At a
later period, when the "Calandra," written by the Cardinal di
Bibiena--"one of the first comedies seen or recited in the vulgar
tongue"--was performed before Pope Leo, the aid of Baldassare was
sought again, to prepare the scenic adornments of the representation.
His labours were successful beyond measure; two of his scenes, painted
upon this or upon some other occasion, Vasari pronounced to be
"surprisingly beautiful, opening the way to those of a similar kind
which have been made in our own day." The artist was a fine colourist,
well skilled in perspective, and in the management of light, insomuch
that his drawings did not look "like things feigned, but rather as the
living reality." Vasari relates that he conducted Titian to see
certain works of Peruzzi, of which the illusion was most complete. The
greater artist "could by no means be persuaded that they were simply
painted, and remained in astonishment, when, on changing his point of
view, he perceived that they were so." Dying in 1536, Baldassare was
buried in the Rotondo, near the tomb of Raffaelo da Urbino, all the
painters, sculptors, and architects of Rome attending the interment.
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