PERUZZI, p5.-rbTit'se, BALDASSARE ( 1481 1536). An Italian architect and painter, the most gifted artist of the High Renaissance. He was born at Volterra, near Siena, March 7, 1481. Little is known of his early career, but from his work it is probable that he followed 11 Sodoma and Pinturicchio in painting. In 1.504 lie went to Rome and speedily distinguished him self in frescoes in Sant' the Vatican (ceiling of the Camera del Eliodoro)—and Santa Maria della Pace. Aided by Agostino Chigi, Bal dassare studied the treasures of Rome, especially its architecture, and encouraged by Bramante, then in charge of the construction of Saint Pe ter's. became skilled in the elements of architec tural design and composition. It is notable that in his detail especially he reflects the grace and sentiment of Umbria in his choice of profiles and ornament motifs, discarding the mechanized forms of Roman detail of the time of the Empire, and choosing as his models the types used in the buildings of the Republic—forms which exhibit a delicacy of proportion and a pleasing individ uality. In 1516 he designed for Agostino Chigi the Villa Farnesina, which was destined to be come famous through the frescoes of Raphael and his school. The admirable frescoes on the ceiling of the room containing Raphael's Galathea are after his designs. In 1520 Leo X. appointed him, as the successor of Raphael, architect of Saint Peter's. and in 1525 he designed the Ossoli Pal
ace, which shows an evident advance in the prin ciples of planning. At the sack of Rome in 1527 Peruzzi was forced to paint a portrait of Bour bon, but upon its completion escaped to Siena, where he was made the city architect and su perintended the construction of the Sienese forti fications. At this time he executed a number of frescoes and panel paintings, among which was the well-known "Augustus and the Sibyl" in the Church of Fontegiusta (Siena ). His paintings are decorative in character, even to the sacrifice of truth to nature: they show the influence of Raphael and Michelangelo, and are apt to be mannered.
In 1532 he returned to Rome and commenced the building of the Massimi Palace. his architec tural masterpiece. both in its general propor tions and the variety of the detail and ornament. He carried on this work until his death in 1536, caused, according to tradition, by poison given by those envious of his position as architect of Saint Peter's.
Consult: Letarouilly, Edifices de Rome mo dern(' (Paris, 1840-57) ; Donati, Eloqio di Baldas sare Peruzzi (Siena, 1579) ; Weese, Baldassare _Infra an dem malerischen Schmucke der Villa Farnesina (Leipzig, 1594 ) .