Fra Bartolommeo | Page 6

at the
gate of S. Pier Gattolini, now the Porta Romana.
The friendship begun at Prato must have been continued in Florence,
for in 1480 Paolo not only owned that house at the gate of S. Pier
Gattolini, but was the proud possessor of a podere at Brozzi, which
yielded six barrels of wine. He is a merciful man too, for among his
possessions are two mules disutili e vecchi (old and useless). At this
time Baccio was six years old, and his three stepbrothers quite babies.
[Footnote: Archives of Florence, Portate al Castato, 1480-1.] Paolo, as
well as his mules, had earned his repose, being certainly old, if not
useless, and was anxious for his little sons to be placed out in the world
as early as possible. Thus it came that in 1484 Baccio was taken away
from his brothers, who played under the shadow of the old gateway,
and was put to do the drudgery of the apprenticeship to art. He had to
grind colours for Cosimo--who, as we know, used a great deal of colour,
having dazzled the eyes of the Pope with the brilliancy of his blue and
gold in the Sistine Chapel some years before--he had to sweep out the
studio, no doubt assisted by Mariotto Albertinelli, a boy of his own age,
and to run errands, carrying designs for inspection to expectant brides
who wanted the chests painted to hold their wedding clothes, or doing
the messenger between his master and the nuns of S. Ambrogio, who
paid Cosimo their gold florins by the hand of the boy in 1484 and 1485.
[Footnote: Note to Crowe and Cavalcaselle, vol. iii. chap. xiii. p. 429.]
Whether his age made him a more acceptable means of communication
with the nuns, or whether Pier di Cosimo, the elder pupil, already
displayed his hatred of womankind, I know not; perhaps the boy
already showed that innate devotion and especial fitness for sanctity
which marks his entire art career. Truly everything in his youthful life
combined to lead his thoughts to higher things. The first fresco at

which he assisted was in this solemn cloister of St. Ambrogio, and the
subject the _Miracle of the Sacrament_; the saintly air of the place, the
calm faces of the white-hooded nuns, must all have had an influence in
inspiring his youthful mind with the spirit of devotion.
Baccio's fellow-students were not many, but they formed an interesting
group. Pier di Cosimo was the head man, and eldest of all; with such
ties was he bound to his master and godfather, that he was known better
as Cosimo's Peter than by his own patronymic of Chimenti. He was at
this time twenty-two years of age, his registry in the Florentine Guild
proves his birth in 1462, as the son of Lorenzo, son of Piero, son of
Antonio, Chimenti.
Being the eldest of five brothers, it is difficult to conceive how a
member of a large family grew up developing such eccentricities as are
usually the fruit of isolation.
In the studio Piero was industrious and steady, working earnestly,
whether he was assisting his master's designs or carrying out his own
fancies of monsters, old myths, and classic fairy stories. No doubt the
two boys, Mariotto and Baccio, found little companionship in this
abstracted young man always dreaming over his own ideas. If they told
him an anecdote, he would look up vacantly at the end not having heard
a word; at other times every little noise or burst of laughter would
annoy him, and he would be immoderately angry with the flies and
mosquitos.
Piero had already been to Rome, and had assisted Cosimo in his fresco
of _Christ preaching on Lake Tiberias_; indeed most judges thought his
landscape the best part of that work, and the talent he showed obtained
him several commissions. He took the portraits of Virginio Orsini,
Ruberto Sanseverino and Duke Valentino, son of Pope Alessandro VI.
He was much esteemed as a portrait painter also in Florence, and from
his love of classical subjects, and extreme finish of execution, he
ranked as one of the best painters of "cassoni," or bridal-linen chests.
This fashion excited the indignation of Savonarola, who in one of his
sermons exclaimed, "Do not let your daughters prepare their 'corredo'
(trousseau) in a chest with pagan paintings; is it right for a Christian
spouse to be familiar with Venus before the Virgin, or Mars before the
saints?"
Thus Piero being a finished painter, was often Cosimo Roselli's

substitute in the instruction of the two boys, for Cosimo having come
home from Rome with some money, lived at his ease; but still
continued to paint frescoes in company with Piero.
Another pupil was Andrea di Cosimo, whose peculiar branch of art was
that of the