Feb 2016 04:04:14 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions BARTOLOMEO CAPORALI. STANLEY LOTHROP. (PLATES 20-48) THE careerof the Perugianpainter, Bartolomeo Caporali, has up to thistime receivedbut slight attention from students of Umbrianart, and hisworks have neverbeen completely catalogued'. Although a provincial artist whose influence counted forlittle in thegeneral development of painting outside his nativecity, the factthat manyof his workshave beenwrongly attributed to Fiorenzo di Lorenzoand other Umbrians,and hisevident close contact with Bernardino Pinturicchio, would seem to makesome study of Caporali'spersonality desirable. His smilingsaints and lively trans- parentcolouring cannot fail to pleasethose who admirethe freshnessand decorative charmof thelesser Umbrian artists of thefifteenth century. The earliestdocumentary2 record of BartolomeoCaporale, or Caporali,is hisma- triculationin the Guild of Paintersat Perugiain the year 1442; whichmakes it probable thathis birth took place during the second decade of the 15thcentury. In 1454 he receivedfive florins for executing a Pietai and Maesta for the Sala of theGuild of Perugian Shoemakers.His nameappears under the form of Bartolomeodi Segnolo alias Caporale in 1456 in regardto thepurchase of a housein thevicinity of San Martinoat Perugia; in 1458 he becametreasurer of thePainters' Guild; and in 1462 Prioreof his native city. In Augustof thisyear he decoratedan altar-baldacchinoforthe Municipality, and in Septemberhe was againappointed treasurer of theGuild for the remainder of the year. Two yearslater the Monastery of San Pietroat Perugiapaid himin grainfor paintingtwo tabernacles. I Bibliography:BOMBE, WALTER, Geschichteder vistad'Arte, Vol. 11, 1904, p. 38. PeruginerMalerei; Italienische Forschungen, Band V, Berlin 2 Documents:BOMBE, op. cit.,p. 324; GNOLI, 1912, p. I 13; MARIOTTI, ANNIBALE, Lettere"'Pittoriche UMBERTO, DocumentiInediti sui PitoriPerugini, Bollet- Perugine,Perugia, 1788, p. 82; RIcci, CORRADO, Ri- tinod'Arte, IX, No. V, Maggio 1915, p. 121. This content downloaded from 132.239.1.231 on Tue, 16 Feb 2016 04:04:14 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 88 STANLEY LOTHROP In documentsdated 1467 and 1468 Caporaliin companywith Benedetto Bonfigli acknowledgedtwo half payments of fiftyflorins each for a triptychpainted in the church of San Domenicoat Perugia.This partnershipof two painters of nearlyequal age, andthe strong resemblance existing between their earlier works, would tend to show thatboth had beeneducated under like influences, if not in the studioof the same master.In 1469Caporali was electedCapitano del Popolo for six months; in the next yearhe purchasedland, and jointly with his brotherGiacomo, the miniature painter, boughta housein theparish of S. Fortunato.In 1471 theApostolic Camera at Pe- rugiapaid him sixty florins for painting the armsof SixtusIV on the Palazzo Pub- blicoand on thecity gates; and in 1472 a sumfor trumpet-banners. He was again electedtreasurer of thePainters' Guild for the firsthalf of thisyear. He purchased a housein theparish of San Savinoin 1473; hisname appears in 1474; andin 1476 he wasappointed Electionarius Capitanei for six months. The following year he received a commissionfrom the heirs of Niccolodi serJacopo to painta Pietafor their chapel in thecathedral at Perugia'. On thedeath of hisbrother Giacomo in 1478 BartolomeoCaporali was appointed to completethe former's term of office as treasurerof theGuild of Miniaturists. Thisfact has led a recentwriter 2 to includeour artist among Perugian miniature- painters,and to attributeto him a miniaturerepresenting theAnnunciation in the choral booksof theMonastery of San Pietroat Perugia.Although what remains to us of I n ActumPerusii in fundicoheredum Nicolai ser chedepingera la dictatavola a faredoi altretavolette Jacobiet sociorummercatorum presentibus etc. Spec- percanto depinte cum doi agnoliper terra. Si chein tabilisvir Franciscus Petri de Randulisde Perusiop(orte) tuctosieno agnoli octo facteal dictomodo et cumdicte h(eburnee)tutor testamentarius Severi filiiolim et heredis coloreet oro. Itemche sia tenutoaverlo fornito tucte Guasparisfilii olim et heredisNicolai ser Jacobi de Pe- le dictedepinture per tempo de mesediciocto