_Francia Bigio_ (Florentine: 1482-1525).
Francesco di Cristoforo Bigi (this picture is signed FRA CP
= _Franciscus Cristophori pinxit_), commonly called Francia
Bigio, was the son of a weaver at Milan, and "devoted himself
to the art of painting, not so much (Vasari tells us) because
he was desirous of fame, as that he might thus be enabled to
render assistance to his indigent relations." He was at first
the pupil of Albertinelli (645), and afterwards formed a close
friendship with Andrea del Sarto, in conjunction with whom
he produced his first important work in 1513, in the small
cloister of the Servi. It was here that occurred the famous
scene, described by Vasari, with the Friars, who, having
uncovered Bigio's fresco of the _Sposalizio_ before the painter
considered it finished, so enraged him that he defaced some of
the finest heads in it with a mason's hammer, and would have
destroyed the whole but for forcible intervention. Neither he
nor any other painter could be induced to repair the injuries,
which remain to this day. Bigio was, as we may see from this
picture, an admirable portrait-painter--an excellence which
he owed, says Vasari, to his patient and modest industry. He
was "a great lover of peace, and for that reason (adds Vasari
drily) would never marry."
The young man wears on his breast the cross of the Knights of Malta.
The letter in his hand bears the date 1514. On the parapet is an
inscription: tar: vblia: chi: bien: eima (slowly forgets he who loves
well)--
Dear as remember'd kisses after death,
And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feign'd
On lips that are for others; deep as love,
Deep as first love, and wild with all regret;
O Death in Life, the days that are no more.
TENNYSON: _The Princess_.