A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF
the city. In the early part of 1367 he returned to
Siena, and was employed with Jacomo di Mino in
the decorations of the cathedral. In 1372 he rose to
a position in the government of the city, and was
sent to welcome the new Podesti, on his approach
to Siena. In 1381 he was himself made a member
of the Council, and in 1382 he executed the ' Descent
from the Cross,' now in the Sacristy of San Fran-
cesco, Montalcino. The same church also possesses
panels painted by him containing the ' Baptism of
Christ,' figures of SS. Peter, Paul, and Francis, and
five scenes from the life of St. Philip of Montalcino.
In 1388 he completed an immense altar-piece for
the same church, which was originally in the
resemblance of the front of a cathedral, with a
central and two side gables, flanked by two towers.
The centre gable is still in the church, and represents the 'Coronation of the Virgin;' the remaining
portions, with scenes from her life, are all in the
Academy of Siena. The same gallery also possesses an ' Adoration of the Magi,' by this artist.
In 1389 Bartolo, assisted by Luca Thom^, painted
the altar-piece for the Shoemakers' Company, in
the cathedral, and continued from that year until
his death to furnish altar-pieces for the cathedral
and other churches of Siena, which have now all
disappeared. His death occurred in 1409.
In the Louvre at Paris there is a ' Presentation
in the Temple,' by him.
BARTOLOMB. See Breenbebgh.
BARTOLOMMEO della GATTA. See Della Gatta.
BARTOLOMMEO di PAGHOLO del FatTOBINO — commonly known as Fra Bartolommeo, or Baccio (the shortened form of Bartolommeo) — was also called della Porta, because he resided near the gate of San Pier Gattolini (now the Porta Romana), in Florence. He was born at the village of SofiBgiiano, near Prato, in 1475; and in 1484 entered the studio of Cosimo Rosselli, at Florence, where he had for a fellow-pupil Albertinelli. with whom he commenced a friendship which lasted until the bonds were broken, in 1515, by the death of Albertinelli. After passing some years under Rosselli, Baccio applied himself to an assiduous study of the works of Leonardo da Vinci, whose grandeur of relief, and admirable chiaroscuro, were the particular objects of his admiration. In company with his friend, Mariotto Albertinelli, he modelled and copied from the ancient bassi-rilievi, by which he acquired a breadth of light and shade, which is one of the most striking characteristics of his style. His first works were of a small size, and very highly finished, gracefully composed and de- signed. A romantic event in his youth induced him to adopt the monastic life. Whilst still a pupil of Cosimo Rosselli, he listened eagerly to the preach- ing of the fiery Dominican, Fra Girolamo Savona- rola, and became one of his most ardent disciples. He even burnt his studies in the kind of auto-da-fe made by the people on the Shrove Tuesday of the year 1489, in the square before the convent of St. Mark. When, after a reign of three years over Florence, the Italian Luther was obliged to shut himself up in the convent of which he was the prior, and to undergo a siege, Bartolommeo was at his side, and, in the heat of the combat, made a vow to adopt the monastic life if he escaped the danger, and he took the vows in that same con- vent of the Dominicans of San Marco, in 1500. Hence his name of ' II Frate.' He remained four whole j-ears without touching a pencil, and when he yielded at length to the solicitations of his friends, his fellow-monks and his superiors, it waa on condition that the convent should receive all the produce of his labours.
In 1498 and 1499 Fra Bartolommeo had painted the celebrated fresco of the 'Last Judgment,' in Santa Maria Novella, the lower part of which was finished by his friend Albertinelli ; and in 1509 he entered into a partnership with that painter. When Raphael visited Florence, about 1606, he formed a friendship with Fra Bartolommeo, from whom he received some instruction in the principles of colouring and the folding of draperies, and in return taught the Frate the rules of perspective. About 1514 Fra Bartolommeo went to Rome, where he painted the figure of St. Paul and part of that of St. Peter, which he was obliged to leave to his friend Raphael to finish — it is supposed, on account of ill-health. These two figures are now in the Quirinal. On his return to Florence, Fra Bartolommeo executed a few works of great merit, and died there in 1517.
His design approached to that of Raphael in grace and grandeur, and he surpassed him in the boldness of his relief, and the rich impasto of his colouring. Some of his rivals had accused him of being incapable of designing the figure on a large scale, and he refuted the calumny by painting his masterpiece, the celebrated figure of 'St. Mark,' in the Florentine Gallery, regarded as a prodigy of art, and which occasioned a learned traveller to remark, that it appeared to him a large Grecian statue metamorphosed into a painting. The jealousy of his opponents charged him with being ignorant of the anatomy of the human body, until he painted a picture of St. Sebastian, so correctly designed, and of so perfect a form, that it excited universal admiration, and was judged by the monks to be too beautiful a figure to be publicly exposed in their church.
The following is a list of some of Fra Bartolommeo's principal works . Berlin. Museum. Florence. Pitti Palace. „ 5. M. Nuova. Loudon. Nat. Gall. „ Mond Gall. „ Korthbrook Gall. Lucca. Museum. The Assumption {part hy Albertinelli). Marriage of St. Catharine, 1512 {part by Albertinelli), Entombment. Pieta. St. Mark. Patron Saints of Florence {part by Albertinelli). Virgin enthroned with Saints (hii last loorl:). Salvator Mundi. The Last Judgment. Fresco. Holy Family {there is little of the artist's own work left in this picture). Holy Family. Holy Family. God, the Father, adored by St. Catharine of Sieua, and Mary Magdalene (paintid in 1509 for Sun Pietro Martire, Murano). Madonna della Misericordia. 1515. Pansh.^nge^. {Lord ) g^^jy Family. 1509 Paris, Cou>per) I Louvre. Petersburg. Hermitage. Pian di Mugnone. Richmond. Sir F. Cook. Rome. Corsini Pal. Vienna. Gallery. The Virgin and Saints, presiding at the Marriage of St. Catharine. loll {originally in San Marco, Florence). The Annunoiation {signed and dated 1515), Madonna with Angels, Two frescoes {dated 1515, 1517). Holy Family. Holy Family {dated 1516). Presentation in the Temple.
90
