Page:The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century (1915).djvu/263

1504] As early as April 1487, Filippo Strozzi, the builder of the famous Strozzi Palace in Florence, had engaged Filippino to decorate his family chapel in Santa Maria Novella, and now he vainly urged the absent master to fulfil his promise. In a letter from Rome, dated May 2, 1489, the painter expresses his warm gratitude to Strozzi for kindness far beyond his deserts, and deeply regrets that he has so far been unable to comply with his request, since he is detained in Rome by the Cardinal, who has proved himself the best of patrons, and for whom he is executing the frescoes in Santa Maria, of which he proceeds to give a full description. Since, however, he intends to be at home again by the feast of San Giovanni, he will then undertake the work for Filippo Strozzi and attend to nothing else until it is finished. But it seems doubtful whether the master returned to Florence at all that year, and the first record we have of his presence there is in January 1491, when he was one of the competitors who supplied designs for the façade of the Duomo. By this time Filippo Strozzi was dead, and it was not until 1500 that the heirs were able to induce Filippino to carry out their father's wishes. Orders from all sides poured in upon the popular master, who found it quite impossible to satisfy all the demands that were made upon him. A fresco representing a sacrifice, which he began in a loggia of Lorenzo de' Medici's villa at Poggio a Caiano, and which is still in existence, was left unfinished, probably on account of the Magnifico's death, in 1492. Another commission which he accepted was an order from the monks of the Certosa of Pavia, who applied to him on the recommenda-