Fra Bartolomeo | |
|---|---|
 Presumed portrait of Fra Bartolomeo | |
| Born | Baccio della Porta 28 March 1472 |
| Died | 31 October 1517 (aged 45) |
Fra Bartolomeo orBartolommeoOP (UK:/ˌbɑːrtɒləˈmeɪoʊ/,US:/-toʊl-/,Italian:[bartolo(m)ˈmɛːo]; 28 March 1472 – 31 October 1517), also known asBartolommeo di Pagholo,[1]Bartolommeo di San Marco,[2]Bartolomeo di Paolo di Jacopo del Fattorino, and his original nicknameBaccio della Porta,[2] was anItalian Renaissance painter of religious subjects. He spent all his career inFlorence until his mid-forties, when he travelled to work in various cities, as far south as Rome. He trained withCosimo Rosselli and in the 1490s fell under the influence ofSavonarola, which led him to become aDominicanfriar in 1500, renouncing painting for several years. Typically his paintings are of static groups of figures in subjects such as the Virgin and Child with Saints.[3]
He was instructed to resume painting for the benefit of his order in 1504, and then developed an idealizedHigh Renaissance style, seen in hisVision of St Bernard of that year, now in poor condition but whose "figures and drapery move with a seraphic grace that must have struck the youngRaphael with the force of revelation".[4] He remained friends with Raphael, and each influenced the other.
His portrait of Savonarola remains the best known image of the reformer. Fra Bartolomeo painted both in oils and fresco, and some of his drawings are pure landscape sketches that are the earliest of this type from any Italian artist.
He was born inSavignano di Prato,Tuscany. He received the nickname of Baccio della Porta ("Baccio of the Gate"), for his house was near the Gate of San Pier Gattolini.[n 1]
Starting from 1483 or 1484, by recommendation ofBenedetto da Maiano, he apprenticed in the workshop ofCosimo Rosselli. In 1490 or 1491 he began a collaboration withMariotto Albertinelli. In the late 1490s, Baccio was drawn to the teachings ofFra Girolamo Savonarola, who denounced what he viewed as vain and corrupt contemporary art. Savonarola argued for art serving as a direct visual illustration of theBible to educate those unable to read the book. From 1498 is his famous portrait of Savonarola, now in theMuseo Nazionale di San Marco in Florence. The following year he was commissioned a fresco of theUniversal Judgement for theOspedale di Santa Maria Nuova, completed by Albertinelli andGiuliano Bugiardini when Baccio became aDominicanfriar on 26 July 1500. The following year he entered the convent of San Marco.
He renounced painting for several years, not resuming until 1504 when he became the head of the monastery workshop in obedience to his superior. In that year he began aVision of St. Bernard for Bernardo Bianco's family chapel in theBadia Fiorentina, finished in 1507. Soon thereafter,Raphael visited Florence and befriended the friar. Bartolomeo learned perspective from the younger artist, while Raphael added skills in coloring and handling of drapery, which was noticeable in the works he produced after their meeting. With Raphael, he remained on the friendliest terms, and when he departed from Rome, left in his hands two unfinished pictures which Raphael completed.[1]
At the beginning of 1508, Bartolomeo moved toVenice to paint aHoly Father, St. Mary Magdalene and St. Catherine of Siena for the Dominicans ofSan Pietro Martire inMurano, influenced somewhat by Venetian colorism. As the Dominicans did not pay for the work, he took it back toLucca, where it can be seen now. Also in Lucca, in October 1509, he painted with Albertinelli an altarpiece of theMadonna and Child with Saints for thelocal cathedral. On 26 November 1510Pier Soderini commissioned him an altarpiece for the Sala del Consiglio of Florence, now in the Museum of San Marco. Two years later he finished another altarpiece for thecathedral ofBesançon.
In 1513, he went to Rome, where he painted aPeter and Paul, now in thePinacoteca Vaticana, while from the following years are theSt. Mark Evangelist ofPalazzo Pitti in Florence and the frescoes in the Dominican convent of Pian di Mugnone, afrazione ofFiesole, just outside Florence. After a promisedFeast of Venus for DukeAlfonso I d'Este ofFerrara, of which only drawings remain, his last work is a fresco ofNoli me tangere also in Pian di Mugnone.
He died in Florence in 1517.
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Initially, his works showed the influence of Rosselli's assistant,Piero di Cosimo, and those ofDomenico Ghirlandaio andFilippino Lippi. After his hiatus from 1500 to 1503, he seemed to change vision, taking from Raphael the representation of light and its effects over moving shapes.
Fra Bartolomeo's figures are generally small and draped. These qualities were alleged against him as defects, and to prove that his style was not the result of want of power, he painted the magnificent figure of theSt Mark Evangelist (ranked as his masterpiece), and the undraped figure ofSaint Sebastian. It is alleged that the latter was felt to be so strongly expressive of suffering and agony, that it was found necessary to remove it from the place where it had been exhibited in the chapel of a convent.[1]
Fra Bartolomeo's compositions are remarkable for skill in the massing of light and shade, richness and delicacy of colouring, and for the admirable drapery of the figures, Bartolomeo having been the first to introduce and use the lay-figure with joints.[1]
Among his pupils were Cecchino del Frate, Benedetto Ciamfanini, Gabriel Rustici,Ridolfo Ghirlandaio (the son ofDomenico Ghirlandaio), andFra Paolo Pistolese.[5]
All pieces listed are in oil on canvas.
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Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911), "Bartolommeo di Pagholo, Fra",Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 3 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, p. 124
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