During these three years Albertinelli's star seems merged
in that of his senior, his hand is to be recognised in the lower parts
of a few altarpieces; but it is always difficult to distinguish the two
styles.
It was a very busy atelier, for they had many patrons. Bugiardini was
still Mariotto's head assistant, and Fra Paolino, and one or two other
monks, worked under Fra Bartolommeo, besides pupils of both, among whom
were Gabriele Rustici and Benedetto Cianfanini.
The studio was on the part of the convent between the cloister and Via
del Maglio, [Footnote: Padre Marchese, _Memorie_, vol. ii. p. 69.]
and we can quite picture its interior. There stands the lay figure on
which Fra Bartolommeo draped the garments that take such majestic folds
in his works; [Footnote: Fra Bartolommeo was the inventor of the
jointed lay figure.] there are several casts and models in different
parts of the room; grand cartoons in charcoal hang on the walls, like
those we see to this day in the Uffizi and Belle Arti. So many of these
masterly sketches are the Frate's and so few are Mariotto's that we may
presume the former was in most instances the designer.
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