And when the white-robed boys came to the studio
of the friends at the gate of S. Pier Gattolini, with what sighs and
self-immolation Baccio looked for the last time at some of his studies
which he judged to come under the head of _anathemata_, and handed
them over to the acolytes. How Mariotto's soul, warm to Pagan art,
burned within him at this sacrifice! And how he would talk more than
ever against the monks, and hang up his own cartoons and studies of the
Greek Venus in the studio for Baccio's behoof!
In these years we have no notice of authentic works done by the
youthful partners, though biographers talk of their having commissions
for madonnas, and other works of art.
In 1497 Francesco Valori, the grand-featured, earnest admirer of
Savonarola, became Gonfaloniere in the time of Piero de' Medici's
exile, [Footnote: Gino Capponi, _Storia delta Republica di
Firenze_, lib. vi. chap. xi. p. 233.] and the friar's party was in
the ascendent. Rosini [Footnote: _Storia delta Pittura_, chap.
xvii. p. 48.] says that belonging to a faction was a means of fame, and
that the Savonarola party was powerful, giving this as a reason for
Baccio's partisanship; but this we can hardly believe, his whole life
proved his earnestness.
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