Perugino

It is time to know Perugian most famous painter: Pietro di Cristoforo Vanucci, called il Perugino. He was born in 1448 in Città delle Pieve close to Perugia and masterized his talent in Florence working for Pierro della Francesca and Verrocchio in their own workshop - botteghe - between 1470-72 together with Leonardo da Vinci. After travelling in Roma, Lucca, Bologna, Venezia, Cremona, Ferrara and Milano, he became one of Raffaello's masters, deliberately chosen by Raffaello himself. Perugino died in 1523 in Fontignano.

Here above, a detail of one of his most delicate and extremely beautiful Madonna and Child, of which Raffaello may have letf his genius hand touch too.

Pietro Vannucci and Raffaello Sanzio, Madonna and Child with the Infant St. John (ca. 1500), oil on wood, 73 x 52 cm, Kress Collection