,,masterpieces ,,in ,,colour ,,edited ,,by - - ,t4 ,,leman ,,hare ,,raphael #adhc-aebj ,,masterpieces ,,in ,,colour ,,series ,,artist4 ,,author4 ,,velazquez4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,reynolds4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,turner4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,romney4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,greuze4 ,,alys ,,eyre ,,macklin4 ,,botticelli4 ,,henry ,b4 ,,binns4 ,,rossetti4 ,,lucien ,,pissarro4 ,,bellini4 ,,george ,,hay4 ,,fra ,,angelico4 ,,james ,,mason4 ,,rembrandt4 ,,josef ,,israels4 ,,leighton4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,raphael4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,,holman ,,hunt4 ,,mary ,e4 ,,coleridge4 ,,titian4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,millais4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,carlo ,,dolci4 ,,george ,,hay4 ,,gainsborough4 ,,max ,,rothschild4 ,,tintoretto4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,luini4 ,,james ,,mason4 ,,franz ,,hals4 ,,edgcumbe ,,staley4 ,,van ,,dyck4 ,,percy ,m4 ,,turner4 ,,leonardo ,,da ,,vinci4 ,m4 ,w4 ,,brockwell4 ,,rubens4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,whistler4 ,t4 ,,martin ,,wood4 ,,holbein4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,burne-,,jones4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,vig,e ,,le ,,brun4 ,c4 ,,haldane ,,macfall4 ,,chardin4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,,fragonard4 ,c4 ,,haldane ,,macfall4 ,,memlinc4 ,w4 ,h4 ,j4 ,j4 ,c4 ,,weale4 ,,constable4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,raeburn4 ,,james ,l4 ,,caw4 ,,john ,s4 ,,sargent4 ,t4 ,,martin ,,wood4 ,,lawrence4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,d,,rer4 ,h4 ,e4 ,a4 ,,furst4 ,,millet4 ,,percy ,m4 ,,turner4 ,,watteau4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,hogarth4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,murillo4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,watts4 ,w4 ,,loftus ,,hare4 ,,ingres4 ,a4 ,j4 ,,finberg4 ,,corot4 ,,sidney ,,allnutt4 ,,delacroix4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,others in ,preparation4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,i4--,,the ,,ansidei ,,madonna4 ,frontispiece 7,in the ,national ,gallery1 ,london7 ,better than any other picture by ,raphael1 this important altar-piece shows the precociousness of ,raphael's genius1 for it was painted at ,perugia in #aejf1 when the master had scarcely passed into the twenty-third year of his life4 ,he had then just returned from ,florence1 but1 probably to humour his patrons1 the ,ansidei family1 he reverted in this picture once again to the formal manner of his second master1 ,perugino4 ,the ,ansidei ,madonna has the distinction of being the most costly picture at the ,national ,gallery--it was purchased in #ahhe from the ,duke of ,marlborough for #gj1jjj4 ,,raphael ,,by ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody ,,illustrated ,,with ,,eight ,,reproductions ,,in ,,colour ,illustration3 ,,in ,,sempiternum ,,london3 ,t4 ,c4 ,e4 ,c4 ,,jack ,,new ,,york3 ,,frederick ,a4 ,,stokes ,,co4 ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,plate ,i4 ,the ,ansidei ,madonna ,frontispiece ,in the ,national ,gallery1 ,london ,page ,,ii4 ,the ,madonna del ,gran ,duca #ad ,in the ,pitti ,palace1 ,florence ,,iii4 ,the ,madonna della ,sedia #bd ,in the ,pitti ,palace1 ,florence ,,iv4 ,la ,belle ,jardinire #cd ,in the ,louvre ,v4 ,the ,madonna of the ,tower #dj ,in the ,national ,gallery1 ,london ,,vi4 ,pope ,julius ,,ii4 #ej ,in the ,uffizi ,gallery1 ,florence ,,vii4 ,putto with ,garland #fj ,in the ,academy of ,st4 ,luca1 ,rome ,,viii4 ,portrait of ,raphael #gj ,in the ,uffizi ,gallery1 ,florence ,i ,and ,i tell you that to paint one beautiful woman1 ,i should need to see several beautiful women1 and to have you with me to choose the best1 wrote ,raphael1 then at the zenith of his fame and good fortune1 to his life-long friend ,count ,baldassare ,castiglione1 who--the ideal courtier himself--has given the world that immortal monument of ,renaissance culture1 the ,book of the ,courtier4 ,in penning these lines the prince of painters intended1 perhaps1 no more than a pretty compliment to one who was himself a model of courtesy and graceful speech1 but the words would gain deep significance if picture were substituted for woman1 and if ,castiglione were taken to signify the personification of intellect and learning4 ,for the beauty of ,raphael's art1 which in the course of four centuries has lost none of its hold upon the admiration of mankind1 is distilled from the various elements of beauty contained in the art that had gone before him and was being created around him2 and in choosing the best1 at least as far as idea and conception are concerned1 he was guided by the deepest thinkers and keenest intellects of what were then the world's greatest centres of culture4 ,raphael was1 indeed1 born under a happy constellation4 ,he was not a giant of intellect1 nor an epoch-making genius2 as ,michelangelo said of him1 he owed his art less to nature than to study2 but he was born at a time when two centuries of gradual artistic development had led up to a point where an artist was needed to gather up the diverging threads and bring the movement to a culmination1 which will stand for all times as a standard of perfection4 ,advantages of birth and early surroundings1 charm of appearance and disposition which made him a favourite wherever he went1 receptivity1 adaptability1 and application1 and above all an early and easy mastery of technique1 were combined in ,raphael to lead him to this achievement4 ,the smooth unclouded progress of his life from recognition to fame1 from prosperity to affluence1 is not the turbulent way of genius4 ,genius walks a sad and lonely path4 ,michelangelo1 the turbulent spirit1 morose and dissatisfied1 ,lionardo da ,vinci1 pursuing his high ideals without a thought of worldly success until his lonely old age sees him expatriated and contemplating the fruitlessness of all his labours--these men of purest genius have little in common with the pliant courtier ,raphael1 the head himself of a little court of faithful followers4 ,the story goes that ,michelangelo1 in the bitterness of his spirit1 when meeting his happy rival at the head of his usual army of some fifty dependants on his way to the ,papal court1 addressed him with the words ,you walk like the sheriff with his posse comitatus4 ,and ,raphael1 quick at repartee1 retorted ,and you1 like an executioner going to the scaffold4 ,whether the anecdote be true or not1 it marks the difference between the course of talent--albeit the rarest talent--and that of genius4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,ii4--,,the ,,madonna ,,del ,,gran ,,duca 7,in the ,pitti ,palace1 ,florence7 ,this picture1 remarkable for the effective simplicity of its design and for the purity of the ,virgin's face1 derives the name by which it is commonly known from the fact that it was bought in #agii by the ,grand ,duke ,ferdinand ,,iii4 from a poor widow1 and held by him in such esteem that he would never part from it and always took it with him on his travels4 ,at one time it was actually credited with the power of working miracles4 ,it is one of the first