He was born in
Savignano di Prato,
Tuscany. He received the nickname of Baccio della Porta ("Baccio of the Gate"), for his house was near the Gate of San Pier Gattolini. Starting from 1483 or 1484, by recommendation of
Benedetto da Maiano, he apprenticed in the workshop of
Cosimo Rosselli. In 1490 or 1491 he began a collaboration with
Mariotto Albertinelli. In the late 1490s, Baccio was drawn to the teachings of
Fra Girolamo Savonarola, who denounced what he viewed as vain and corrupt contemporary art. Savonarola argued for art serving as a direct visual illustration of the
Bible to educate those unable to read the book. From 1498 is his famous portrait of Savonarola, now in the
Museo Nazionale di San Marco in Florence. The following year he was commissioned a fresco of the
Universal Judgement for the
Ospedale di Santa Maria Nuova, completed by Albertinelli and
Giuliano Bugiardini when Baccio became a
Dominican friar on 26 July 1500. The following year he entered the convent of San Marco. He renounced painting for several years, not resuming until 1504 when he became the head of the monastery workshop in obedience to his superior. In that year he began a
Vision of St. Bernard for Bernardo Bianco's family chapel in the
Badia Fiorentina, finished in 1507. Soon thereafter,
Raphael visited Florence and befriended the friar. Bartolomeo learned perspective from the younger artist, while Raphael added skills in coloring and handling of drapery, which was noticeable in the works he produced after their meeting. With Raphael, he remained on the friendliest terms, and when he departed from Rome, left in his hands two unfinished pictures which Raphael completed. At the beginning of 1508, Bartolomeo moved to
Venice to paint a
Holy Father, St. Mary Magdalene and St. Catherine of Siena for the Dominicans of
San Pietro Martire in
Murano, influenced somewhat by Venetian colorism. As the Dominicans did not pay for the work, he took it back to
Lucca, where it can be seen now. Also in Lucca, in October 1509, he painted with Albertinelli an altarpiece of the
Madonna and Child with Saints for the
local cathedral. On 26 November 1510
Pier Soderini commissioned him an altarpiece for the Sala del Consiglio of Florence, now in the Museum of San Marco. Two years later he finished another altarpiece for the
cathedral of
Besançon. In 1513, he went to Rome, where he painted a
Peter and Paul, now in the
Pinacoteca Vaticana, while from the following years are the
St. Mark Evangelist of
Palazzo Pitti in Florence and the frescoes in the Dominican convent of Pian di Mugnone, a
frazione of
Fiesole, just outside Florence. After a promised
Feast of Venus for Duke
Alfonso I d'Este of
Ferrara, of which only drawings remain, his last work is a fresco of
Noli me tangere also in Pian di Mugnone. '' He died in Florence in 1517. ==Works==