Adoración de los pastores

The Augustinians of Perugia ordered this altarpiece in 1502, and Perugino was still working on it when he died in 1523. It stood between the friars' choir and the body of the church and was painted on both faces, so the congregation saw one set of pictures and the friars behind it saw another. This panel, over 2.5 metres tall, was the centre of the side that faced the friars, from the later stretch of work between 1513 and 1523, when Perugino had left Florence and Rome behind and was taking his commissions in Umbria. The altarpiece did not survive as an object. It was broken up when Napoleon's administration suppressed the religious houses, and its panels now sit in Perugia, the Louvre, Grenoble, Lyon, Toulouse and Birmingham. The Annunciate Virgin from it has never been found.