proxime rusioetc. Spectabilisvir AngelusJohannis quondam da venirecomenzando el tempo a di primode setembre JuntiniMactheoli de Perusiop. s. p. actordomine Mar- proximoda venire1477 et da finirecomo segueta. Item gariteeius filieet tutricisJacobi filii olim et heredis chele dicteherede sieno tenute a dareet pagareal predictiNicolai ser Jacobide Perusioetc. dederuntet maestroche depingera le dictetavole fiorini vintocinque locaveruntmagistro Bartolomeo Caporalis de Perusio a bolognini40 (pro)fl. de tempoin temposecondo lui porteheburnee pictori presenti stipulanti et recipientipro lavorera.Item che el legnameche intreraper farele se et suis heredibusetc. ad fabricandumet pingendum dictetavole et predolala mitavada a le spesede le quamdamtabulam ponendam super altare capelle heredum dicterede et l'altra mita a spese d'esso maestroche le Nicolaiser Jacobierigende in ecclesiaSanti Laurentii lavorera. modoforma et pactisinfrascriptis videlicet. Et promiserunteidem magistro Bartolomeo ex parte Che sopralo altare de la dittaCapella se debbia et pro partesponte adimplere et observareet solvere fareuna Tavola de legnamebuono et sufficientesimile modoet formaprout in dictacedola continetur. Et hoc el lavoriola quale sia lunghapiei cinqueet mezzoo feceruntpro eo quia dictusmagister Bartolomeus perse circhaet alta piei doi et mezzovel circha. Et ne la et suos heredesobligando etc. promisitet convenitdictis quale sia depintain mezzola pieta cumdoi figureper Franciscoet AngeloJohannis etc. onmia in dicta scripta lati sichein tuctosieno figurecinque tucte lavorate a et capituliscontenta adimplere et observare.Renump- uso de buonoet valentemaestro cum buone et fineco- tiantesetc. etc. n (Arch.ATot. Rog. Francesco di Gia- lore e cola predolaa la dictatavola et tuctoel campo comoProt. 1477, c. 302t). sia de oro fino.Item che sia tenutoel dicto maestro 2 SERAFINI,ALBERTO, L'Arte, April 1912, p. 106. This content downloaded from 132.239.1.231 on Tue, 16 Feb 2016 04:04:14 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions BARTOLOMEO CAPORALI 89 Bartolomeo'swork displays the minute care in detail,and the delicacy of finishpeculiar to theearly Umbrian School, neither his technique nor the above document would seem sufficientevidence to provehim a miniaturist;andthe Annunciation inquestion has nothing in commonwith his forms, but rather resembles closely other miniatures in the same choralbooks attributed to Pierantonio di Niccolo. Caporaliheld the office of Priorea secondtime in 1480,and in 1483 thatof FancellusMassariorum Civiitatis Perusii. In 1484 hisname occurs in the accountsof theCommune for such unimportant works as banners,panels for a baldacchinoand the decorationof a Z bancogrande del cantorino'l. In thislatter commission a young as- sistant,a certainLattanzio is alsomentioned. In 1485he was again appointed Fancellus Massariorum;and in this,and in thefollowing two years he boughtland and houses at Corciano,Castel Fratticciola, and Perugia.The polyptych'painted for Castiglione del Lago,the fragments of which exist in Perugiaand Udine, formerly bore the date 1487 and Caporali'ssignature. In thesame year, at the orderof the Commune,he paintedsixty trumpet-banners, forwhich he receivedtwenty seven florins and twenty soldi. Caporaliis frequentlynamed in the sacristy accounts of the Monastery ofSan Pietro, in 1487 he paintedarms and thehead of San Giovanni,and in 1488he repainted the towerclock, completed a Madonna in frescoleft unfinished by Pietro di Galeottoover themonastery doorway, and received two florinsin paymentfor the figureof a St. Justina.In theseaccounts the name of hisassistant Lattanzio again appears. There are severalrecords concerning the dowries of Caporali'stwo daughters; in Marchof 1488 he boundhimself to payto hisson-in-law, the tailor, Ippolito di MaestroGiovanni, the remainderofhis daughter Candida's dowry, and at theend of the same month one hundred florinsto Felicedi Domenicodi Puccioas themarriage portion of his otherdaughter Lucrezia.More banners were painted at theorder of the Commune in 1488 and1489, and inthe latter year he assistedin thevaluation of Pinturicchio'sSposalizio in theca- thedral.In 1490 he paidthirty-five florins as themarriage portion of his niece, Angela Briganti.The frescoin San