Chap. XII. DOMENICO’S TUSCAN EDUCATION. 315 was of some duration. The date and tenor of his letter to Piero de’ Medici are sufficient to warrant the assumption that he was born in the early part of the fifteenth century and that he was the cotemporary of Fra Filippo and An gelico. His surname of Veniziano may have arisen from the fact that he was of a Venetian family, a record, of 1439—40, describing him as “Maestro Domenicho di Bar- tolomeio da Venezia.” 1 Vasari was aware that Domenico had resided in Perugia. He states that certain paintings which adorned a hall in the Casa Baglioni had caused his name to be heard even in Florence, 2 and that, being called thither, he completed numerous works. It is very likely that the appeal made to the Medici was not without effect, and that, through their influence, Domenico obtain ed a commission to paint the choir of S. Maria Nuova. The records of that hospital prove that he laboured there from 1439 till 1445; and they further reveal that his ap prentice was Piero della Francesca, and his daily la bourer Bicci di Lorenzo. 3 Thel frescos of the choir of S. Egidio in S. M. Nuova are no longer in existence, but Vasari is correct in saying that Domenico employed oil in the medium with which they were executed; 4 for the books of the hospital are full of items of payment for linseed oil furnished to Domenico during the period of his labours. 5 But it is clear that Domenico could not have learnt the Flemish system of oil painting from Antonello da Messina, 6 because there is no proof that Antonello should have visited North Italy so early, and because the * See postea the text of this record. 2 Vas. Vol. IV. p. 145. 3 “M. Domenicho di Bartolomeio da Vinezia die dipigno la cha- pella maggiore di Santo Gidio dk dare a di VII di Sett. f. 44, — et db dare a di XII di Sett. f. 2. 5. 15 posto Pietro di Benedetto dal Borgho a San Sepolehro sta eollui.” Record fin Archivio dell’ Arcispedale di S. Maria Nuova di Firenze, Quaderno di CassaEE. 1439—40. f. 94, tergo, communi cated by Gaetano Milanesi and published by M r . Harzen in Archiv fur die zeichnenden Kiinste. 8°. Leipzig, Rudolph Weigel. 1856. note to p. 232. For Bicci’s as sistance to Domenico see antea. 4 Vas. Vol. IV. p. 147. 5 GiornaIeStor. degliArch. Toscani. 1862. ub. sup. p. 4. 6 Vasari asserts this in the life of Antonello. Vol. IV. p. 80.