BARTOLOMMEO, bliet8elOm-ma'6, FRa (1475-1517). One of the principal painters of the Florentine Renaissance. The son of a sculptor, he was born near the gate of San Piero Gattolino, whence, before becoming a friar, he was called Baecio (Bartolommeo) della Po•ta (gate). On the advice of Benedetto da Majano, who discovered his precocious talent, lie was placed in the atelier of Cosimo Roselli. There he came into contact with Piero di Cosimo, who, according to Berenson, was his master, and formed his lifelong friendship with Albertinelli. With all the fervor of a pious nature, lie embraced the cause of Savonarola ; of this devotion the well-known portrait of the reformer, long cher ished by the brethren of San Marco, but now in the .Academy, bears eloquent testimony. To the same period belongs his fresco of the "Last Judgment" (Santa Maria Nuova), finished by Albertinelli. After Savonarola's death, he re nounced painting and in 1500 joined the Domini cans at San Marco. Yielding to the persuasion of his prior, the learned Sante Pagnani, he took up the brush again in 1504, and created the beautiful "Apparition of the Virgin to Saint Bernard" (Florentine Academy). He was much influenced by the works of Leonardo, and by the young Raphael, whom he, in turn, influenced to a still greater degree. On a visit to Venice in 150S he received the commission for his "Saints Mary 'Magdalen and Catharine adoring God" (1509, Lucca). From 1509 to 1512, he was again associated with Albertinelli; among their joint works are the "Madonna and Saints" in the Pitti and the "Assumption" in Berlin, but the line "Marriage of Saint Catharine" in the Louvre is by Bartolommeo alone. On a brief visit to Rome
(1514) his art was transformed by the Sistine frescoes of Michelangelo, whose colossal forms he thenceforth imitated. After his return to Florence occurred the well-known episode of his "Saint Sebastian," the nudity of which proved so disturbing to the good brethren of San Marco as to cause its removal: it is now in private possession at POzenas. Among the most famous of his latest works are a "Saint Mark" (1517, Pahl) and the fine 'Madonna della Misericordia" (1515, Lucca). lie died October 6, 1517, in his convent at Florence. lie was the first to portray with highest excellence that majestic combina tion of character, form, and strict architectural composition so characteristic of the High Ren aissance. He excelled especially in draperies, and was among the first to use the lay figure, which he is said to have invented. As is evident rather in his drawings than in his paintings, he was one of the greatest masters of compostion Italy ever produced. It was chiefly from him that Raphael acquired his wonderful mastery of arrangement. Although the color in his paint ings has suffered much through his use of dark shadows, it is rich and delicate, and belongs to the very best achieved by Florentine painters. Consult the biographies of Frantz (Regensburg, 1879), Scott (London, 1881), and Groyer (Paris, 1886).