cover image Perugino's Path: The Journey of a Renaissance Painter

Perugino's Path: The Journey of a Renaissance Painter

Nancy Clouse. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, $16 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-8028-3849-0

This overview of the Renaissance painter Pietro di Cristoforo di Vannucci, or simply ""Perugino"" (i.e., ""from Perugina"") combines dry text with agile, cheerful line drawings washed in watercolors and punctuated by a smattering of Italian vocabulary words. Best known for his work on the Sistine Chapel, Perugino was one of the pioneers of perspective and a friend of da Vinci and Botticelli. Although the prose is rather flat (""As apprentice, as master, and as teacher, `the one from Perugia' was a significant contributor to the art of the Italian Renaissance""), it covers the basics of Perugino's career and outlines the steps from apprentice to master painter. Clouse's lively, airy illustrations of the artist and his world--including the spectacular countryside, domes and fountains of Renaissance Italy--help to breathe life into the story. Italian words, presented in ornate frames and scrolls, also help evoke the locale, and add an educational dimension. It's not a triumph as a biography, but the book is still a visual pleasure. All ages. (Oct.)