Bernardino di Betto, known also as Pintoricchio, was born between 1456 and 1460 in Perugia to a modest family of artisans. The early life of the painter seems to have been very unhappy and was further complicated in 1475 when his father, a simple cloth tanner, died of the plague.
Some years before, however, Giapeco Caporali, the extraordinary miniaturist, opened a bottega on the same street as the young Bernardino’s family home and it is assumed that the young boy had his first experiences with brushes and colours in the Caporali bottega. These were years of a great artistic fervour in Perugia; the city was becoming an eminent centre for artistic activities in central Italy. In the early years, Pintoricchio participated in this artistic revival, sometimes as a spectator, other times as a protagonist; he is recognised to have worked on the majestic tables that recount the stories of San Bernardino in 1473, while also working alongside Perugino on the scaffolding of the Sistina.
It was not, however, until 1481 that his first authored works are documented, following his enrolment in the guild of Artists and Painters in Porta Sant’Angelo, Perugia. Working in Rome allowed him to meet new and influential figures: between 1482 and 1485 he painted the cappella Bufalini all’Aracoeli, he intermittently returned to his home town to complete some of his works and to carry out small commissions, some of which were obtained thanks to his nephew, Girolamo di Simone - the extremely young Canon of the Cathedral of San Lorenzo of Perugia. This fact may also explain the excellent relationship that Pintoricchio had with Innocenzo VIII, for whom, between 1487 and 1488, he worked on the site of his apartments in the Vatican: unfortunately only part of these are still in existence as the rest was destroyed in order to make space for the Pio Clementino Museum.
In 1490 Bernardino was at work in the Sala dei Mesi in the Palace of Cardinal Domenico Delle Rovere and in the Chapel Santa Maria del Popolo.
Two years later he came to Orvieto for a commission in the Duomo that was completed only in 1496. In the meantime Alessandro VI Borgia had become Pope and commissioned the Umbrian artist to decorate his apartments in the Vatican, a grandiose project that kept Pintoricchio busy in Rome until 1495.
By the 2nd January of the same year, the altarpiece of Santa Maria dei Fossi, perhaps one of his most significant works, was still awaiting completion. The works in Spoleto, Perugia and Orvieto brought money and in 1501 also recognition from the political powers that appointed him to hold the position of prior of the Arts in Perugia.
The events in the life of Pintoricchio are closely linked to the political landscape of Perugia, he was a familiar and loyal servant to Cesare Borgia and he was also connected to the Baglioni family, from whom he received the commission to decorate the walls of the Capella Bella in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Spello, where - between the autumn of 1500 and the spring of 1501 - he created paintings of such magnificent beauty and skill that his fame and eminence in artistic circles in Umbria was ensured for many years to come.
Many consider his crowning achievement to be the stunning cycle of frescoes that illustrated the life of Enea Silvio Piccolomini, Pope Pio II, located in the Piccolomini library in Siena. Ambroggio Barocci designed the grandiose architectural structure and the draughts for the illustrated scenes were prepared by a young Raffaello; these details only serve to underline the greatness achieved by the Perugian painter.
In 1506 the frescoes were completed and Pintoricchio received the commission to paint the pala di Sant’Andrea in Spello, which he eventually left to Eusebio da San Giorgio to complete.
Between 1509 and 1510 he painted his last Roman work, the vaulted ceilings on the Capella Delle Rovere in Santa Maria del Popolo.
In 1513 he retired, due to ill health, to the Sienan countryside, where he died on the 11th December. He was rich but alone, following abandonment by his wife. It was a sad and lonely end for an artist that was initially considered, “deaf, small and unprepossessing,” yet nonetheless, had managed to attain greatness.