works of ,raphael's ,florentine period1 and now hangs in the ,pitti ,palace1 ,florence4 ,what are the qualities of ,raphael's art that have carried his fame unsullied through the ages and made him the most popular1 the most admired1 of all painters8 ,the greatest of the primitives1 and of the later masters ,velazquez1 ,rembrandt1 ,frans ,hals1 ,watteau1 to mention only a few of the brightest beacons in the realm of art1 have at some time or other been eclipsed and held in slight esteem4 ,raphael alone escaped the inconstancy of popular favour2 he was set up as an idol before he left the world to mourn his untimely death1 and in the course of the years the world's idolatrous worship was extended even to the feeble handiwork of his assistants1 which often passed under his name4 ,only within the memory of living men did this blind and indiscriminating worship lead to a reaction as indiscriminating4 ,but this reaction was confined to a comparatively small circle of sthetically inclined art enthusiasts2 and to-day1 when the more scientific methods of criticism have succeeded in sifting the wheat from the chaff--the master's own work from the factory-like production of his bottega--he has been reinstated in all his former glory4 ,contemptuous hostility to ,raphael's art has ceased to be a fashionable pose4 ,the frank acknowledgment of the perfection of this art is no longer stayed by the consciousness of the harm done by that imperfect imitation of the ,raphaelic code of beauty1 which has been the result of all academic teaching in ,europe since the founding of the ,prix de ,rome4 ,beauty1 formal beauty1 pure and faultless1 must appeal to everybody2 and ,raphael means to us the perfection of beauty--such beauty as lies in rhythm1 balance1 colour1 form1 and execution4 ,it is a calculated beauty1 the lucid1 unambiguous expression of an absolutely normal1 well-balanced mind assisted by an unerring hand2 hence it is intelligible to everybody without that unconscious mental effort which is needed for the understanding of an art of greater emotional intensity4 ,it is of the very essence of art that it should express an emotion2 a picture which is merely imitative without holding a hint of what the artist felt at the time of creating it1 ceases to be a work of art1 even if it represents a subject beautiful in itself4 ,on the other hand1 an ugly subject may be raised to sublime art by emotional statement2 but this emotion is of necessity more complex and more difficult to understand than that simplest of all emotions1 the pleasure caused by the contemplation of beauty4 ,this accounts for the common fallacy that art and beauty are indissolubly connected1 and for the favouritism shown by all the successive generations to ,raphael whose brush was wedded to beauty in the classic sense1 and whose art knew nothing of the beauty of character4 ,but beauty alone does not constitute ,raphael's greatness1 or ,bouguereau and many other modern academic painters would have to be accounted great instead of being merely dull and insipid4 ,raphael developed to its utmost power of expressiveness the art of space-composition1 the secret of which was the heritage of the ,umbrian painters4 ,what space-composition means cannot be better defined than it has been by ,mr4 ,berenson3 ,space-composition differs from ordinary composition in the first place most obviously in that it is not an arrangement to be judged as extending only laterally1 or up and down on a flat surface1 but as extending inwards in depth as well4 ,it is composition in three dimensions1 and not in two1 in the cube1 not merely on the surface4444 ,painted space-composition opens out the space it frames in1 puts boundaries only ideal to the roof of heaven4 ,all that it uses1 whether the forms of the natural landscape1 or of grand architecture1 or even of the human figure1 it reduces to be its ministrants in conveying a sense of untrammelled1 but not chaotic spaciousness4 ,in such pictures1 how freely one breathes--as if a load had just been lifted from one's breast2 how refreshed1 how noble1 how potent one feels2 again1 how soothed2 and still again1 how wafted forth to abodes of far-away bliss6 ,this sense of space and depth is achieved by methods which have nothing in common with our modern art of creating the illusion of what is called atmosphere--not by the losing and finding of contours1 not by the application of optical theories1 such as the zone of interchanging rays which dissolves all hard outlines1 nor by the blurring and fogging of the distance4 ,space-composition in the sense in which it was practised by ,raphael is closely akin to the art of architecture in its appeal to our emotions4 ,as an illustrator1 again1 ,raphael was unequalled as regards clear1 direct1 measured statement of all that is essential to the immediate grasping of the idea or incident depicted4 ,the first glance at one of ,raphael's works1 whether it be a small panel picture or a monumental fresco1 reveals its whole purport1 and that in a manner so complete and lucid and convincing as could not be achieved by any other method of expression4 ,with infallible sureness he invariably found the shortest way for the harmonious statement of idea1 form1 and emotion1 which in his work are always found in perfect balance and so completely permeated by each other as to constitute an indissoluble trinity4 ,another reason for ,raphael's powerful appeal--and in this he is perhaps the most typical child of his period--is that his art unites in one majestic current the two greatest movements of thought which have ever fired the imagination of civilised ,europe2 classic antiquity and ,christian faith1 when treated by ,raphael's brush1 cease to be incompatible and live side by side in that measured harmony which is the hall-mark of his art4 ,christianity is presented to us in the glorious classic garb of the old world1 and the myth and philosophy of the ancients are brought into intimate relationship with ,christian teaching4 ,he infuses new blood and life into the stones of ancient ,greece and ,rome--unlike ,mantegna who had remained cold and classic in his relief-like reconstructions of antiquity2 just as he accentuates the human emotional side of the ,madonna and ,child motif by discarding all hieroglyphic symbolism and setting before our eyes the intimate link of love that connects mother and babe4 ,almost imperceptibly his cupids are transformed into child angels1 and the ,jehovah of his ,vision of ,ezekiel has more in common with ,olympian ,jove than with the medival conception of the ,lord of ,heaven4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,iii4--,,the ,,madonna ,,della ,,sedia 7,in the ,pitti ,palace1 ,florence7 ,the ,madonna of the ,chair1 one of the most characteristic and deservedly popular of ,raphael's numerous versions of the ,virgin and ,child motif1 belongs to the master's full maturity1 and was painted during his sojourn in ,rome1 at the time when he was occupied with the stupendous task of decorating the ,stanze of the ,vatican4 ,it would be difficult to find in the whole history of art a more pleasing solution of the problem presented by a figure composition in the round4 ,the picture is now in the ,pitti ,palace1 ,florence4 ,just as ,timoteo ,viti1 ,perugino1 ,fra ,bartolommeo1 ,lionardo da ,vinci1 ,masaccio1 ,michelangelo1 and ,sebastiano del ,piombo 7who imparted to him something of the glow of ,venetian colouring71 had been the sources from which ,raphael drew his knowledge of technique1 colour1 composition1 and all the elements of pictorial style1 so the humanists had paved his way as regards the intellectual aspect of his art4 ,his marvellous faculty of rapid assimilation enabled him1 on the one hand1 to appropriate whatever he found worthy of imitation in his precursors and contemporaries1 and thus to complete his technical equipment at an age at which it was given to few to have achieved mastery2 whilst1 on the other hand1 his clear intellect1 aided by the not entirely unmercenary desire to please his patrons1 helped him to carry out with triumphant success the ideas evolved by the keenest thinkers of his time4 ,to doubt that the general idea1 and perhaps a good many of the details1 of such a stupendous work as the fresco decoration of the ,stanze at the ,vatican1 had originated in ,raphael's head1 is not to detract from his greatness4 ,he was a boy in his early teens when he entered his first master's bottega4 ,he was a youth of twenty-five when he started on his great task2 and the intervening years had been so completely filled with the study of his craft and with the execution of important commissions1 that it is impossible to believe he could have found much leisure for book-learning4 ,and such learning was indispensable for the conception of that elaborate scheme with all its historical allusions and allegorical imagery4 ,the wonder is that ,raphael could so completely enter into the suggestions made to him from various sources1 and to weave them into a tissue of immortal beauty4 ,,ii ,at the end of the fifteenth century the rule of the ,duke ,federigo of ,montefeltre1 an enlightened prince who devoted the best of his energy and such time as he could spare from his duties on the battlefield to the patronage of the arts1 to the adornment of his noble palace1 and to the collecting of priceless manuscripts1 paintings1 antiques1 and works of art of every description1 had raised the old city of ,urbino to one of the centres of culture and learning1 and made the ducal court a gathering-place for the distinguished painters1 architects1 poets1 and humanists who were attracted by the wealth and liberality of this great patron4 ,among the less distinguished satellites attracted by the sun of ,montefeltre was one ,giovanni ,santi1 who had come to ,urbino in the middle of the fifteenth century4 ,though a painter of considerable skill1 trained perhaps by ,fiorenzo di ,lorenzo1 he found it necessary in the early days of his sojourn at ,urbino to supplement his modest income by trading in oil and corn and other commodities1 as his father had done before him4 ,but his varied accomplishments soon brought him into prominence and secured him a position as court painter and poet4 ,more important than any of the pictures that have come to us from his brush is his famous rhyming chronicle of #bc1jjj verses in ,dantesque measure1 in which he glorifies the virtues and exploits of his patron4 ,he was a special favourite of ,elisabetta ,gonzaga1 the youthful spouse of ,federigo's son ,guidobaldo1 whose high esteem for ,giovanni is expressed in a letter in which she informs her sister-in-law of the court painter's death4 ,to this ,giovanni ,santi and to his wife ,magia ,ciarla was born on ,good ,friday1 the #bhth of ,march#a #adhc1 a son who was destined in the comparatively short span of his life to rise to fame such as has been the share of few mortals4 ,an elder brother and sister of ,raphael had died in infancy1 and his mother followed them to the grave before he had reached his eighth year4 ,her place in the paternal home was taken by ,bernardina ,parte1 a goldsmith's daughter1 whom ,giovanni wedded soon after his first wife's death4 ,from ,giovanni ,santi's great poem it would appear that he was on terms of friendship and intimacy with some of the greatest masters of the time1 such as ,melozzo da ,forli1 ,mantegna1 ,pier dei ,franceschi1 and ,verrocchio2 and it is reasonable to assume that ,raphael's earliest art education under his father's guidance tended towards the development of that peculiar faculty which enabled him later on to seize and assimilate the excellences in the style of the various masters with whom he came in contact4 ,footnote #a3 ,the wording of ,raphael's epitaph1 which states that he died on the same day 7of the year7 on which he was born1 has led some writers to the assumption that he was born on ,april #f1 whereas it is merely meant to signify that he was born and died on ,good ,friday4 ,the ease with which his precocious talent absorbed the teaching of his masters became evident when1 soon after his father's death1 in #adid1 from fever contracted in the malarial air of the ,mantuan marshland1 whither he had gone in the service of ,elisabetta ,gonzaga1 he entered the bottega of ,francia's pupil ,timoteo ,viti 7or della ,vite71 who settled at ,urbino in #adie1 and whose eminent position among the painters of that city must have suggested to ,raphael's guardian--his maternal uncle ,simone ,ciarla--the desirability of placing the youth under such competent tuition4 ,and so thoroughly did ,raphael acquire not only his first master's style1 but even such of his mannerisms as the broad shape of hands and feet and the languid turn of the heads1 that from such internal evidence ,morelli1 the originator of the modern method of criticism1 was able after more than three centuries of error to disprove ,vasari's assertion that ,raphael passed straight from his father's workshop into that of ,perugino4 ,timoteo's influence is apparent even in works painted by ,raphael at a time when he had come under the spell of the more powerful personality of ,perugino1 like the ,sposalizio or ,betrothal of the ,virgin1 of #aejd1 in the ,brera ,gallery in ,milan2 but it is unmistakably in evidence in the three earliest pictures that bear ,raphael's name3 the ,vision of a ,knight1 at the ,national ,gallery1 the ,st4 ,michael1 at the ,louvre1 and the ,three ,graces1 at ,chantilly4 ,not only the features which connect this group of pictures with the style of ,timoteo ,viti1 but the timid meticulous execution and the nave stiffness of the figures1 mark them as works of ,raphael's immature youth4 ,the turn of the century1 as we shall see1 found ,raphael at ,perugia1 so that the three pictures mentioned must have been painted before he had attained the age of seventeen4 ,the panel of the ,three ,graces1 which1 by the way1 was obviously inspired by an antique cameo1 was bought in #ahhe by the ,duc d',aumale from ,lord ,dudley's collection for #be1jjj--surely a price without parallel for a work painted by a lad of sixteen6 ,a portrait in chalk of the marvellously gifted1 winsome boy by the hand of his first master is preserved at the ,university ,galleries in ,oxford4 ,the records of a lawsuit between some members of his family prove that ,raphael was still at ,urbino in #adii1 since in the summer of this year he appeared as a witness in court4 ,when the verdict was given in the following year1 he had already left for ,perugia to continue his studies as an assistant of ,perugino4 ,again we find him before long assimilating the style of his new master so successfully