San Marino · 500th anniversary of the death of Pinturicchio

Pinturicchio was the byname of Bernardino di Betto, born in Perugia around 1454. The name can be understood, roughly, as “little painter.” He belonged to the Umbrian school of Renaissance painting and worked primarily as a fresco painter. In Rome, he participated in the decoration of the Sixtinische Kapelle, probably in Perugino’s circle. Later, he decorated several rooms in the Vatican for Pope Alexander VI, now known as the Borgia-Appartements. His other works include the frescoes of the Piccolomini-Bibliothek in the cathedral of Siena. Pinturicchio died there in 1513.

The selected fresco is located in the Baglioni Chapel of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Spello, a town in Umbria. It forms part of a cycle of paintings depicting Mary and the childhood of Christ, which Pinturicchio executed around the turn of the 16th century on commission from Troilo Baglioni. The depiction combines the biblical narrative with the architecture of a town square designed according to the rules of central perspective. The figures and buildings are not historically reconstructed, but instead transferred into the visual world of the Italian Renaissance.

The scene is based on the Gospel of Luke. Twelve-year-old Jesus travels with Mary and Joseph to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. On the return journey, his parents notice that he is missing. After a three-day search, they find him in the Temple, listening to the scribes and speaking with them. The traditional “doctors” therefore do not refer to medical practitioners, but to teachers and interpreters of religious law.

No direct biographical connection between Pinturicchio and San Marino is evident. Rather, the selection forms part of San Marino’s coin issues dedicated to artists and cultural anniversaries from the Italian cultural sphere. Pinturicchio’s date of death provided a clearly datable occasion; the fresco also supplied a single work that could be used as a reference point even in the small coin format.