Page:The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century (1915).djvu/354

304 figures of the Magdalen and St. John and the angels hovering in the air to receive the blood that drops from the sacred wounds, are distinctly Peruginesque in feeling. Mariotto's natural dislike of monks and friars, however, had been only increased by the loss of his friend, and the poor Carthusians found him and his assistants very troublesome guests. They played tricks on the brothers and stole their meagre allowance of daily food, until, in their anxiety to be rid of these tormentors, the monks agreed to double their rations, if they would finish the work as speedily as possible, to which Mariotto and his comrades gladly agreed, amidst shouts of noisy merriment.

About this time, Albertinelli, whose love for his friend had never changed, agreed to take charge of Fra Bartolommeo's brother Piero, a feeble and vicious youth, who was a source of constant trouble and anxiety to his family. But instead of learning painting, Piero was always escaping from Albertinelli's house and getting into mischief, and at length, in 1512, he was placed in the hospital of the Innocents, through the intervention of Fra Bartolommeo's friend, Prior Pagnini.

In 1509, Mariotto entered into partnership with Fra Bartolommeo, and worked as his chief assistant in the convent bottega during the next three years. As a rule, the Friar seems to have designed all the pictures which his friend painted during this period. Three of the best, a Madonna and Saints, Holy Trinity, and Annunciation, are in the Academy of Florence. All three bear the dates of 1510, and are executed in Fra Bartolommeo's style, but are not without a certain vigour and individuality