Penni , Francesco
(
c.
1488–
c.
1528).
Italian painter, nicknamed ‘il Fattore’ (the maker). He was born in Florence and died in Naples, but worked mainly in Rome, where with
Giulio Romano
he was
Raphael's
main assistant. Various parts of the works of the master have been attributed to him (
Vasari
says he worked on the tapestry
cartoons
for the Sistine Chapel), but he is a shadowy figure. After Raphael's death he collaborated with Giulio . A rare signed work by Penni is the
Portrait of a Young Man
in Dublin (NG).
Penrose , Sir Roland
(1900–84).
British writer, exhibition organizer, and artist. As an artist he holds a distinguished place among British
Surrealists
(he produced collages and ‘objects’ as well as paintings), but he is remembered mainly for the missionary zeal with which he promoted Surrealism and contemporary art in general in England. He was one of the organizers of the 1936 Surrealist exhibition in London, and he was closely involved with many leading artists, such as
Ernst
,
Man Ray
,
Miró
, and
Picasso
. During the Second World War he was a camouflage instructor. In 1947 he was co-founder and first chairman of the
Institute of Contemporary Arts
in London. His books include
Picasso. His Life and Work
(1958, 3rd edition 1981), regarded as a standard work on the artist. Penrose's second wife, whom he married in 1947, was the photographer Lee Miller , a pupil and favourite model of Man Ray.
pentimento
.
Term (Italian for ‘repentance’) describing a part of a picture that has been overpainted by the artist but which has become visible again (often as a ghostly outline) because the upper layer of pigment has become more transparent through age. The presence of pentimenti is often used as an argument in matters of attribution, as it is felt that such evidence of an artist's second thoughts is much more likely to occur in an original painting than in a copy.
Peploe , S. J.
Pereda , Antonio de
(1611–78).
Spanish painter, active mainly in Madrid. He began as a history painter—his
Relief of Genoa
(Prado, Madrid, 1635) was painted for the Buen Retiro Palace in Madrid as part of the same series as
Velázquez's
Surrender of Breda
—but he is now best known for his still lifes. The most famous painting associated with him is
The Knight's Dream
(also called
The Dream of Life
or
Life is a Dream
, Academy, Madrid,
c.
1650), a splendidly sensuous composition, full of brilliantly painted still-life details, in which worldly pleasures and treasures are seen to be as insubstantial as a dream. It was a key work in the development of the moralizing still life in Spain, influencing
Valdés Leal
in particular. However, the attribution to Pereda has recently been questioned, and Francisco de Palacios (1622/5–52) has been suggested as the author.
Peredvizhniki
.