Thus it came that in 1484 Baccio
was taken away from his brothers, who played under the shadow of the
old gateway, and was put to do the drudgery of the apprenticeship to
art. He had to grind colours for Cosimo--who, as we know, used a great
deal of colour, having dazzled the eyes of the Pope with the brilliancy
of his blue and gold in the Sistine Chapel some years before--he had to
sweep out the studio, no doubt assisted by Mariotto Albertinelli, a boy
of his own age, and to run errands, carrying designs for inspection to
expectant brides who wanted the chests painted to hold their wedding
clothes, or doing the messenger between his master and the nuns of S.
Ambrogio, who paid Cosimo their gold florins by the hand of the boy in
1484 and 1485. [Footnote: Note to Crowe and Cavalcaselle, vol. iii.
chap. xiii. p. 429.]
Whether his age made him a more acceptable means of communication with
the nuns, or whether Pier di Cosimo, the elder pupil, already displayed
his hatred of womankind, I know not; perhaps the boy already showed
that innate devotion and especial fitness for sanctity which marks his
entire art career.
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