When
Albertinelli died, on the 5th of November, 1515, his friend followed
him to an honourable interment in S. Piero Maggiore.
After Albertinelli's death, the Frate soared to greater heights of
genius than before.
The year 1516 marks the birth of his grandest masterpieces, first the
picture in the Pitti Palace called by Cavalcaselle a _Resurrection_, but
which is more truly an allegorical impersonation of the Saviour. It was
ordered by a rich merchant, Salvadore Billi, to place in a chapel which
Pietro Roselli had adorned with marbles in the church of the "Annunciata."
He paid 100 ducats in gold for it.
In its original state the picture was a complete allegory of _Christ
as the centre of Religion_, between two prophets in heaven, and four
apostles, two at each side--beneath him two angels support the world.
The prophets have been removed, and are placed in the Tribune of the
Uffizi; thus the picture as it stands loses half its meaning. The
Christ is a fine nude figure standing in a niche, and in it Fra
Bartolommeo has solved the problem of obtaining complete relief almost
in monochrome, so little do the lights of the flesh tints, and the warm
yellowish tinge of the background differ from each other.
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