PINTURICCHIO, pen-too-rek'ke-o (ethe good little painter"), easel name of Bernardino de Betto Bagio, Italian painter: b. Perugia, 1454; d. Siena, 11 Dec. 1513. It is thought that he was a fellow-student of Pietro Perugino under Niccolo da Foligno, and he was assisting Perugino (his senior by only eight years), at Rome (1484) in executing the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel for Innocent VIII. Among his other Roman patrons were Sciarra Colonna and Alexander VI; for the latter he painted a series of scenes from the life of Saint Bernard in the church of Ara Orli, and five frescoes in the Vatican. He returned to Umbria in 1498 and works of his are extant in Perugia, Orvieto and Spoleto. Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini, afterward Pius III, on completing his cathedral at Siena, invited him to decorate the library of that building (1502). The walls he frescoed with scenes from the life of Pius II, the cardi nal's uncle, and the roof with arabesques and mythological compositions. Raphael, then 19, accompanied him to Siena, but whether he took part in the execution of the frescoes is uncer tain. These works are brilliant in conception and execution and are considered the finest of his frescoes. Fresco-painting was indeed his
strongest point; he understood well the decora tive resources of his art, and was master of ornament. He left few easel pictures and these are scattered through the chief public and pri vate galleries of Europe. His 'Return of Ulysses' was sold in 1874 for $10,761.50, and his three scenes from the life of Griselda for $3,620. The last of his known works, painted in 1513, is the 'Procession to Calvary,' now in the Casa Borromeo, at Milan. Sigismodo Tizio, parish priest at Siena, has left a true but tragic account of his death. When confined by sick ness to his bedroom his wife locked him in, went off with her lover and left her husband to perish by hunger. In the history of paint ing he is to be looked upon as the link between Perugino and Raphael and some pictures of his have been attributed to each of these masters. He bore a high character among his fellow citizens and was elected decemvir of Perugia in 1501.