Bartolommeo, Fra, real name Baccio della Porta 1475-1517
Italian painter

Born near Florence, he was a pupil of Cosimo di Rosselli (1439-1507), in whose studio he met Mariotto Albertinelli (1474-1515), with whom he later often collaborated. Under the influence of Savonarola he publicly burned many of his paintings and in 1500 became a Dominican novice, but Raphael's visit to Florence in 1504 encouraged him to take up painting again, and they became close friends, helping one another with their work. He worked in Venice (1507) and then in Florence (c.1509-1512) before going to Rome. Overwhelmed by the work of Raphael in the Vatican apartments and Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, he refused all entreaties to collaborate with them. His work is distinguished by controlled composition and delicate drawing and use of colour. His later work is inferior. Most of his work is still in Florence, but there is a notable Annunciation by him in the Louvre.