me, and some friars skilled in
surgery, with Gerozzo, the patron of the work, and his wife,
full-length figures on their knees, upon the walls on either side;
and in a nude figure that is seated, he portrayed Giuliano
Bugiardini, his pupil, as a young man, with long locks according to
the custom of that time, in which each separate hair might be
counted, so carefully are they painted. He made there, likewise, his
own portrait, in the head, with long locks, of a figure that is
issuing from one of the tombs; and in that work, in the region of
the blessed, there is also the portrait of Fra Giovanni da Fiesole,
the painter, whose Life we have written. This painting was executed
wholly in fresco, both by Fra Bartolommeo and by Mariotto, so that
it has remained, and still remains, marvellously fresh, and is held
in esteem by craftsmen, since it is scarcely possible to do better
in that kind of work.

[Illustration: THE HOLY FAMILY

(_After the panel by =Fra Bartolommeo di San Marco=. Rome: Corsini
Gallery, 579_)

_Anderson_]

When Fra Bartolommeo had been many months in Prato, he was sent by
his superiors to take up his abode in S. Marco at Florence, and on
account of his virtues he was received very warmly by the friars of
that convent. In those days Bernardo del Bianco had caused to be
erected, in the Badia of Florence, a chapel of grey-stone, full of
carving, and very rich and beautiful, from the design of Benedetto
da Rovezzano: which chapel was and still is much esteemed on account
of some ornamental work of great variety, wherein Benedetto Buglioni
placed, in some niches, angels and other figures made of glazed
terra-cotta, in the round, to adorn it the more, with friezes
containing cherubs and the devices of Bianco. And Bernardo, wishing
to set up in the chapel a panel-picture that should be worthy of
that adornment, and conceiving the idea that Fra Bartolommeo would
be the right man for the work, sought in every possible way, through
the intervention of his friends, to persuade him. Fra Bartolommeo
was living in his convent, giving his attention to nothing save the
divine offices and the duties of his Rule, although often besought
by the Prior and by his dearest friends that he should work again at
his painting; and for more than four years he had refused to touch a
brush. But on this occasion, being pressed by Bernardo del Bianco,
at length he began the panel-picture of S. Bernard, in which the
Saint is writin