PINO, Marco

This is a preliminary sketch for the scene which Marco Pino painted in the Sala Paolina, Castel Sant’Angelo, Rome, where Pino worked together with Perino del Vaga and Pellegrino Tibaldi. Perino appears to have reviewed Pino’s designs and to have gone back and corrected compositional weaknesses, which may be deduced by comparing the only preserved sketch by Pino with the executed fresco.

Between 1542 and 1548 Pope Paul III transformed a series of rooms on the two upper levels of the Castel Sant’Angelo into a comfortable and at the same time impressive apartment. Time and again this castle had provided protection to popes against the incursions of secular powers, and it continued to have a military function. His predecessors had commissioned various decorations, although these have been lost. The newly decorated rooms were to provide leisure and spiritual rest - the typical purpose of a country house or villa. The mythological subjects with which some of the rooms were painted thus correspond to what one would expect in a villa, but hardly in papal apartments.

The largest room of these apartments, the great hall today called the Sala Paolina after the pope who commissioned it, surprises the visitor with its festive exuberance. Most important is the impression of the whole which presents itself to the eye and aims to overpower visitors to the room with the sheer display of riches, splendour, and bounty. This impression is the result of the decorative system designed by Perino del Vaga.

The seemingly plastic organization of the walls features bronze chiaroscuri framed in stone; round-headed niches flanked by columns, with “living” figures of the Virtues; overdoor paintings with female personifications; and pairs of putti holding bronze tondi. The plastic organization of the walls enters into competition with the fully plastic, partially gilded stucco of the ceiling and its colourful paintings.

The six ceiling paintings and the large wall areas were reserved for scenes from the life of Alexander the Great, while the act of Apostle Paul - from his conversion to martyrdom - were depicted in the six tondi above the doors of the room. The selection of these two protagonists was clearly intended to play on the two names of the pope (Alessandro Farnese having become Paul III).

Perino del Vaga painted just a part of the frescoes, the other parts being done by collaborators following his cartoons. Marco Pino from Siena, a student of Beccafumi, painted the six Alexander scenes on the vault.

1. Alexander the Great before the High Priest

2. Alexander the Great in the Temple of Jerusalem

3. Alexander the Great Burns His Own Train

4. Alexander the Great Battles the Indian King Porus

5. Alexander the Great Has Ships Built

6. Alexander the Great’s Entry into Babylon.

The picture shows the first scene of the Alexander cycle, which starts on the vault above the Archangel Michael: Alexander the Great before the High Priest. The scene depicts Alexander the Great meeting the high priest of Israel before the gates of Jerusalem. This ancient event served to illustrate the supremacy of ecclesiastical over secular authority. The theme of the subordination of secular rulers to spiritual authority was naturally suited to papal residences.

The seemingly plastic organization of the walls features bronze chiaroscuri framed in stone; round-headed niches flanked by columns, with “living” figures of the Virtues; overdoor paintings with female personifications; and pairs of putti holding bronze tondi. The plastic organization of the walls enters into competition with the fully plastic, partially gilded stucco of the ceiling and its colourful paintings.

The six ceiling paintings and the large wall areas were reserved for scenes from the life of Alexander the Great, while the act of Apostle Paul - from his conversion to martyrdom - were depicted in the six tondi above the doors of the room. The selection of these two protagonists was clearly intended to play on the two names of the pope (Alessandro Farnese having become Paul III).

Perino del Vaga painted just a part of the frescoes, the other parts being done by collaborators following his cartoons. Marco Pino from Siena, a student of Beccafumi, painted the six Alexander scenes on the vault:

1. Alexander the Great before the High Priest

2. Alexander the Great in the Temple of Jerusalem

3. Alexander the Great Burns His Own Train

4. Alexander the Great Battles the Indian King Porus

5. Alexander the Great Has Ships Built

6. Alexander the Great’s Entry into Babylon.

The picture shows the second scene of the Alexander cycle on the vault: Alexander the Great in the Temple of Jerusalem. In the temple Alexander was shown the book of Daniel, in which it was written the prophecy that a Greek, which Alexander understood to mean himself, would destroy the empire of the Persians.

The seemingly plastic organization of the walls features bronze chiaroscuri framed in stone; round-headed niches flanked by columns, with “living” figures of the Virtues; overdoor paintings with female personifications; and pairs of putti holding bronze tondi. The plastic organization of the walls enters into competition with the fully plastic, partially gilded stucco of the ceiling and its colourful paintings.