and completely that1 to use ,vasari's words1 ,his copies cannot be distinguished from the original works of the master1 nor can the difference between the performances of ,raphael and those of ,pietro be discerned with any certainty4 ,plagiarism in those days did not trouble the artistic conscience1 and it is easy to trace in ,raphael's pictures of that period entire groups that are borrowed from the elder master4 ,thus the ,crucifixion1 painted about #aeja for a church in ,citt di ,castello1 and now in the collection of ,dr4 ,ludwig ,mond1 is obviously based on ,perugino's version of the same subject at ,st4 ,augustine's1 ,siena1 whilst the whole upper part of the ,vatican ,coronation of the ,virgin is lifted from an ,assumption by ,pietro4 ,but this almost literal imitation was only a passing phase1 whilst the great lesson of space-composition and the typically ,umbrian gift of almost religious fervour in stating the peaceful glory of the ,umbrian hill-land1 which had been imparted to ,raphael at ,perugia1 remained permanent acquisitions to his art4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,iv4--,,la ,,belle ,,jardini,,re 7,in the ,louvre7 ,la ,belle ,jardinire is a magnificent example of ,raphael's ,florentine style1 which came from his being influenced by ,leonardo da ,vinci when at ,florence 7see the triangular composition74 ,the ,virgin's mantle was probably finished by ,ridolfo ,ghirlandaio2 other parts--the hands and the feet--are hardly finished2 nevertheless it is one of the finest1 most expressive1 and touching ,madonnas by the ,master4 ,in #aejb ,perugino went back to ,florence1 and ,raphael probably joined ,pinturicchio's staff of assistants1 though ,vasari's statement that he furnished the designs for the latter master's frescoes in the ,piccolomini ,library at ,siena may be dismissed as a fable4 ,during this time ,raphael painted his first ,madonna pictures1 notably the ,conestabile ,madonna 7now at ,st4 ,petersburg71 which is based entirely on ,perugino's ,virgin with the ,pomegranate1 and two panels at the ,berlin ,museum4 ,the ,milan ,sposalizio1 in which the young master's personality already asserts itself through the very marked ,ferrarese and ,peruginesque influences1 was painted in #aejd for the church of ,st4 ,francesco at ,citt di ,castello4 ,his early mastery in portraiture is illustrated by his portrait of ,perugino at the ,borghese ,gallery1 which is so firm in character and perfect in execution that it could pass for many years as the handiwork of ,holbein4 ,meanwhile ,duke ,guidobaldo had returned to ,urbino after the death of his enemy1 ,pope ,alexander ,,vi41 and thither ,raphael proceeded in #aejd4 ,the little ,st4 ,george at the ,louvre is a memento of this short visit which terminated in ,october of the same year1 when ,raphael1 armed with a letter of warmest recommendation from ,guidobaldo's sister ,giovanna della ,rovere to the ,gonfaloniere ,pier ,soderini1 left his native town for ,florence1 then the centre of artistic life1 astir with the rivalry between the giants ,michelangelo and ,lionardo da ,vinci4 ,the young man must have been fairly bewildered at the multitude of new impressions that crowded upon him in the glorious city on the banks of the ,arno1 with its imposing palaces and churches1 its seething life and its art so much more virile and monumental than the dreamy1 almost effeminate art engendered by the soft balmy atmosphere of ,umbria4 ,how he must have revelled in the contemplation of ,masaccio's noble frescoes in the ,brancacci ,chapel--the training school of generations of painters--which ten years later were echoed in his tapestry cartoons for the ,sistine ,chapel6 ,how he must have stood in wonder and amazement before ,michelangelo's ,david1 and have resolved forthwith to devote himself to a more intimate study of the human form and movement6 ,the fascination exercised upon him by the genius of ,lionardo found expression in some of the earliest fruits of ,raphael's sojourn in ,florence--the portraits at the ,pitti ,palace known as ,angelo ,doni and his wife ,maddalena ,strozzi1 who1 however1 could not possibly have been the model for this reminiscence of ,lionardo's ,mona ,lisa1 since it is known that she was baptized in #adhi1 whereas ,raphael's portrait of #aejd represents a woman of ripe age4 ,in the workshop of the architect ,baccio d',agnolo1 which was then a favourite social resort of the younger artists of ,florence1 the youth from ,urbino met on terms of equality such masters as ,ridolfo ,ghirlandajo1 ,antonio da ,sangallo1 ,sansovino1 and ,fra ,bartolommeo1 who again had a considerable share in the formation of ,raphael's style1 as may be seen from the ,madonna di ,sant',antonio1 now lent to the ,national ,gallery by ,mr4 ,pierpont ,morgan who is said to have paid for it the enormous price of #ajj1jjj4 ,this picture1 and the ,ansidei ,madonna1 which was bought for the ,national ,gallery from the ,duke of ,marlborough's collection for #gj1jjj1 were painted during a visit to ,perugia towards the end of #aeje--the former for the nuns of ,st4 ,antony of ,padua1 in ,perugia1 and the other for the ,ansidei ,chapel in the church of ,san ,fiorenzo of the same city4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,v4--,,the ,,madonna ,,of ,,the ,,tower 7,in the ,national ,gallery1 ,london7 ,this beautiful painting1 which the ,national ,gallery owes to the generosity of ,miss ,eva ,mackintosh1 who presented it to the nation in #aijf1 was at one time in the collection of the ,duc d',orlans4 ,the late owner was fortunate in securing this unquestionably genuine masterpiece at the ,rogers' sale in #ahef for #dhj guineas4 ,it was painted about #aeab2 and a copy of it by ,sassoferrato is in the ,leichtenburg collection in ,st4 ,petersburg4 ,the records of ,raphael's movements between #aejd and #aejh1 when he finally left ,florence1 are scanty and unreliable4 ,certain it is that1 besides his visit to ,perugia1 he spent some time at ,urbino in #aejf1 when he painted for ,guidobaldo the ,st4 ,george which figured among the gifts taken by ,castiglione to ,henry ,,vii4 of ,england1 from whom the ,duke of ,urbino had received the insignia of the ,garter two years previously4 ,the picture is now at the ,hermitage in ,st4 ,petersburg4 ,the majority of those exquisite ,madonna pictures1 which have contributed more than anything else to ,raphael's undying fame and popularity1 date from his ,florentine period--the ,madonna del ,granduca at the ,pitti ,palace1 the ,casa ,tempi ,madonna at ,munich1 the ,chantilly ,madonna of the ,house of ,orleans1 the ,madonna of the ,meadow in ,vienna1 the ,madonna of the ,goldfinch at the ,uffizi1 the ,madonna of the ,lamb at ,madrid1 ,lord ,cowper's famous picture at ,panshanger1 and the ,belle ,jardinire at the ,louvre4 ,to the same period belongs the portrait of himself1 in the ,painter's ,hall of the ,uffizi1 and the portrait of a youth in the ,budapest ,national ,gallery4 ,on the occasion of his visit to ,perugia1 ,atalanta ,baglione1 the mother of ,grifonetto ,baglione who had fallen a victim to the bloody family feud that turned ,perugia into a slaughter-house in #aejj1 commissioned from ,raphael an altar-piece in memory of that event--the ,entombment which the master finished in ,florence in #aejg1 and which is now at the ,borghese ,gallery4 ,it was ,raphael's first attempt at dramatic composition1 the art of which he had yet to master--its forced1 unnatural emotion lays it more open to criticism than any other work from his own hand4 ,a law-case in connection with the payment of #ajj crowns due by him for a house he had purchased from the ,cervasi family1 necessitated ,raphael's presence at ,urbino once again in ,october #aejg4 ,in ,april of the following year ,guidobaldo died2 and a letter from ,raphael to his uncle ,simone ,ciarla1 who had informed him of this sad event1 proves that the master was then back again in ,florence4 ,after expressing his grief at the news of the ,duke's death 7,i could not read your letter without tears71 ,raphael appeals in this letter to his uncle to procure him another letter of recommendation to the ,gonfaloniere of ,florence from my ,lord the ,prefect1 since it was in the power of the chief magistrate of ,florence to place an important commission for the decoration of a certain apartment4 ,but a better fate was in store for the youthful applicant1 who was to be called to a wider field of action4 ,according to ,vasari it was ,raphael's kinsman1 ,bramante of ,urbino1 who drew ,pope ,julius ,,ii4's attention to the rare gifts of ,raphael1 and caused him to be summoned to ,rome4 ,and the voice of ,bramante1 who stood in high favour with the ,pope1 and was engaged on the scheme of rebuilding the ,cathedral of ,st4 ,peter1 would certainly have commanded attention4 ,but on this1 as on many other points1 ,vasari is not wholly trustworthy4 ,first of all1 ,bramante was not connected with ,raphael by any family ties2 and1 then1 it is far more probable that the thought of calling ,raphael to ,rome to assist in the decoration of the papal apartments in the ,vatican was suggested to ,julius ,,ii4 by the ,prefetessa ,giovanna della ,rovere1 who had always been a staunch supporter of the ,urbinate1 or by her son ,francesco1 the nephew and successor of ,duke ,guidobaldo ,montefeltre4 ,bramante1 who was on terms of friendship with his fellow-artist and fellow-townsman1 may well have supported the recommendation4 ,however this may be1 ,raphael received the ,pope's command1 and journeyed to ,rome1 whither he had already been preceded by ,michelangelo4 ,,iii ,raphael came to ,rome before ,september #aejh1 for on the #eth of that month he sent a letter from the city of the popes to ,francia at ,bologna1 whom he had probably met at ,urbino4 ,it must have been an intoxicating experience for the young master to find himself suddenly surrounded by the wonders of the classic world which at that time dominated the whole world of thought so that ,christianity itself became permeated with ,paganism2 and to be as suddenly raised from the modest position1 which in ,florence had made him look with awe and veneration upon ,michelangelo and ,lionardo1 to independent responsibility1 as the compeer of the greatest of his calling4 ,from the very first ,pope ,julius ,,ii4 seems to have placed the utmost confidence in the newcomer1 and the manner in which ,raphael accomplished the first task set to him by his mighty patron not only justified this confidence but apparently made the ,pope dissatisfied with much of the decorative work that had been executed in the ,vatican rooms before the advent of the ,urbinate4 ,julius ,,ii4's hatred of his predecessor1 ,alexander ,,vi41 had made it distasteful for him to live in the apartments that had been occupied by the ,borgia ,pope1 so that he decided1 in #aejg1 to move into the upper rooms of the ,vatican1 which1 under the pontificate of ,nicholas ,v41 had been decorated by ,pier dei ,franceschi and ,bramantino4 ,these frescoes1 however1 did not find favour with the new ,pope1 who enlisted the services of ,perugino1 ,peruzzi1 ,sodoma1 ,signorelli1 and ,pinturicchio for the redecoration of the ,stanze1 and finally entrusted ,raphael with the painting of four medallions in ,sodoma's ceiling in the first room1 the ,camera della ,signatura4 ,there has been some divergence of opinion as to the use of this room1 but the subjects of the decorative scheme clearly point towards its being originally intended for a library4 ,the allegorical figures of ,theology1 ,philosophy1 ,jurisprudence1 and ,poetry with which ,raphael filled the four medallions of the vaulted ceiling1 were often used for the decoration of libraries during the late ,renaissance2 and the frequent occurrence of books in all the compositions lends further probability to this theory4 ,so delighted was ,julius ,,ii4 with the manner in which ,raphael had acquitted himself of his first commission1 that he1 forthwith1 charged him with the decoration of the entire suite of four rooms1 and ruthlessly decreed the destruction of all the fresco-work previously done by other hands4 ,but ,raphael1 in his hour of victory1 gave proof of that generous and amiable disposition which endeared him to all with whom he came in contact4 ,he prevailed upon his impetuous employer to save some of the work of ,baldassare ,peruzzi and of ,perugino1 and ,sodoma's ceiling decoration in the ,camera della ,signatura4 ,a series of heads by ,bramantino1 so beautiful and so perfectly executed1 that the power of speech alone was required to give them life1 had to go1 but before their destruction ,raphael had them copied by one of his assistants4 ,after his death these copies were presented by ,giulio ,romano to ,paolo ,giovio1 and it is more than probable that they are identical with the ,bramantino portraits from the ,willett collection1 now at the ,metropolitan ,museum1 ,new ,york1 and at ,south ,kensington4 ,sir ,caspar ,pardon ,clarke1 the director of the former institution1 at least favours this theory which ,i first advanced in the ,new ,york ,herald in #aije4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,vi4--,,pope ,,julius ,,ii4 7,in the ,uffizi ,gallery1 ,florence7 ,raphael's greatness as a portrait painter may be judged from his painting of his first papal patron1 the warlike ,giuliano della ,rovere1 who as ,pope adopted the name of ,julius ,,ii4 ,this portrait has more than the perfection of form1 colour1 and execution that is ever associated with ,raphael's name4 ,it has depth of character1 dignity1 and serious concentration of thought1 and is worthy of being placed beside ,velazquez's immortal portrait of ,pope ,innocent ,x4 ,the picture is at the ,uffizi ,gallery1 but replicas are to be found at the ,palazzo ,pitti and at the ,national ,gallery4 ,but to return to ,raphael's work in the ,camera della ,signatura1 the thought and knowledge and learning displayed in the whole scheme either prove that the young master rapidly fell into line with the intellectual movement of his day1 or that he wisely sought the advice of those who stood at the head of this movement4 ,indeed1 we know of a letter in which he asks the poet ,ariosto to advise him about certain details4 ,moreover1 the ,pope himself1 no doubt1 suggested his own ideas to his favourite painter2 whilst the cultured ,cardinal ,bibbiena1 ,count ,baldassare ,castiglione1 and the famous humanist ,pietro ,bembo1 his intimate friends1 were ever at his disposal1 and ,bramante probably assisted him in designing the architectural setting to his groups4 ,raphael himself1 though extraordinarily receptive1 and better able than anybody else to clothe an