Pietro Perugino, Italian Renaissance Painter
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Christ Handing the Keys to St
Peter 1481-82, by Pietro
Perugino
Fresco, 335 x 550 cm
Cappella Sistina, Vatican
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Italian
Renaissance painter, Pietro Perugino (1446-1524), also
known as Pietro Vannucci, was born in Peugia, Umbria. Like so
many other artists of the time, Perugino gravitated to
Florence probably in the mid-1470s. Vasari says Perugino
was apprenticed to Verrocchio's studio, as was Leonardo da
Vinci. Having completed in apprenticeship in 1472,
Perugino joined the confraternity of St. Luke as a
painter. Perugino was one of the first Italian Renaissance
artists to use oil painting.
Vasari report that Perugino was commissioned in 1481 to join
the team of Botticelli to paint frescoes on the walls of the
brand new Sistine Chapel in Rome. Some scholars believe
Perugino led the team whose members were Botticelli,
Ghirlandaio, and Rosselli. He also frescoed the altarpiece in
the chapel, but this work was demolished so that Michelangelo's
Last Judgment could take its place. In his prime,
Perugino influenced the young Raphael Sanzio who worked
with him early in his career. The Pre-Raphaelites of the 19th
century greatly admired Perugino's work.
Brenda Harness, Art Historian
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