... and
on the side where is the altar the mural painting of the 'Assumption
of Madonna,' wherein he drew Pope Sixtus on his knees. But these
last-mentioned works were destroyed to make room for the 'Last
Judgment' of the divine Michelangelo, in the time of Pope Paul III."
Vasari here refers to the wall paintings in fresco of the "Nativity,"
"Finding of Moses," and "Assumption." All these have disappeared
without a trace.

There remain the magnificent "Delivery of the Keys" and the frescoes
of the "Journey of Moses" and the "Baptism of Christ." I made a
careful study of these last two frescoes at Rome ten years ago, when
writing the life of Pinturicchio, and that study led me to the
conclusion that here we have Pinturicchio working under Perugino
himself. "The Moses, for instance," I wrote of the "Journey of Moses
in Egypt," "who appears here is thoroughly Peruginesque (he is to be
compared with the Christ and the Baptist in the fresco opposite), but
is painted probably by Pinturicchio under Perugino's instructions.
The Zipporah, too, when she is seen advancing, or again where the
child in her lap undergoes the rite of circumcision, and the female
attendant in white in the corner of the fresco are creations of
Vannucci's very type and mould. The beautiful landscape, however, with
its palm-trees and overhanging rocks, is thoroughly in Pinturicchio's
manner, and the fresco is full of grouped portraits--a Florentine
trait.... Now, if we turn about, we can examine the fresco opposite
(right wall next the altar) of the 'Baptism of Christ': here again I
find the two Umbrians to have been working in collaboration. In
support of this attribution it is interesting to compare the 'Baptism'
here with the undoubted 'Baptism' by Perugino at Foligno. I have seen
both the Foligno painting and that of the Sistina this month, and have
photographs of each before me as I correct these notes; and I find the
two groups absolutely identical save for the slight variations in type
and drapery of the St. John, caused, as I think, by his having been
painted by Pinturicchio, but under the elder master's guidance."

I have here quoted from my notes, written within the Sistine Chapel
itself, at some length, because they lead me to some extent to differ
from the conclusions of Senator Morelli, who, insisting on the poetry
of Pinturicchio's landscapes, is disposed to give both these frescoes
to that great master. Pinturicchio was undoubtedly worki