Vasari asserted that Perugino was more interested in money than in religion ( Vasari, Le Vite, Testo III.611).
Ruskin agreed that there might have been some 'deficiencies and avaricious flaws of his heart' but the reference to irreligion he characterised as 'lies':
For the contradiction of which in the main, if there be not contradiction enough in every line that the hand of Perugino drew, compare Rio [ De la Poésie Chrétienne. Forme de l'Art ]; and note also what Rio has singularly missed observing, that Perugino, in his portrait of himself in the Florence, has put a scroll into the hand, with the words "Timete Deum", thus surely indicating what he considered his sacred duty and message. ( Works, 4.212)
However, though the scroll is as Ruskin describes it, the portrait to which he refers is of Francesco delle Opere, and not a self portrait. It is in the Uffizi, and is remarkable for the clear influence of Memling, and for the extensive landscape with sea in the background (see MP I:342).