No doubt the
two boys, Mariotto and Baccio, found little companionship in this
abstracted young man always dreaming over his own ideas. If they told
him an anecdote, he would look up vacantly at the end not having heard
a word; at other times every little noise or burst of laughter would
annoy him, and he would be immoderately angry with the flies and
mosquitos.
Piero had already been to Rome, and had assisted Cosimo in his fresco
of _Christ preaching on Lake Tiberias_; indeed most judges thought
his landscape the best part of that work, and the talent he showed
obtained him several commissions. He took the portraits of Virginio
Orsini, Ruberto Sanseverino and Duke Valentino, son of Pope Alessandro
VI. He was much esteemed as a portrait painter also in Florence, and
from his love of classical subjects, and extreme finish of execution,
he ranked as one of the best painters of "cassoni," or bridal-linen
chests.
This fashion excited the indignation of Savonarola, who in one of his
sermons exclaimed, "Do not let your daughters prepare their 'corredo'
(trousseau) in a chest with pagan paintings; is it right for a
Christian spouse to be familiar with Venus before the Virgin, or Mars
before the saints?"
Thus Piero being a finished painter, was often Cosimo Roselli's
substitute in the instruction of the two boys, for Cosimo having come
home from Rome with some money, lived at his ease; but still continued
to paint frescoes in company with Piero.
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