Madonna col Bambino e i santi Pietro e Paolo

By the time this altarpiece was painted, around 1515, Perugino was near 70 and out of fashion. A generation earlier he had been one of the most sought-after painters in Italy, running busy shops in Florence and Perugia, and the young Raphael had trained under him. But Raphael and the Florentines had moved past the calm, symmetrical style Perugino kept repeating, and the great Roman commissions dried up. So he worked the small towns of his native Umbria instead. This panel was made for a collegiate church at Monteleone d'Orvieto, with heavy help from his studio, and shows the Madonna and Child between Saints Peter and Paul, with the Resurrection set in the arch above. The serene, evenly lit faces are the formula that had once made him famous and now kept the provincial orders coming.