d, as we
saw, his training in the city of Arno, had married later (1493) a
beautiful Florentine girl, the daughter of Luca Fancelli, who brought
with her a dowry of 500 golden florins, and on his return from Perugia
in 1496 had invested part of the money he had received for his
altar-piece of the Magistrates' Chapel in land at Florence.

In fact, during the whole of these years, after his return from Rome at
the time of Alexander Borgia's accession (1492) to nearly 1500, I take
our master's real centre of activity as being Florence; there he had his
workshop, painted panels for distant customers, undertook frescoes for
the Florentine convents, and returned after his business visits to other
parts of Italy. The year 1499 marks a change in all this, for this was
the year in which the master definitely threw over the offer of the
Orvietans to decorate their Capella di S. Brizio in Orvieto Duomo, and
accepted his great commission from the Perugian guild of bankers to
adorn with fresco paintings their audience-hall--the Sala del Cambio.
This great commission necessitated a long stay at Perugia, and therefore
the master broke up his Florentine workshop, or "bottega."

But Florence had evidently a very deep hold on his affections, for we
find that in 1504 he gave up his Perugian establishment for the
purpose of returning to Florence, and on arriving there took a lodging
in the Pinti suburb. At Florence Perugino was justly esteemed as one
of the great master-craftsmen of the city, and as such was invariably
consulted--as in the great meeting held (January of 1491) to
consider the new facade of S. Maria del Fiore; or again when (in
January of 1497) he was invited with Benozzo Gozzoli, Cosimo Rosselli,
and Filippino Lippi to value the frescoes of Alessio Baldovinetti in
S. Trinita of Florence; or yet again when (June of 1498), after the
destruction of the lantern of S. Maria del Fiore by lightning, he
tendered his advice along with Filippino and Lorenzo di Credi.

[Illustration: PLATE V.--VIRGIN WITH LITTLE ST. JOHN ADORING THE
INFANT CHRIST

(In the Pitti Palace, Florence)

The centre of the painting is filled by the figure of the Virgin, who,
on her knees with hands clasped, adores the little Jesus, seen seated
upon a sack, supported by an angel. He is balanced on the other side
by the kneeling baby St. John. The Umbrian landscape is of great
beauty.]

But while Pietro had been busied at Perugia, in those years of absenc