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Bartolommeo della Porta, Fra
1472–1517
Italian painter

Fra Bartolommeo della Porta, a leading painter in Florence in the early 1500s, influenced artists at home and in other cities of Italy. Born Baccio della Porta, he had joined an artist's workshop by the age of 15. In time he set up his own workshop with another painter. His early fresco Last Judgment shows a unity of tone and balanced composition typical of high Renaissance art.

In 1500 the artist abandoned painting to join a convent. After taking the vows of the Dominican* order, he changed his name to Fra Bartolommeo. However, four years later Bartolommeo returned to painting. His career flourished, and he received commissions for paintings in churches and public buildings. He was a fine draftsman who always made many drawings before painting.

On a visit to Rome in 1513, Bartolommeo saw RAPHAEL's frescoes in the pope's apartments and MICHELANGELO's ceiling in the Sistine Chapel. The influence of these artists is evident in some of Bartolommeo's later work.

(See also Art in Italy; Florence.)

* Dominican

religious order of brothers and priests founded by St. Dominic