DON BARTOLOMMEO, ABBOT OF SAN CLEMENTE.
[born 1408.—died 1491.]
Rarely does it happen that the man of upright mind and exemplary life is left unprovided by Heaven with valuable friends and an honourable position; rarely does he fail to be held in respect for his excellences while living, or to be venerated and mournfully regretted after his death, by all who have known him. Such was the case with Don Bartolommeo della Gatta, Abbot of San Clemente, in Arezzo, who was in many ways most admirable, and was commendable in all his actions.
This artist, who was a monk in the Carmelite Monastery of the Angeli in Florence, was much devoted to miniature painting in his youth (perhaps for reasons similar to those assigned in the Life of Don Lorenzo as the cause by which that master was influenced), and displayed singular ability in all things relating to design. Of this we have evidence in the miniatures executed by him for the monks of Santa Flora and Lucilla, in the abbey of Arezzo, more especially in those of a missal which was given to Pope Sixtus, and wherein there is a most admirable Passion of Christ; it is in the first leaf of the “Prayers to be offered in private.” There are likewise others of great merit by his hand in San Martino, in the cathedral church of Lucca.[1]
No long time after the completion of these works, the Abbey of San Clemente of Arezzo was conferred on this father by Mariotto Maldoli, a native of Arezzo, and General of the Camaldulines, who was of the same family to which that Maldolo also belonged, by whom the site and lands of Camaldoli were bestowed on San Romualdo, founder of the Carmelites. Grateful for that benefit, Don Bartolommeo afterwards laboured much for this General and for his Order. The plague of 1468 ensued soon after, on account of which
- ↑ No miniature executed by Don Bartolommeo can now be indicated with certainty, the choral books of numerous monasteries having been shamefully despoiled of their miniatures, as has been remarked in the life of Don Lorenzo, vol. i.
