DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61902#0409
THE MAKERS OF FLORENCE.
389
less, in the person of that wild and willful Mariotto, whom
returning life had restored, notwithstanding all his foolish
vagaries, to his true brother’s heart. They entered into a
curious business settlement even, of an unique kind. The
monk naturally had nothing to do with the profits of
his noble and now flourishing trade. They went to the
convent and were managed entirely by its authorities, and
the new arrangement was—a bargain which shows the
professional value of Mariotte’s services when under the
regulating influence of his friend—that the newcomer
should receive half of what was earned after* the necessary
deductions for expenses. Bartolommeo’s share was simply
nothing—he had his cell and his fame; and in considera-
tion of the religious and worthy work in which he was
engaged, he was exempted from the monastic routine of
service in the choir—but no more. It was in 1509 that
the partnership began, and it went on for three fruitful
and splendid years in the same harmony which had
characterized the beginning of the two young painters in
the shop at the Porta San Pietro, both of them working at
the same picture, a dual artist, in such harmony that it is
hard to tell which hand is which, or indeed that there were
two hands at work. But this union lasted only till 1512,
when it was dissolved, probably, the critics think, by the
interposition of a new prior, or rather the return of an old
one, Santa Pagnini, to San Marco, shortly after whose
arrival the bond, so touching and full of interest, was
broken. We are not told for what reason or by what
means this was done, nor how the mild soul of the monk
was moved in such a disruption. Probably the very
amiability and softness of his character made it affect him
less than the impetuous Mariotto, whose heart was rent
once more by a mingled passion of rage and wounded
feeling. Padre Marchese believes that it was now at this
later period, that he took to tavern-keeping in his despite
389
less, in the person of that wild and willful Mariotto, whom
returning life had restored, notwithstanding all his foolish
vagaries, to his true brother’s heart. They entered into a
curious business settlement even, of an unique kind. The
monk naturally had nothing to do with the profits of
his noble and now flourishing trade. They went to the
convent and were managed entirely by its authorities, and
the new arrangement was—a bargain which shows the
professional value of Mariotte’s services when under the
regulating influence of his friend—that the newcomer
should receive half of what was earned after* the necessary
deductions for expenses. Bartolommeo’s share was simply
nothing—he had his cell and his fame; and in considera-
tion of the religious and worthy work in which he was
engaged, he was exempted from the monastic routine of
service in the choir—but no more. It was in 1509 that
the partnership began, and it went on for three fruitful
and splendid years in the same harmony which had
characterized the beginning of the two young painters in
the shop at the Porta San Pietro, both of them working at
the same picture, a dual artist, in such harmony that it is
hard to tell which hand is which, or indeed that there were
two hands at work. But this union lasted only till 1512,
when it was dissolved, probably, the critics think, by the
interposition of a new prior, or rather the return of an old
one, Santa Pagnini, to San Marco, shortly after whose
arrival the bond, so touching and full of interest, was
broken. We are not told for what reason or by what
means this was done, nor how the mild soul of the monk
was moved in such a disruption. Probably the very
amiability and softness of his character made it affect him
less than the impetuous Mariotto, whose heart was rent
once more by a mingled passion of rage and wounded
feeling. Padre Marchese believes that it was now at this
later period, that he took to tavern-keeping in his despite