288 ANDREW JACKSON HOWE. 



brush. Raphael could create a lovelier Madonna than 

 Angelo, but the latter could excel the former where 

 physical and intellectual power is to be portrayed. 

 The Jehovah of Michael Angelo would be too grand 

 a theme for Raphael to display on a large scale. The 

 angels constituted a fitter subject for the younger 

 artist. It is not easy to give an outline of the Omni- 

 present Deity. Michael Angelo found it an unsatis- 

 factory undertaking; and his efforts in that way are 

 not above criticism. " The Spirit of God moving 

 upon the Waters," is too ethereal and unsubstantial 

 for even a fresco. 



On the inclined part of the vaulting, Michael An- 

 gelo has given Prophets and Sibyls in alternate groups. 

 Mingling mythological individuals with Biblical char- 

 acters is fairly interesting, but hardly appropriate for 

 a Pontifical chapel. However, the Sibyls are imper- 

 sonated as devotees to study and philosophy, and 

 perhaps to religion. The Last Judgment, painted on 

 the altar-wall, and executed thirty years after the orna- 

 mentation of the ceiling, is a great and grand work, 

 but in some respects an incongruous composition. The 

 scene is crowded with figures, with Christ as Judge in 

 conspicuous size and coloring. Devils, angels, and 

 sinners, with here and there a saint, are present in 

 profusion. Charon, who is a pagan god, is introduced 

 with an over-crowded boat busily engaged in ferrying 

 souls over the Styx. 



The Stanze of Raphael embrace many mural paint- 

 ings of frescoes which, so far as charm of form and 

 delicacy of coloring may be concerned in pictures, 

 challenge successful competition ; they awaken won- 

 der and admiration in the appreciative beholder. 

 Grand personages in the world's history up to Ra- 



