"
As time went on the youth in strange old Piero's studio became more
famous than his master, and felt that he could do greater things away
from the stiff method which cramped him, and the whimsicalities which
annoyed him. His friend, Francia Bigio, Mariotto's pupil, having just
then lost his master, who was giving more attention to his father-in-
law's business of innkeeper than his own, was willing to enter into
partnership, and the two youths began life together in 1509 or 1510, in
a room near the Piazza del Grano, in the first house in Via del Moro,
which still remains in its old state.
The first bit of patronage recorded is the commission for the frescoes
in the Scalzo; that they had work before is proved by the words in the
contract of the Barefoot Friars, "dettero ad Andrea pittore
_celeberrimo_ il dipingere nel Chiosto." The "celebrated"
presupposes works already done.
The Scalzo was a name given to the "Compagnia dei Disciplinati di S.
Giovanni Battista," because they went barefoot when they carried the
cross in their processions. They lived in a convent in Via Larga (now
Cavour), opposite San Marco.
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