Fra Bartolommeo was sent, when nine years old, into the workshop of Cosimo Rosselli, where he began his artist’s life by colour-grinding, sweeping out the shop, and errand-running.  It was in Cosimo’s bottega that he made acquaintance with Mariotto Albertinelli, who became his intimate friend and fellow-worker.  In spite of marked differences of character, disagreements upon the fundamental matters of politics and religion, and not unfrequent quarrels, these men continued to be comrades through the better part of their joint lives.  Baccio was gentle, timid, yielding, and industrious.  Mariotto was wilful, obstinate, inconsequent, and flighty, Baccio fell under the influence of Savonarola, professed himself a piagnone, and took the cowl of the Dominicans[228].  Mariotto was a partisan of the Medici, an uproarious pallesco, and a loose liver, who eventually deserted the art of painting for the calling of an innkeeper.  Yet so sweet was the temper of the Frate, and so firm was the bond of friendship established in boyhood between this ill-assorted couple, that they did not part company until 1512, three years before Mariotto’s death and five before that of Bartolommeo.  During their long association the task of designing fell upon the Frate, while Albertinelli took his orders and helped to work out his conceptions.  Both were excellent craftsmen and consummate colourists, as is proved by the pictures executed by each unassisted.  Albertinelli’s “Salutation” in the Uffizzi yields no point of grace and vigour to any of his more distinguished coadjutor’s paintings.

The great contributions made by Fra Bartolommeo to the art of Italy were in the double region of composition and colouring.  In his justly celebrated fresco of S. Maria Nuova at Florence—­a “Last Judgment” with a Christ enthroned amid a choir of Saints—­he exhibited for the first time a thoroughly scientific scheme of grouping based on geometrical principles.  Each part is perfectly balanced in itself, and yet is necessary to the structure of the whole.  The complex framework may be subdivided into numerous sections no less harmoniously ordered than is the total scheme to which they are subordinated.  Simple figures—­the pyramid and the triangle, upright, inverted, and interwoven like the rhymes in a sonnet—­form the basis of the composition.  This system was adhered to by the Frate in all his subsequent works.  To what extent it influenced the style of Raphael, will be afterwards discussed.  As a colourist, Fra Bartolommeo was equal to the best of his contemporaries, and superior to any of his rivals in the school of Florence.  Few painters of any age have combined harmony of tone so perfectly with brilliance and richness.  It is a real joy to contemplate the pure and splendid folds of the white drapery he loved to place in the foreground of his altar-pieces.  Solidity and sincerity distinguish his work in every detail, while his feeling is remarkable for elevation