Of Francesco Bigi, commonly called Francia Bigio or Franciabigio, so
much is said in the following life of Andrea del Sarto, that a slight
sketch will suffice here. He was the son of Cristofano, and was born in
1482. His early studies were made in the Brancacci Chapel, and the
Papal Hall--where he drew from the cartoons in 1505-6, and the studio
of Mariotto Albertinelli, from which he passed to his partnership with
Andrea del Sarto in 1509. Thus it is that his first style was marked by
the influence of Mariotto and Fra Bartolommeo, while in his later works
he approximated more to Andrea del Sarto.

Two of his early paintings were placed in the church of S. Piero
Maggiore, one a _Virgin and Child_ of great beauty. The infant
clasps its arms round its mother's neck--a charming attitude--which
suggests a playful effort to hide from the young S. John, who is
running towards him, by nestling closer to the dearer resting place.
The picture is now in the Uffizi and has been long known as
_Raphael's Madonna del Pozzo_. [Footnote: Crowe and Cavalcaselle,
_History of Painting_, vol. iii. chap. xv. p. 501.] No greater
testimony to Francia Bigio's excellence can be given than the frequency
of his works being mistaken for those of Raphael, but the influence of
his contemporaries was always strong upon him. The _Annunciation_,
painted for the same church, is also described by Vasari as a carefully
designed work, though somewhat feeble in manner. The angel is lightly
poised in air, the Virgin kneeling before a foreshortened building. The
picture was lost sight of in the demolition of the church, but Crowe
and Cavalcaselle [Footnote: Crowe and Cavalcaselle, _History of
Painting_, Vol. iii. p. 500.] believe they have discovered it in a
picture at Turin, the authorship of which is avowedly doubtful. They
mention, however, a celestial group of the Eternal Father in a cherub-
peopled cloud, sending his blessing in the form of a dove, with a ray