In 1507 we find him as an
artist helping to value his friend's picture, and mediating between the
convent and Bernardo del Bianco. [Footnote: Crowe and Cavalcaselle,
vol. iii. chap. xvii. p. 544.] Now, in the 'Life of Andrea del Sarto,'
we read that Francia Bigio, Albertinelli's pupil, made the acquaintance
of Andrea while studying the Cartoons in the Hall of the Council (this
was from 1506 to 1508), and as their friendship increased, Andrea
confided to Francia Bigio that he could no longer endure the
eccentricities of Piero di Cosimo, and determined to seek a home for
himself, and that Francia Bigio being also alone--his master Mariotto
Albertinelli _having abandoned the art of painting_--they
determined to share a studio and rooms. [Footnote: Vasari, vol. iii. p.
182.] The first works the partners undertook were the frescoes of the
Scalzo and the Servi, which were begun in 1509. Thus the date is
tolerably certain, especially as a gap occurs in Albertinelli's works
at this time.
Sig. Gaetano Milanesi's researches in the Archives have thrown a new
light on Mariotto's motives, which were not entirely connected with
art; it was not that he was discouraged by adverse criticism, nor
wholly that, as time divided him from his friend, he felt he could
produce no great work away from his influence, but it was partly that
he had married a wife named Antonia, whose father kept an inn at S.
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