We are in the artist’s birthplace, at the Oratory of Santa Maria dei Bianchi, which houses the large fresco of the Adoration of the Magi, painted by Vannucci in 1504. The work is distinguished by its masterful use of perspective and by the characteristic gentleness of the faces portrayed in Perugino’s paintings. The story of the Adoration unfolds against one of the most expansive landscapes conceived by the artist: an idealised view stretching from Città della Pieve towards Lake Trasimeno and the Val di Chiana.

The National Gallery of Umbria houses one of the most famous works by the Umbrian painter: the Adoration of the Magi (1470–1473; 1476). The brilliance and vibrancy of the colours that characterise the altarpiece are due to the use of oil painting and to the influence of Flemish works that Perugino had the opportunity to see in Florence during those years. On the left, among the procession of the Magi, a young man wearing a red cap looks directly at the viewer, lending a sense of naturalness to the scene: the figure is a self-portrait of Perugino. A comet shines in the sky, recalling one with an exceptionally long tail that the artist had the opportunity to observe in 1472.

In the same Palazzo dei Priori, in the Audience Hall of the Nobile Collegio del Cambio, you can admire the Nativity (or Adoration of the Christ Child), part of the fresco cycle painted by Perugino at the height of his success, with the assistance of his pupil Raphael.

In the Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Lacrime, you can admire the Adoration of the Magi (1521), a reworking of the composition created for the Oratory of Santa Maria dei Bianchi. The use of preparatory cartoons – a technique frequently employed by Perugino to reproduce the same design several times – can still be identified through marks left during their positioning. The fresco was painted late in the artist’s career, when his former pupil Raphael was becoming one of his competitors.

Several of Perugino’s pupils also worked in Trevi. Perugino himself probably concentrated mainly on the right-hand section, where the quality of the painting, the gentle expressions of the faces and the iridescent effects of some fabrics and shadows achieve particularly refined results. The artist’s signature, written in capital letters, can be seen on the base of the throne.

We also find a Nativity by Perugino (1503) in Montefalco, in the Church of San Francesco, within a niche on the right-hand side of the counter-façade. By this time a mature artist, Perugino had returned to Umbria after working for some of the most important patrons of his age, including the Pope, who had summoned him to Rome to decorate the Sistine Chapel. The fresco comprises three scenes framed by illusionistic architecture that enhances their sense of depth: the Annunciation above, God in glory among the angels and, below in the foreground, the Nativity, where the Christ Child is surrounded by a verdant landscape opening onto a broad horizon.