Produced by Michelle Shephard Tiffany Vergon Charles Franksand the Online Distributed Proofreading TeamFRA BARTOLOMMEOByLeader ScottAuthor Of A Nook In The ApenninesReEdited ByHorace Shipp And Flora Kendrick ARBS_The reproductions in this series are from official photographs ofthe National Collections or from photographs by Messrs AndersenAlinari or Braun_FOREWORDMichelangelo Leonardo Raphael the three great names of the noblestperiod of the Renaissance take our minds from the host of fine artistswho worked alongside them Nevertheless beside these giants a wholehost of exquisite artists have place and not least among them thethree painters with whom Mr Leader Scott has dealt in these pages FraBartolommeo linking up with the religious art of the preceding periodwith that of Masaccio of Piero de Cosimo his senior student in thestudio of Cosimo Roselli and at last with that of the definitelymodern painters of the Renaissance Raphael Leonardo andMichelangelo himself is a transition painter in this supreme periodTechnique and the work of hand and brain are rapidly taking the placeof inspiration and the desire to convey a message The aestheticsensation is becoming an end in itself The scientific paintersperfecting their studies of anatomy and of perspective having aconscious mastery over their tools and their mediums are taking theplace of such men as Fra AngelicoAs a painter at this end of a period of transitiona painter whosespiritual leanings would undoubtedly have been with the earlier menbut whose period was too strong for himFra Bartolommeo is ofparticular interest and Albertinelli for all the fiery surfacedifference of his outlook is too closely bound by the ties of hisfriendship for the Frate to have any other viewpointAndrea del Sarto presents yet another phenomenon that of the artistendowed with all the powers of craftsmanship yet serving an end neitherbasically spiritual nor basically aesthetic but definitelyprofessional We have George Vasaris word for it and Vasaris blameupon the extravagant and toowellbeloved Lucrezia Today we are soaccustomed to the idea of the professional attitude to art that we canaccept it in Andrea without concern Not that other and earlier artistswere unconcerned with the aspect of payments The history of Italianart is full of quarrels and bickerings about prices the calling in ofreferees to decide between patron and painter demands and refusals ofpayment Even the unworldly Fra Bartolommeo was the centre of suchquarrels and although his vow of poverty forbade him to receive moneyfor his work the order to which he belonged stood out firmly for the_scudi_ which the Frates pictures brought them In justice toAndrea it must be added that this was not the only motive for hisactivities it was not without cause that the men of his time calledhim _senza errori_ the faultless painter and the production ofa vast quantity of his work rather than good prices for individualpictures made his art pay to the extent it did A potboiler inmasterpieces his works have place in every gallery of importance andhe himself stands very close to the three greatest men of theRenaissanceBoth Fra Bartolommeo and Albertinelli are little known in this countryPractically nothing has been written about them and very few of theirworks are in either public galleries or private collections It is inItaly of course that one must study their originals although thegreat collections usually include one or two Most interesting from theviewpoint of the study of art is the evolution of the work of theartistmonk as he came under the influence of the more dramatic modernand frankly sensational work of Raphael of the Venetians and ofMichelangelo In this case many will say in that of the art of theworld this tendency detracted rather than helped the work Thedraperies the dramatic poses the artistic sensation arrests the mindat the surface of the picture It is indeed strange that this devoutchurchman should have succumbed to the temptation and there aremoments when one suspects that his somewhat spectacular pietismdisguised the spirit of one whose mind had little to do with themysticism of the mediaeval church Or perhaps it was that the strangefriendship between him and Albertinelli the man of the cloister andthe man of the world effected some alchemy in the mind of each Thestory of that lifelong friendship strong enough to overcome thedifficulties of a definite partnership between the strict life of themonastery and the busy life of the _bottega_ is one of the mostfascinating in art historyMr Leader Scott has in all three lives the opportunity for fascinatingstudies and his book presents them to us with much of the flavour ofthe period in which they lived Perhaps today we should incline tomodify his acceptance of the Vasari attitude to Lucrezia especiallysince he himself tends to withdraw the charges against her but leavesher as the villainess of the piece upon very little evidence Theinclusion of a chapter upon Ghirlandajo treated merely as a followerof Fra Bartolommeo scarcely does justice in modern eyes to this fineartist whose own day and generation did him such honour and paid himso well But the authors general conclusions as to the place in artand the significance of the lives of the three painters with whom he ischiefly concerned remains unchallenged and we have in the volume anecessary study to place alongside those of Leonardo of Michelangeloand of Raphael for an understanding of the culmination of theRenaissance in Italy                                               HORACE SHIPPCONTENTSFRA BARTOLOMMEOCHAPTER    I THOUGHTS ON THE RENAISSANCE   II THE BOTTEGA OF COSIMO ROSELLI AD 14751486  III THE GARDEN AND THE CLOISTER AD 14871495   IV SAN MARCO AD 14961500    V FRA BARTOLOMMEO IN THE CONVENT AD 15041509   VI ALBERTINELLI IN THE WORLD AD 15011510  VII CONVENT PARTNERSHIP AD 15101513 VIII CLOSE OF LIFE AD 15141517   IX PART ISCHOLARS OF FRA BARTOLOMMEO       PART IISCHOLARS OF MARIOTTO ALBERTINELLI