Chap. XIII. FRA BARTOLOMMEO DELLA PORTA. 4G5 promise that he then made. 1 A fresco of the Virgin and child, ascribed to Della Porta in S. Domenico, might in deed testify to his presence, and seems lined from one of his cartoons; but it is by a disciple such as Fra Paolino might have been. 2 It Fra Bartolommeo however was neither at Lucca nor at Pistoia, his health again drove him in October 1515 to Pian’ di Mugnone where he never came without bring ing his tools. In order that time may not hang too heavily on his hands, he covers a lunette with a fresco of the Annunciation the treatment of which discloses great breadth and facility. It is delightful to see the angel s eagerness in coming and giving the message, and the speaking profile of the head with its oblique bend. 3 The Virgin receives the announcement with joy, and gathers herself well together under the folds of her mantle, her form being perhaps too square and masculine. But this would be the work of a leisure hour, 4 and might lead us to believe that the Frate remained but a short space at the hospital, preferring perhaps to wander away in another direction and look for his uncles at Suffignano whom he had not seen for years. Father Marchese quotes a cotemporary diary, in which a pleasant description is given of the relatives’ meeting and the lucky guess of the grand nephew Pagolo di Vito, that the friar must be his grand-uncle Bartolommeo. When the moment of parting was near, the Frate said: “And now it may be long be fore we meet again, for the king of France has sent for me and wants to give me employment”, from whence we 1 See the record in full in Mar- ehese II. 368. 2 The contours are wiry and the colour washy. The group is finely outlined, but the forms and the drapery are not given with Fra Bartolommeo’s grand boldness. The fresco has been removed from the convent into the church of S. Domenico. Tolomei quotes the name of Fra Bartolommeo, how- VOL. HI. ever, in connection with this Vir gin, on the strength of convent records and says the patrons were the Fioravanti. (Tolomei, Guida, lib. sub. 109). 3 A movement familiar in Andrea del Sarto. 4 This fresco was done by the Frate on the 4 11 ' of October, 1515, according to the convent record in Marchese. II. 119. 368. Figures under life size. 30