138 THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. Chap. VI. CHAPTER VI. BONFIGLI AND FIOKENZO Di LOliENZO. We believe that no satisfactory grounds have ever been given for the conspicuous position attained by Perugia as a school of art in the fifteenth century. It is natural that we should feel surprise at the greatness of Perugino when we consider how long the earlier Umbrians remained second to their brethren of Sienna; 1 but it is desirable that some explanation should be given as to the causes of that greatness, and that we should know to whom it is due. Unusual importance has been given to Alunno, who is supposed to have influenced the career of Pietro Van- nucci. But the painters of Foligno, as well as those of Perugia, derived something from their connection with the Florentines; and, whilst Alunno owes much to Goz- zoli, Benedetto Bonfigli received his impulse from Dome nico Veniziano and Piero della Francesca. We require no better clue for tracing the progress of Perugian art in the person of its first local celebrity, than that afforded by the series of frescos illustrating the legends of S. Louis of Toulouse and S. Ercolano in the 1 In addition to examples of local wall painting at Perugia in the earlier times, a series may now be added of frescos of the first half of the fifteenth century some of which have been transferred to the Galleria communale. One of these is a lunette detached from ; a series of similar pieces in Sta. Giuliana representing the adora tion of the Magi and the circum cision. The character of this piece is old Gubbian, in consideration not only of the costumes which re call those of Ottaviano, but of the drawing.