PIERIN DEL VAGA, PIETRO BUONACCORSI, called so. — Painter, born in Florence in 1501, died in Rome on 19 October 1547. He belongs to the Roman school of Raphael’s followers. In Florence, he was a pupil first of an Andrea “dei ceri,” then of Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio; he subsequently became assistant to a local painter called “il Vaga” (hence his nickname), who brought him to Rome.
There he collaborated on the frescoes of the Vatican Loggias (Vasari assigns him several episodes, such as: The Hebrews Crossing the Jordan; The Destruction of Jericho; Joshua Stopping the Sun, etc.). With an exquisite decorative sense, he executed the medallions in the Hall of the Pontiffs in the Borgia Apartment, the friezes of the frames, and the central tondo (Vasari). He also worked in private residences, such as the Palazzo Baldassini (Via delle Coppelle) and the Palazzina Altoviti (fragments of frescoes now in the Museo di Palazzo Venezia). The following works by P. del V. are preserved: a Pietà in S. Stefano del Cacco; the unfinished frescoes in the Pucci Chapel in Trinità dei Monti; and the frescoes in the Chapel of the Crucifix in S. Marcello al Corso (1525). Taken prisoner during the Sack of Rome, P. d. V. went to Genoa, where, among other works, he worked in Palazzo Doria, frescoing various rooms in a style that was at once impetuous and skilful in its Mannerism (Jupiter Striking the Giants with Lightning; The Triumph of Scipio, etc.), a style that subsequently became exemplary for Genoese painters. In 1539 he returned to Rome and painted in the Massimi Chapel in Trinità dei Monti together with Daniele da Volterra, in Castel S. Angelo (Hall of Perseus), etc. Other paintings worthy of mention are: The Transit of the Virgin in the Church of S. Maria Assunta in Trevignano, closely adhering to the taste of Penni and Giulio Romano; several monochromes in the dado of the Stanza della Segnatura; Galatea, of a refined Raphaelesque character; the Nativity (from the Genoese period, dated 1534, now in America); the beautiful Madonna in the Northbrook collection; and others in Pisa (Cathedral), Madrid (Prado), Vienna (Liechtenstein Gallery), etc.