Pietro De Crescenzi

Pietro De' Crescenzi, an Italian writer on agriculture, born about 1230, died in 1320. He wrote Opus Ruralium Commodorum, containing not only his personal experiences and observations, but the best information that could be gained from the agriculturists of antiquity. It has been translated into several modern languages; the best Latin edition is that of Gessner (2 vols., Leipsic, 1735).

Pietro Francesco Cavalli

Pietro Francesco Cavalli, an Italian composer, born at Crema about 1599, died in Venice in April, 1676. His real name was Caletti-Bruni, but the governor Cavalli of Crema became his patron; and assuming his name, he became under his auspices chapelmaster of St. Mark's church at Venice. He composed Ser-se, L'Orione, L'Ercole amante, and nearly 40 other operas. According to Dr. Burney, he was the first to introduce in his opera of Giasone (1649) the ornamental stanza called aria.

Pietro Palmaroli

Pietro Palmaroli, an Italian painter, born after 1750, died in Rome in 1828. He was the first to transfer frescoes from walls to canvas, and to his skill in the execution of this difficult process is due the preservation of Daniele da Volterra's famous " Descent from the Cross," accomplished in Rome in 1811. He restored innumerable beauties in obscured paintings. Prominent among these were Raphael's Madonna di San Sisto in the gallery at Dresden, and the fresco of the "Sibyls," by the same master, in the church of Santa Maria della Pace in Rome.

Pietro Perugino

Pietro Perugino, an Italian painter, whose true name was Van-nucci, born at Castello della Pieve, Umbria, in 1446, died there in December, 1524. He received his first instruction from artists of the Umbrian school, and at the age of 25 visited Florence, where he became the friend and fellow pupil of Leonardo da Vinci. Having painted here a number of works, he returned about 1475 to Umbria, and established himself in Perugia, whence he acquired the name Pe-rugino. In 1480 he was invited by Sixtus IV. to Rome to assist in decorating the Sistine chapel. His frescoes in the exchange of Perugia are considered his principal work. He became one of the most popular painters of Italy, and undertook numerous works, many of which were executed by his pupils from his designs. Gradually he sacrificed his art to love of gain, and his pictures subsequent to 1505 are feeble and mannered.

Pietro Santi Bartoli

Pietro Santi Bartoli, known also as Pe-rugio, an Italian engraver, born about 1635, died in Rome in 1700. He was a pupil of Nicolas Poussin, and imitated his master's works with wonderful fidelity. He excelled chiefly as an engraver, his prints of Greek and Roman works being much valued by Winck-elmann. His most celebrated designs are after the Scriptural frescoes of Raphael in the Vatican. His St. John, after Mola, is in the Louvre, and his "Jupiter crushing the Giants," after Giulio Romano, is at Mantua. He completed over 1,000 plates, chiefly etchings, which have become very scarce.