Pala di Vallombrosa

Perugino finished this Assumption of the Virgin in the summer of 1500, at the peak of a reputation that had one contemporary calling him the best master in Italy, with the young Raphael learning in his workshop in these very years. It was made for the high altar of the abbey at Vallombrosa, in the wooded hills above Florence, commissioned by the monastery's head, Don Biagio Milanesi. In the upper half the Virgin rises in a bright almond of light among angels with instruments; below, four saints stand and watch the miracle, calm and evenly spaced in the serene, balanced way that was Perugino's signature. Milanesi had himself worked into the scene among the holy figures.