Bernardino di Betto (Benedetto), Italian painter called II Pinturicchio, was, like Perugino, a native of the district around Perugia.
He was thought by his contemporaries to have been a pupil of Perugino and to have had a share in Perugino's frescoes in the Sistine Chapel in the early 1480s. According to Vasari, Pinturrichio was a paid assistant of Perugino.
The works of the Perugian Renaissance school are very similar; and paintings by Perugino, Pinturicchio, Lo Spagna and Raphael may often be mistaken one for the other. In the execution of large frescoes, pupils and assistants had a large share in the work, either in enlarging the master's sketch to the full-sized cartoon, in transferring the cartoon to the wall, or in painting backgrounds or accessories.

The old walled town lies on a regularly NW-SE sloping ridge that eventually meets the plain. From the top of the ridge, Spello commands a good view of the Umbrian plain towards Perugia.
The Church of Santa Maria Maggiore (known from 1159), probably built over an ancient temple dedicated to Juno and Vesta. The façade has a Romanesque portal and a 13th century bell tower, while the pilasters next to the apse have frescoes by Perugino (1512). The most striking feature is however the Cappella Bella frescoed by Pinturicchio. The Umbrian artist was called to paint it in 1500 by Troilo Baglioni, after he had just finished the Borgia Apartment's decoration. The cycle include the Annunciation, the Nativity and the Dispute with the Doctors, plus four Sibyls in the vault. The Palazzo dei Canonici, annexed to the church, houses the Town's Art Gallery.

The Church of Santa Maria Maggiore is the location of an extraordinary cappella , decorated entirely with frescoes painted by Pintoricchio between the summer of 1500 and the spring of 1501.

In the Capella Bella the illustrations narrate the story of Maria. On the wall on the left is the l'Annunciazione, including wonderful episodes from daily life, further behind is the Adorazione dei pastori with the Cavalcata dei Magi further along. On the right, the Disputa di Gesù con i dottori. On the vaulted ceilings there are frescoes of Sibille Tiburtina, Eritrea, Europea, Samia. The rigorous planning of the designs, that was carried out using the latest rules of perspective from the XV century, did not inhibit Pintoricchio in expressing the finest detail and including anecdotes alongside the main images, extra stories that capture attention with the richness of their painting, their descriptive skill and the variation in the painted plants and flowers: all of which were executed using bright and precious colours. It is precisely due to this chromatic vivacity combined with the fresh narrative style, the rigour of the spatial design and the reflections from the tiled floor, that this place became universally known as the ‘Capella Bella’.

Members of the powerful and bloodthirsty Baglioni family, the rulers of Perugia, are painted as the Magi. An interesting parallel are the Benozzo Gozzoli frescoes in Florence which show the Medici family in the same role.
The Annunciation with its myriad of details and subplots, is an example of Pinturicchio's decorative style, so much admired in the nineteenth century. This scene betrays Pinturicchio's knowledge of ancient Roman painting, as well as his awareness of the value of still-life. With a touch of ingenuity, he includes on the right wall his own portrait, emblazoned with his name, as a painting within the painting.

The fresco Adoration of the Child decorates the eastern wall of the chapel. On two other walls of the chapel the Annunciation and the 12 years old Christ in the Temple are represented, while on the ceiling four sybils can be found.

[1] Source: Saint Bartholomew (y1994-16) | www.artmuseum.princeton.edu

This article incorporates text from Wikipedia and from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain, and WikiCommons Cathedral (Siena) - Piccolomini Library (71 F)

THE LIFE AND WORKS OF BERNARDINO DI BETTO, ALSO KNOWN AS PINTORICCHIO
Pintoricchio in Umbria | Itineraries and routes across today situated in their original locations: itineraries and routes across the whole territory guided visitors to the paintings in Perugia, Spello and other towns across Umbria (Spello, Church of S. Andrea, Pala con la Madonna col Bambino e Santi; Trevi, The San Francesco Museum Complex; Spoleto, Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta; Orvieto, Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, and Città di Castello ,Museum of the Duomo). The Pintoricchio exhibition was planned to celebrate the 550th anniversary of the birth of Pintoricchio. | www.mostrapintoricchio.it