The six ceiling paintings and the large wall areas were reserved for scenes from the life of Alexander the Great, while the act of Apostle Paul - from his conversion to martyrdom - were depicted in the six tondi above the doors of the room. The selection of these two protagonists was clearly intended to play on the two names of the pope (Alessandro Farnese having become Paul III).

Perino del Vaga painted just a part of the frescoes, the other parts being done by collaborators following his cartoons. Marco Pino from Siena, a student of Beccafumi, painted the six Alexander scenes on the vault:

1. Alexander the Great before the High Priest

2. Alexander the Great in the Temple of Jerusalem

3. Alexander the Great Burns His Own Train

4. Alexander the Great Battles the Indian King Porus

5. Alexander the Great Has Ships Built

6. Alexander the Great’s Entry into Babylon.

The picture shows the scene Alexander the Great Burns His Own Train.

The seemingly plastic organization of the walls features bronze chiaroscuri framed in stone; round-headed niches flanked by columns, with “living” figures of the Virtues; overdoor paintings with female personifications; and pairs of putti holding bronze tondi. The plastic organization of the walls enters into competition with the fully plastic, partially gilded stucco of the ceiling and its colourful paintings.

The six ceiling paintings and the large wall areas were reserved for scenes from the life of Alexander the Great, while the act of Apostle Paul - from his conversion to martyrdom - were depicted in the six tondi above the doors of the room. The selection of these two protagonists was clearly intended to play on the two names of the pope (Alessandro Farnese having become Paul III).

Perino del Vaga painted just a part of the frescoes, the other parts being done by collaborators following his cartoons. Marco Pino from Siena, a student of Beccafumi, painted the six Alexander scenes on the vault:

1. Alexander the Great before the High Priest

2. Alexander the Great in the Temple of Jerusalem

3. Alexander the Great Burns His Own Train

4. Alexander the Great Battles the Indian King Porus

5. Alexander the Great Has Ships Built

6. Alexander the Great’s Entry into Babylon.

The picture shows the scene Alexander the Great Battles the Indian King Porus.

The six scenes of the Alexander cycle on the ceiling continues on the five large areas of the long walls. The scenes are:

1. Alexander the Great Places the Iliad in a Precious Casket

2. Alexander the Great Cuts the Gordian Knot

3. The Family of Darius before Alexander the Great

4. Alexander the Great Reconciles Two Soldiers

5. Alexander the Great Erects Altars

The picture shows the scene Alexander the Great Places the Iliad in a Precious Casket.

The six scenes of the Alexander cycle on the ceiling continues on the five large areas of the long walls. The scenes are:

1. Alexander the Great Places the Iliad in a Precious Casket

2. Alexander the Great Cuts the Gordian Knot

3. The Family of Darius before Alexander the Great

4. Alexander the Great Reconciles Two Soldiers

5. Alexander the Great Erects Altars

The picture shows the central painting of the long wall, the scene Alexander the Great Cuts the Gordian Knot. It relates to Alexander’s domination of the world. The Oracle prophesied that he who could undo this knot would became lord of Asia and of the entire world.

The six scenes of the Alexander cycle on the ceiling continues on the five large areas of the long walls. The scenes are:

1. Alexander the Great Places the Iliad in a Precious Casket

2. Alexander the Great Cuts the Gordian Knot

3. The Family of Darius before Alexander the Great

4. Alexander the Great Reconciles Two Soldiers

5. Alexander the Great Erects Altars

The picture shows the scene The Family of Darius before Alexander the Great.

The six scenes of the Alexander cycle on the ceiling continues on the five large areas of the long walls. The scenes are:

1. Alexander the Great Places the Iliad in a Precious Casket

2. Alexander the Great Cuts the Gordian Knot

3. The Family of Darius before Alexander the Great

4. Alexander the Great Reconciles Two Soldiers

5. Alexander the Great Erects Altars

The picture shows the last scene of the cycle: Alexander the Great Erects Altars. It relates to Alexander’s domination of the world: it shows him erecting the altars with which he marked the easternmost point in his train of conquest. A small but significant detail, namely the eagle and the Capitoline wolf on the front side of the first altar at right, invites us to recognize in the empire of Alexander the forerunner of the Roman empire

Marco Pino was the dominant artistic personality for thirty years in Naples. The present canvas is typical of Marco’s mature phase: the pictorial space is stretched upward and the figures are reminiscent of Michelangelo’s late works.