Pietro Perugino was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. We do not know about his initial training, but his early development was decisively influenced by Verrocchio and years spent in Florence, where he worked in the studio of Verrocchio, simultaneously with Leonardo da Vinci. An important role in his artistic development was played by the paintings of Piero della Francesca. Raphael was his most famous pupil. His work anticipated High Renaissance ideals in its compositional clarity, sense of spaciousness, and economy of formal elements. Among his masterpieces are: The Vision of St. Bernard (1489), The Crucifixion with the Virgin, St. John, St. Jerome and St. Mary Magdalene (c.1485), The Virgin and Child Surrounded by Two Angels, St. Rose, and St. Catherine, Pietà (1493–1494), The Combat of Love and Chastity. He was also known as a good portrait painter.
