Perugino; Pietro Vanucci
Painter; born Citta della Pieve, Italy, 1446; died Fontignano, near Perugia, Italy, 1524.
He founded the Umbrian school and was the teacher of Raphael.
His first important work was done for Pope Sixtus IV, as one of the decorators of the Sistine Chapel.
His one remaining fresco is The Delivery of the Keys to Peter, imitated by Raphael in the Espousal of the Virgin.
In 1491 he painted the elaborate altar-piece, The Madonna adoring the Infant Christ, of the Villa Albani, Rome.
His masterpiece, the great triple-arched Crucifixion, was done for the Chapter House of Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi in Florence, in 1496.
He used the same arrangement for the exquisite Nativity of the National Gallery.
The Assumption of the Florence Academy dates from 1500.
In the same year he began the decoration of the Cambio, or Merchants' Exchange, in Perugia, which marked the end of his best period.
His characteristics are the serene and lovely faces of his saints and angels, beautiful landscapes in admirable perspective, perfection of light and color.
New Catholic Dictionary