Service in the private palace of the cardinal led on to employment by Pope Innocent, to whom, no doubt, Giuliano recommended Pintoricchio for this class of work, for in 1486 he was at work in the Belvedere. It was here that he painted the towns of which Taja speaks. "Not long after," says Vasari, "about the year 1484, Innocent VIII., a Genoese, made him paint several halls and _loggie_ in the Palace of the Belvedere, where, among other things which the Pope wished for, he painted a _loggia_ all with towns, and you could discern Rome, Milan, Genoa, Florence, Venice and Naples, all in the Flemish manner, which, being no longer much in use, pleased very well."[22] No trace of them remains, nor is anything left of the great Madonna picture which Vasari says was painted over the principal entrance. The only remains of Umbrian art are to be found on the walls and ceiling of what is to-day called the Museo Pio Clementino. A graceful _loggia_ was half obliterated here to give more room to the sculpture gallery, but above, the arms of Innocent VIII. and the date 1487 are still visible, surrounded by garlands and ornaments resembling those in the Colonna Palace. Little medallions of classic subjects still struggle dimly through decay and ochre wash. In the archways, seven couples of _putti_ hold the papal shield, or play on musical instruments, and we can trace the proud device of the Cibo, the gleaming peacock and the motto "Loyauté passe tout."
In the two little rooms adjoining are prophets and philosophers, and here may be recognised the somewhat archaic assistant who helped Pintoricchio in the Borgia Tower. Only these poor scraps remain of the year's service with the Cibo Pope, and hardly more of what he accomplished for his cardinals. Domenico della Rovere, the cardinal of San Clemente, was one of Pintoricchio's earliest patrons in Rome. He does indeed seem to have been as much friend as patron, and took both Perugino and Pintoricchio to lodge with him upon their first arrival in his spacious palace in the Piazza Scossacavalli, outside the entrance of which Pintoricchio painted a scutcheon supported by _putti_. The decoration of the interior of the palace then called Sant' Apostoli was also entrusted to him. To-day it is inhabited by eleven brothers of the order of the Penitenzieri. It retains something of the fascination of a princely dwelling of the fourteenth century. In the mouldy courtyard are traces of almost obliterated paintings. Under the roof are heraldic devices, armorial bearings, sphinxes and dolphins. In the courtyard, orange trees grow round a well, which may have been the work of Bramante. Ivy half covers walls which were once gay with frescoes, but among the ruin and decay we see repeated countless times in the marble window frames, the name of the builder--DO. ROVERE, CAR. S. CLEMEN. and his pious device--SOLI DEO. Outside are faint traces of the shield of Sixtus IV. supported by two _putti_, the only part of the work which Vasari deigns to notice.