ii. chap. iv. Crowe and Cavalcaselle
speak of the two paintings as unconnected with each other, and mention
the Pitti one as having unaccountably returned there after having been
given to some bishop. Is it not possible that the gift to a bishop
refers to the painting in the Louvre, and that the other is the replica
spoken of by Vasari, vol. ii. p. 452?]
There is a fine painting in the church of S. Caterina of Pisa, in the
chapel of the Mastiani family, Michele Mastiani having given the
commission, and paid thirty ducats, in October, 1511. It represents the
_Madonna and Child_ seated on a base; the action is quiet and yet
vivacious; she is supported on each side by S. Peter and S. Paul,
figures as large as life, and even more noble than the ones in Rome.
The colouring has been much injured by a fire in the seventeenth
century, but is robust and harmonious. It is dated 1511.
On the 26th of November, 1510, Fra Bartolommeo had a commission from
Pier Soderini, then Gonfaloniere, to paint a picture for the Council
Hall. This was an unfortunate order; for Michelangelo and Leonardo da
Vinci had both been commissioned, neither of them finishing the works.
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