Vierge à l'Enfant entre saint Herculanus et saint Constance

By 1515 Perugino was an old master in more than one sense. The graceful style that had once made him one of Italy's most sought-after painters now looked dated beside the work of his own former pupil, Raphael, then the toast of Rome. So Perugino spent his last years back home in Umbria, taking local commissions like this one. The two saints flanking the Virgin, Herculanus and Constantius, are patrons of Perugia, hometown figures for a hometown job. For a long time the panel hung in the kitchen of the Palazzo dei Priori, the city's town hall, which earned it the nickname the Madonna of the Kitchen. A cleaning in the last century brought back the clear, sweet colour Perugino was prized for.