Peruzzi, Baldassare

Peruzzi, Baldassare bäldäs-säˈrā pāro͞otˈtsē [key], 1481–1536, Italian architect and painter of the High Renaissance and mannerist periods. His outstanding architectural works are the Villa Farnesina (c.1505–c.1511) and the Palazzo Massimi (c.1535) in Rome. He also did architectural and painting projects for the Vatican and succeeded Raphael in 1520 as architect of St. Peter's. In painting, his use of perspective illusionism and classical figures may be seen at the Villa Farnesina, while a turn toward mannerist composition and spatial arrangement is visible in Presentation of the Virgin (c.1518; Santa Maria della Pace, Rome). In both architecture and painting Peruzzi adapted forms derived from ancient art to his own elegant and sophisticated style.

See study by R. N. Adams (1977); biography by W. W. Kent (1925).

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