idea in the most perfect pictorial forms1 was not a man of learning4 ,with ,dante's and ,petrarch's poetry he must have been made familiar in his father's house4 ,he had probably dipped into the writings of ,marsilio ,ficino1 and also acquired a knowledge of the rudiments of classic lore2 but that he never mastered the ,latin tongue1 which was then a sine qu non of all real culture and learning1 is clearly evident from the fact that in the closing years of his life1 when he held the appointment of inspector of antiquities1 he had to enlist the learned humanist ,andrea ,fulvio to translate for him the ,latin inscriptions on classic ruins4 ,in the ,camera della ,signatura1 ,raphael's entire decoration has the same sense of orderly arrangement1 the same unity of conception in the endless variety of motif and incident1 as each individual fresco of the scheme4 ,on the pendentives1 which connect the ceiling medallions with the large frescoes on the walls1 he painted the ,fall of ,man next to ,theology1 the ,judgment of ,solomon next to ,law1 the ,triumph of ,apollo over ,marsyas to accompany ,poetry1 and an allegorical representation of ,astronomy 7or ,natural ,science7 to go with ,philosophy4 ,after an enormous amount of preparatory work he proceeded to fill the large wall under ,theology with the wonderful monumental fresco known as the ,disputa del ,sacramento1 which1 far from representing a dispute1 shows the confessors and saints and fathers of the ,church 7and among them ,dante1 ,savonarola1 and ,fra ,angelico7 united in acknowledging the triumph of the ,church and the miracle of the ,eucharist4 ,on the opposite wall1 under ,philosophy1 is the so-called ,school of ,athens1 in which1 in accordance with the contradictory spirit of the age1 the philosophic systems of the ancient world are glorified in the same manner as is ,christianity in the ,disputa4 ,in that nobly-arranged group of philosophers1 ,raphael's friends and contemporaries--,bramante1 ,lionardo1 ,castiglione1 ,francesco della ,rovere1 ,federigo ,gonzaga1 ,sodoma1 the artist himself1 and many others--figure in the guise of ,euclid1 ,plato1 ,zoroaster1 and other sages4 ,raphael's compositional skill was not baffled by the awkward intrusion of large door-frames into the space of the remaining two walls1 on one of which1 under the ,poetry medallion1 he depicted ,parnassus1 with the muses and poets 7,homer1 ,virgil1 ,dante1 ,ariosto1 ,boccaccio1 ,tebaldeo1 ,sappho1 c47 grouped around ,apollo1 who plays a viol instead of the customary lyre4 ,above the door on the last wall are allegorical figures of ,fortitude1 ,prudence1 and ,temperance1 and at the sides ,justinian delivering the ,pandects1 and ,gregory ,,ix4 7impersonated by ,julius ,,ii47 promulgating the ,decretals4 ,the entire room was finished before ,november #aeaa4 ,it was probably in the same year that ,raphael painted the magnificent portrait of ,julius ,,ii4 at the ,pitti ,palace1 stern of feature and careworn1 as he well might have appeared at this time of political disaster culminating in the loss of ,bologna4 ,but when ,raphael set about the decoration of the ,stanza of ,heliodorus1 the ,pope's star was again in the ascendant1 and his policy had achieved the signal triumph of defeating the ,french and driving them out of the country4 ,the subjects chosen for the decoration of this room are in consequence more or less directly connected with these events1 especially the fresco from which the apartment derives its name3 the ,expulsion of ,heliodorus from the ,temple of ,jerusalem--an obvious allusion to the expulsion of the ,french forces4 ,the fresco is remarkable for the effective contrast of the tumultuous dramatic movement on the right1 and the stately repose of the group on the left1 around the majestically enthroned figure of ,pope ,julius ,,ii4 ,the same potentate of the ,church appears kneeling opposite the officiating priest in the fresco of the ,mass of ,bolsena1 which illustrates the miracle of drops of blood appearing from the ,host before the eyes of the priest who doubts the dogma of the transubstantiation1 an event which has led to the institution of the ,corpus ,christi celebration4 ,the fresco was probably inspired by ,julius himself1 who had visited the chapel of ,bolsena on his campaign against ,bologna1 and perhaps made a vow on this occasion to commemorate his visit by a votive offering4 ,this ,mass of ,bolsena fresco is remarkable for the almost ,venetian glow of warm colour1 a result1 no doubt1 of the knowledge imparted to ,raphael by ,sebastiano del ,piombo1 who had come to ,rome from ,venice in #aeaa4 ,the wall opposite illustrates the ,liberation of ,st4 ,peter from ,prison1 which is1 however1 not an allusion1 as has been suggested1 to ,leo ,x4's escape from ,french captivity1 since it was begun under the rgime of ,julius ,,ii41 who more probably intended it to signify the ,deliverance of the ,church4 ,on the last wall is depicted the ,retreat of ,attila before ,st4 ,leo1 with ,leo ,x41 who had succeeded ,julius ,,ii4 in #aeac1 impersonating his namesake1 but there is little of ,raphael's handiwork in this fresco1 the execution of which is almost entirely due to his assistants4 ,the decoration of this stanza was completed in #aead1 a year which brought further honours and duties to ,raphael who was then appointed to succeed ,bramante as architect of ,st4 ,peter's4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,vii4--,,putto ,,with ,,garland 7,in the ,academy of ,st4 ,luca1 ,rome7 ,the fresco of a putto1 now at the ,academy of ,st4 ,luca in ,rome1 is the only fragment that is left to the world of all the decorative work executed by ,raphael for the corridor leading from the famous ,stanze of the ,vatican to the ,belvedere4 ,it probably belonged to a shield bearing the papal arms1 and is a graceful and characteristic example of the master's treatment of the form of children which he loved to introduce into his compositions4 ,henceforth ,raphael is to be considered rather as the head of a little army of painters and craftsmen1 whom he supplied with ideas and designs to be executed under his directions1 than as a master who is to be held responsible for the working out of every detail in the works which were turned out from his bottega with his sanction1 and under his name4 ,even in the early years of his ,roman period1 comparatively few of the altar-pieces and easel pictures commissioned from him were entirely the work of his brush4 ,in the ever popular ,madonna della ,sedia1 at the ,pitti ,palace1 we have pure ,raphael1 and also in the masterpiece known as the ,madonna di ,foligno1 which was painted for the ,pope's ,chamberlain ,sigismondi dei ,conti1 for his family chapel in the church of ,ara ,coeli in #aeab1 in commemoration of this dignitary's escape from a bursting fireball1 as is indicated by the meteor in the landscape background4 ,this picture was subsequently removed to ,sigismondo's birthplace ,foligno1 whence it was carried off by the ,french in #agig1 but had to be eventually restored1 and is now among the treasures of the ,vatican4 ,the sadly deteriorated ,madonna of the ,tower1 at the ,national ,gallery1 and the ,madonna di ,casa d',alba1 at the ,hermitage1 are probably of the master's own execution2 but ,giulio ,romano and other pupils must be held responsible for the ,vierge au ,diadme1 the ,madonna del divino ,amore1 the ,garvagh ,madonna1 the ,madonna of the ,fish1 the ,madonna of the ,candelabra1 and several other well-known pictures for which ,raphael had supplied the designs4 ,,iv ,a letter written by ,raphael to his uncle ,simone ,ciarla on the #ast of ,july #aead is of incalculable importance for the light it throws upon the master's private life and character4 ,it is written by a man flushed with success1 but modest withal--in the full enjoyment of all the gifts that fortune and his talent and tact have brought to him1 but in no way overbearing or boastful4 ,and through it all sounds a note of cool calculation--in money matters as well as in the weighing of matrimonial chances4 ,he states the amount of his fortune1 of his salary as architect of ,st4 ,peter's1 and of the payments that are to be made to him for work in hand4 ,and in the same way he refers to an advantageous match proposed to him by ,cardinal ,bibbiani1 to which he has already pledged himself1 but should it fall to the ground1 ,i will fall in with your wishes--a reference apparently to an eligible matrimonial candidate in ,urbino4 ,nor are there chances lacking in ,rome1 where1 indeed1 he knows of a pretty girl with a dowry of #cjjj gold crowns6 ,he also mentions with no little pride that he is living in ,rome in his own house4 ,these remarks about his matrimonial schemes take us to one of the most interesting and most disputed chapters of ,raphael's life--his irregular attachment to the ,bella ,fornarina1 the beautiful daughter of a baker from ,siena1 which is referred to first by ,vasari1 and then1 in #affe1 by ,fabio ,chigi1 and has been treated as mere invention by many modern writers4 ,the evidence collected by ,signor ,rodolfo ,lanciani proves1 however1 the truth of ,vasari's story1 and furthermore establishes the name and ultimate fate of the ,fornarina4 ,according to local tradition1 three houses in ,rome are pointed out as the successive homes of ,raphael's inamorata2 and each of these houses is in close proximity to the buildings1 on the decoration of which the master was successively employed4 ,the first of these houses in the ,via di ,sta4 ,dorotea is still occupied by a bakery known as il forno della ,fornarina2 the second is in the ,vicolo del ,cedro near ,st4 ,egidio in ,trastevere2 and the third is the ,palazzetto ,sassi1 which has a tablet let into the wall with an inscription to the effect that ,tradition says that the one who became so dear to ,raphael1 and whom he raised to fame1 lived in this house4 ,it has now been ascertained from a census return made under ,leo ,x4 in #aeah1 that one of the houses of the ,sassi family was occupied by the baker ,francesco from ,siena1 which completely tallies with the tradition that ,margherita1 donna di ,raffaello1 as she is described in a contemporary marginal note in a copy of the ,giunta edition of ,vasari in #aefh1 was the daughter of a baker from ,siena4 ,but even more decisive is the proof which was found in #ahig in an entry in the ledger of the ,congregation of ,sant',apollonia in ,trastevere1 a kind of home for fallen and repentant women4 ,this entry1 which is under the date of the #ahth ,august #aebj1 that is a little over four months after ,raphael's death1 runs as follows3 ,a di #ah ,augusti #aebj ,hoggi e stata recenta nel nostro ,conservatorio maa ,margarita vedoa1 figliola del quondam ,francescho ,luti da ,siena4 7,august #ah1 #aebj4--,to-day has been received into our establishment the widow ,margarita1 daughter of the late ,francesco ,luti of ,siena47 ,the remarkable coincidence of dates and names leaves no doubt that this widow was the ,bella ,fornarina1 ,margherita1 the daughter of the baker ,francesco from ,siena1 and the beautiful creature who served ,raphael as model for the ,donna ,velata1 for the ,sistine ,madonna1 and for one of the heads in the ,st4 ,cecilia4 ,the story goes that ,raphael's attachment lasted up to the time of his death1 when1 on the insistence of the ,pope's messenger who was to bring the dying man the benediction1 she was removed from the room4 ,vasari also relates that in his will ,raphael left her a sufficient provision wherewith she might live in decency4 ,his long infatuation with the baker's daughter may well account for his unwillingness to enter into the bonds of matrimony even with as desirable and noble a partner as ,cardinal ,bernardo ,divizio's niece1 ,maria ,bibbiena1 to whom he was practically engaged in #aead1 and who after years of postponement is said to have died of a broken heart4 ,vasari's statement that ,raphael's hesitation was due to the prospect of a cardinal's hat being bestowed upon him is utterly untrustworthy and contrary to all precedent and reason4 ,it is much more likely that ,raphael considered it diplomatic to humour a man in as powerful a position as ,cardinal ,bibbiena1 and to agree to become engaged to his niece1 even though his own position at the time was such that he could speak on terms of equality to cardinals1 as may be gathered from this witty repartee recorded by his friend ,baldassare ,castiglione3 ,two cardinals1 who examined a painting upon which he was just engaged1 found fault with the redness of the complexion of ,st4 ,peter and ,st4 ,paul4 ,my ,lords1 retorted ,raphael1 be not concerned2 because ,i painted them so with full intention1 since we have reason to believe that ,st4 ,peter and ,st4 ,paul are as red in ,heaven as you see them here1 for shame that their ,church should be governed by such as you6 ,but we must return to ,raphael's work in the last decade of his life4 ,he could now no longer devote himself entirely to the art of his choice1 and found it utterly impossible to cope with the multitude of commissions that were showered upon him by the mighty of this earth1 even though a swarm of assistants were constantly kept at work4 ,the vain appeals of ,isabella d',este for a small painting from his hand prove the difficulty of obtaining such a favour4 ,for ,raphael was now the ,pope's architect and superintendent of ceremonies1 and in #aeae he was appointed inspector of antiquities in succession to ,fra ,giocondo of ,verona4 ,he had to paint scenery and to design medals and plans2 and on one occasion he was actually called upon to paint a life-size elephant on the walls of the ,vatican6 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,viii4--,,portrait ,,of ,,raphael 7,in the ,uffizi ,gallery1 ,florence7 ,though much restored and over-painted--and not by the most competent hands--the portrait of ,raphael in the ,sala dei ,pittori at the ,uffizi1 the ,walhalla of pictorial fame1 is undoubtedly painted by the master himself1 at the age of about twenty-three1 when his features had lost none of the almost girlish charm and delicacy of which we are told by contemporary writers4 ,in time the portrait stands midway between ,timoteo ,viti's charming drawing of his apprentice1 the boy ,raphael1 at the ,oxford ,university ,galleries1 and ,sebastiano del ,piombo's portrait of the ,prince of ,painters at the ,buda-,pesth ,museum4 ,yet1 with all these absorbing occupations he found time to model several reliefs for the ,chigi tomb in the ,chigi ,chapel of ,st4 ,maria del ,popolo1 notably a panel of classic design representing ,christ and the ,woman of ,samaria1 which was cast in bronze by ,lorenzotto1 who also executed in marble a statue of ,jonah from a model by ,raphael4 ,he furnished the architectural designs of the ,villa ,madama for ,giulio dei ,medici 7afterwards ,clement ,,vii47 and several other palaces in ,rome1 and also for the dainty ,palazzo ,pandolfini in ,florence1 where the alternating arched and triangular pediments are for the first time introduced in secular ,renaissance architecture4 ,he furnished the engraver ,marcantonio ,raimondi of ,bologna with designs like the famous ,judgment of ,paris4 ,he planned and began an elaborate ,cosmography of ,rome2 and yet in the midst of all his varied labours he found leisure to scribble some ardent love sonnets on his sheets of drawings4 ,an example of his poetic effusions is preserved at the ,british ,museum1 and its ardent tone lends colour to ,vasari's assertion that ,raphael was extremely susceptible to the charms of the fair sex4 ,the palace in which he lived in princely state was built by ,bramante and bought by ,raphael on ,october #g1 #aeag4 ,in very much altered form it still stands in the ,piazza di ,scossacavalli at the corner of the ,via di ,borgo ,nuovo4 ,since the present building has been identified as ,raphael's palace1 his studio has been discovered1 cut into two apartments1 but with a beautiful wooden ceiling by ,bramante left intact4 ,in this studio he must have painted the greatest and most deservedly popular of his altar-pieces1 the ,madonna di ,san ,sisto1 and the ,transfiguration1 now at the ,vatican ,gallery1 which was on his easel when death stayed his hand4 ,here1 too1 he probably painted that masterly portrait of ,baldassare ,castiglione1 which is one of the priceless treasures of the ,louvre1 and perhaps the magnificent group of ,leo ,x4 with ,cardinals ,giulio dei ,medici and ,l4 dei ,rossi1 now at the ,pitti ,palace4 ,all the most notable men who were in ,rome at that period passed through ,raphael's studio1 but of the portraits which he is known to have painted in ,rome1 comparatively few have come down to us4 ,that of the humanist ,tommaso ,inghirami was until recently at the ,inghirami ,palace in ,volterra1 but has now gone across the ,atlantic2 one of ,cardinal ,bibbiena is in ,madrid2 and one of the ,venetian humanists ,navagero and ,beazzano in the ,doria ,palace in ,rome4 ,among the lost portraits are those of ,pietro ,bembo1 of ,giuliano dei ,medici1 ,duke of ,nemours1 of ,federigo ,gonzaga1 and of ,lorenzo1 ,duke of ,urbino4 ,meanwhile ,raphael's pupils had been busy with the decoration of the remaining two ,stanze of the ,vatican after ,raphael's designs4 ,in the ,stanza dell',incendio del ,borgo1 which was decorated for ,leo4 ,x4 between #aead-aeag1 ,giulio ,romano had painted the ,battle of ,ostia and most of the ,incendio del ,borgo1 though parts of the latter1 which illustrates the staying of the great conflagration by ,leo ,,iv4's prayer1 are unquestionably ,raphael's own4 ,the last room1 called the ,hall of ,constantine1 was almost entirely painted after the master's death by his pupils1 who also had the chief share in the execution of the fifty-two scriptural subjects in the ,loggia of the ,vatican1 which are known as ,the ,bible of ,raphael4 ,most of this work was done by ,perino del ,vaga1 while ,giovanni da ,udine added the arabesques and grotesques round the panels4 ,but all this has suffered much from exposure to the elements1 and has been entirely repainted4 ,for ,agostino ,chigi's ,villa ,farnesina1 ,raphael painted the beautiful ,galatea fresco1 which may be considered the supreme expression of the spirit of the ,renaissance4 ,this merchant prince gave the master another opportunity for displaying his decorative skill1 when he employed him in adorning the ,chigi ,chapel in ,st4 ,maria della ,pace4 ,the ,sibyls and ,angels of these frescoes afford the most striking instance of ,michelangelo's influence upon ,raphael2 and it is a curious coincidence that it was just in reference to this work that ,michelangelo was called upon to express his opinion as to the fairness of ,raphael's charge of #ejj ducats4 ,that small jealousy was not one of ,buonarroti's faults appears from the generous valuation of #ijj ducats he put upon his rival's work4 ,in #aeae-aeaf ,raphael designed the cartoons for the tapestries which were to complete the decoration of the ,sistine ,chapel4 ,the cartoons were translated into the material by the looms of ,flanders at a cost of #cd1jjj scudi2 and these tapestries are now1 after many wanderings1 and after having suffered much dilapidation1 housed on the upper floor of the ,vatican4 ,seven of the cartoons1 cut into strips for the exigencies of the loom1 were discovered in ,flanders by ,rubens1 and purchased on his advice by ,charles ,i4 in #afcj4 ,on the breaking up of the ill-fated king's collection1 they were saved from transportation by ,oliver ,cromwell and are now at the ,victoria and ,albert ,museum4 ,the execution of these cartoons is almost entirely due to ,gian ,francesco ,penni1 and the borders of the tapestries were designed by ,giovanni da ,usline4 ,about #aeaf ,raphael also decorated ,cardinal ,bibbiena's bathroom with the ,triumphs of ,venus and ,cupid1 in ,pompeian style4 ,the frescoes are still in existence1 but are not accessible to the public4 ,in the early days of ,april #aebj ,raphael was attacked by a fever which he had probably contracted in superintending some excavations4 ,he made his last will on the #dth of ,april and died on the #fth4 ,that he repented of his treatment of ,maria ,bibbiena is fairly evident from the epitaph which1 by his wish1 was placed upon her tomb3 ,we1 ,baldassare ,turini da ,pescia and ,gianbattista ,branconi dall',aquila1 testamentary executors and recipients of the last wishes of ,raphael1 have raised this memorial to his affianced wife1 ,maria1 daughter of ,antonio da ,bibbiena1 whom death deprived of a happy marriage4 ,after providing for the ,fornarina1 so that she might live in decency1 he left his fortune of #af1jjj ducats to his relatives1 and his drawings and sketches to his favourite pupils ,giulio ,romano and ,penni4 ,he was buried in the ,pantheon in close proximity to ,maria ,bibbiena4 ,his epitaph was written by ,cardinal ,bembo1 and ,count ,baldassare ,castiglione also put his grief into the shape of a beautiful sonnet4 ,the death of ,raphael1 says ,vasari1 was bitterly deplored by all the ,papal court1 not only because he had formed part thereof1 since he had held the office of chamberlain to the ,pontiff1 but also because ,leo ,x4 had esteemed him so highly1 that his loss occasioned that sovereign the bitterest grief4 ,oh1 most happy and thrice blessed spirit1 of whom all are proud to speak1 whose actions are celebrated with praise by all men1 and the least of whose works left behind thee is admired and prized4 ,the plates are printed by ,,bemrose ,,sons1 ,,ltd41 ,derby and ,london ,the text at the ,,ballantyne ,,press1 ,edinburgh ,transcriber's note3 ,italics is represented with underscore and small caps with ,,all ,,caps4 ,illustrations were moved to paragraph breaks1 one missing opening quotation mark was added and ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained4 ,the abbreviation nro has been expanded to nostro1 the caret character used to represent superscripted letters4 ,everything else has been retained as printed4