More allied to the Tuscan than to the Venetian spirit, the Umbrian masters produced a style of genuine originality.

The cities of the Central Apennines owed their specific quality of religious fervour to the influences emanating from Assisi, the head-quarters of the _cultus_ of S.Francis.This pietism, nowhere else so paramount, except for a short period in Siena, constitutes the individuality of Umbria.
With regard to the rest of Italy, the old custom of speaking about schools and places, instead of signalising great masters, has led to misconception, by making it appear that local circumstances were more important than the facts justify.

We do not find elsewhere what we find in Tuscany, in Umbria, and in Venice--a definite quality, native to the district, shared through many generations by all its painters, and culminating in a few men of commanding genius.

When, for instance, we speak of the School of Milan, what we mean is the continuation through Lionardo da Vinci and his pupils of the Florentine tradition, as modified by him and introduced into the Lombard capital.

That a special style was developed by Luini, Ferrari, and other artists of the Milanese duchy, so that their manner differs essentially from that of Parma and Cremona, does not invalidate the importance of this fact about its origin.