In 1496, the guild of the
cambio (money-changers or bankers) of Perugia asked him to decorate their audience hall, the
Sala delle Udienze del Collegio del Cambio. The humanist scholar Francesco Maturanzio acted as his consultant. This extensive scheme, which may have been finished by 1500, comprised the painting of the vault, showing the seven planets and the signs of the
zodiac (Perugino being responsible for the designs and his assistants most probably for the majority of the execution), and the representation on the walls of two sacred subjects: the Nativity and
Transfiguration; in addition, the Eternal Father, the
cardinal virtues of Justice, Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude,
Cato as the emblem of wisdom, and numerous life-sized figures of classic worthies, prophets, and
sibyls figured in the program. On the mid-pilaster of the hall, Perugino placed his own portrait in bust-form. It is possible that
Raphael, who in boyhood, toward 1496, may have been placed by his uncles under the tuition of Perugino, bore a hand in the work of the vaulting. Perugino was made one of the
priors of Perugia in 1501. On one occasion
Michelangelo told Perugino to his face that he was a bungler in art (
goffo nell arte): Vannucci brought an action for defamation of character, unsuccessfully. Put on his mettle by this mortifying transaction, he produced the masterpiece of the
Madonna and Saints for the
Certosa of Pavia, now disassembled and scattered among museums: the only portion in the Certosa is
God the Father with cherubim. An
Annunciation has disappeared; three panels,
The Virgin Adoring the Infant Christ, Saint Michael, and Saint Raphael with Tobias are among the treasures of the
National Gallery, London. This was succeeded in 1504–1507 by the
Annunziata Altarpiece for the high altar of the
Basilica dell'Annunziata in Florence, in which he replaced
Filippino Lippi. The work was a failure, being accused of lack of innovation. Perugino lost his students; and toward 1506 he once more and finally, abandoned Florence, going to Perugia, and thence in a year or two to Rome.
Pope Julius II had summoned Perugino to paint the Stanza of the
Incendio del Borgo in the
Vatican City; but he soon preferred a younger competitor,
Raphael, who had been trained by Perugino; and Vannucci, after painting the ceiling with figures of
God the Father in different glories, in five medallion-subjects, retired from
Rome to Perugia from 1512. Among his latest works, one of the best is the extensive altarpiece (painted between 1512 and 1517) of the church of San Agostino in Perugia, also now dispersed. Perugino's last
frescoes were painted in the church of the Madonna delle Lacrime in
Trevi (1521, signed and dated), the monastery of Sant'Agnese in Perugia, and in 1522 for the church of Castello di Fortignano. Both series have disappeared from their places, the second being now in the
Victoria and Albert Museum. He was still at
Fontignano in 1523 when he died of
the plague. Like other plague victims, he was hastily buried in an unconsecrated field, the precise spot now unknown. Perugino died with considerable property, leaving three sons. Vasari is the main source stating that Perugino had very little religion and openly doubted the soul's immortality. In 1494,
Lorenzo di Credi painted Perugino's portrait, now in the
Uffizi Gallery, and into it, he introduced a scroll entitled
Timete Deum (Fear God: Revelation 14:7). That an open disbeliever should be inscribed with Timete Deum seems odd. The portrait in question shows a plump face, with small dark eyes, a short but well-cut nose, and sensuous lips; the neck is thick, the hair bushy and frizzled, and the general air imposing. The later portrait in the Cambio of Perugia shows the same face with traces of added years. '', In 1495, he signed and dated a
Deposition for the Florentine convent of Santa Chiara (
Palazzo Pitti). Toward 1496 he frescoed a crucifixion, commissioned in 1493 for
Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi, Florence (the
Pazzi Crucifixion). He painted the marriage of Joseph and the Virgin Mary (the
Sposalizio) now in the museum of
Caen, which indisputably served as the original, to a great extent, of the still more famous
Sposalizio painted by Raphael in 1504 (
Brera, Milan). A further work of Perugino's was the
polyptych of the
Ascension of Christ painted ca 1496–98 for the church of
S. Pietro of Perugia, (Municipal Museum,
Lyon); the other portions of the same altarpiece are dispersed in other galleries. In the chapel of the Disciplinati of Città della Pieve is an
Adoration of the Magi, a square of 6.5 m containing about thirty life-sized figures; this was executed, with scarcely credible celerity, from March 1 to 25 (or thereabouts) in 1505, and must no doubt be in great part the work of Vannucci's pupils. In 1507 he produced the
Virgin between Saint Jerome and Saint Francis, now in the Palazzo Penna. In the church of S. Onofrio in Florence is a much lauded and much debated fresco of the Last Supper, a careful and blandly correct but uninspired work; it has been ascribed to Perugino by some connoisseurs, by others to
Raphael; it may more probably be by some different pupil of the Umbrian master. Among his pupils were likely Raphael, upon whose early work Perugino's influence is most noticeable,
Pompeo Cocchi,
Eusebio da San Giorgio,
Mariano di Eusterio, and
Giovanni di Pietro (lo Spagna). == Monuments ==