church frescoes which were to influence thousands. Here the spirit of
poetry, brooding in the mysterious lines of Dante, or echoing from past
ages in the myths of the Greeks, took form and glowed on the walls in
mighty cartoons to be made imperishable in fresco. Here the spirit of
luxury was satisfied by beautiful designs for ornaments, dress stuffs,
tapestries, vases and "cassoni," &c., which brought beauty into every
life, and made each house a poem. The soul, the mind, and the body,
could alike be supplied at those fountains of the beautiful, the artshops
or schools.

Whilst Michelangelo as a youth was drawing from the cartoons of the
Sassetti chapel in the school of Domenico Ghirlandajo, Cosimo Roselli
was just receiving as a pupil a boy only a little behind him in genius.
A small, delicate-faced, spiritual-eyed boy of nine years, known as
Baccio della Porta, who came with a roll of drawings under his arm and
high hopes in his soul, no doubt trotting along manfully beside
Cosimo's old friend, Benedetto da Majano, the sculptor, who had
recommended his being placed in the studio.

By the table given in the note [Footnote: Pietro, a Genoese, came in
1400 to the parish of S. Michele, at Montecuccioli in Mugello; he was a
peasant, and had a son Jacopo, who was father of Paolo, the muleteer;
and three other sons, Bartolo, Giusto, and Jacopo, who had a
_podere_ at Soffignano, near Prato. Paolo married first Bartolommea,
daughter of Zanobi di Gallone, by whom he had a son, Bartolommeo, known
as Baccio della Porta, born 1475. The first wife dying, Paolo married
Andrea di Michaele di Cenni, who had four sons, Piero, Domenico,
Michele, and Francesco; only Piero lived to grow up, and he became a
priest. [_Favoured by Sig. Milanesi._]] it will be seen that Baccio was
the son of Paolo, a muleteer, which no doubt was a profitable trade in