RAPHAEL SANTI 



581 



advantage of greater independence. His predellas 

 of the Vatican Coronation, and especially the 

 Epiphany of that series, already display some 

 acquaintance with the more advanced methods of 

 the Florentines. Yet for some time longer the 

 paramount influence of Perugino remained mani- 

 fest, and Raphael showed Peruginesque influence 

 in such pictures as the Connestabile Madonna, 

 now at St Petersburg, the Vision of the Knight in 

 the National Gallery, the little St Michael and St 

 George, or the Mareyas of the Louvre, and the 

 Graces belonging to the Due d'Aumale at 

 Chantilly. The painting of the Graces is obvi- 

 ously connected with a journey which Raphael 

 made to Sienna in 1505, when he gave assistance 

 to Pinturicchio in drafting the preliminary design 

 for frescoes in the Piccoloiniui library. It was there 

 that he copied the Graces, of which the sketch is 

 preserved at the Venice Academy. At Sienna 

 Raphael probably heard of the competition between 

 Leonardo and Michelangelo, who were rivals in 

 1505 for the decoration of the town-hall of Florence, 

 and there is good cause for thinking that he accom- 

 panied Perugino to that capital to oe near the lists 

 of this artistic tournament. But before starting 

 he probably took commissions, which gave as a 

 final result the Virgin, Child, and Saints, in full 

 length, called the Madonna Ansidei, now at the 

 National Gallery, and the Virgin and Child with 

 four saints, called the Madonna of Sant' Antonio, 

 belonging to the Kipalda family, both of which 

 were delivered at Perugia. The Madonna of 

 Terranuova, a group of half-lengths at the Berlin 

 Museum, was completed at Florence. Raphael 

 was now on the path which Perugino had trod 

 before him, had a painting-room at Florence and 

 a painting-room at Perugia, but was not satisfied 

 a his master had l>een with that finality which 

 caused I'erngino to remain stationary in the rut 

 of an old style. He determined to acquire and 

 assimilate some of the boldness of Michelangelo, 

 and the principles which Leonardo had been teach- 

 ing to the students of his academy at Milan. 

 When, after a short alwence at Florence, he 

 resumed work on the Ansidei and Sant' Antonio 

 Madonnas at Perugia, Raphael gave as much 

 as he could of the new spirit which was in him to 

 those compositions, without being able to alter 

 their archaic character. In the second of these 

 pictures some heads, recast in a new mould, reveal 

 the influence of Da Vinci ; for it is characteristic 

 of Raphael that, after witnessing the struggle of 

 that master with Michelangelo, he came for a time 

 to the conclusion that Leonardo was the better 

 man so far as grace and expression were in ques- 

 tion, though for action the spirit of Michelangelo 

 might l>e preferable. The Terranuova Madonna 

 shows the struggle in which Raphael was engaged. 

 It lias the brightness and sweetness of the Umbrian 

 with tin' breadth of execution of the Florentine, 

 lint similar characteristics distinguish the five 

 small p red olios which once formed part of the 

 M.-idonna of Sant' Antonio, whilst the 'Sermon 

 on the Mount,' in Lord Lansdowne's collection 

 at Bowood, and part of the predella of the Ansidei 

 Madonna, display the influence of the works of 

 Masaccio, Filippino, and Ghirlandajo. 



It is not historically proved that Raphael and 

 Da Vinci were intimate, out all the pictures which 

 left Raphael's easel at Florence in 1505-6 recall 

 Leonardo in expression, concentration of lines and 

 light, tempered atmosphere, and subtle combina- 

 tions of movement and tints. Examples are Ma- 

 donnas and Holy Families, of which the most con- 

 spicuous are that of the Gran Dnca, the small 

 Cowper, the Cardellino, and Casa Tempi, at 

 Florence, and the Virgin in Green at Vienna. But 

 in portrait more than elsewhere the lessons of Da 



Vinci are visible, and the likeness of Maddalena 

 Doni at Florence is inspired by the Mona Lisa 

 of the Louvre. Of special interest to Englishmen 

 as a creation of this time is the St George, which 

 was sent by the Duke of Urbiuo to Henry VII. of 

 England, in return for the garter given by that 

 prince to Guidubaldo of Montefeltro. Attractions 

 in other ways are the painter's own likeness at the 

 Uflizi, in which we discern that the grace of his art 

 was also displayed in Raphael's person, the Ma- 

 donnas of Orleans, of the Palm, of St Petersburg, 

 and t'anigiani, in which Raphael finally appears 

 as a pure Tuscan familiar with the arts of all his 

 Florentine contemporaries. 



The Entombment to which Raphael now turned 

 his attention was finished for Atalanta Baglioni, 

 and recalls in many ways the misfortunes which' 

 attended the worthless family of that name, which 

 had so long governed Perugia. The sketches for 

 the picture contain incidents that remind us of a 

 massacre in which Atalanta lost her son. The 

 picture in the Borghese palace is an embodiment of 

 all the new principles which Raphael acquired at 

 Florence, realising the perfect drawing of Da Vinci 

 and the sculptural shape of Michelangelo, allied 

 to Peruginesque softness, and colour such as only 

 Raphael could give. The result is perhaps a little 

 stillness, which is happily avoided in a graceful 

 predella representing Hope, Faith, and Charity. 

 As this fine work advanced to completion Raphael 

 became very evidently attracted ny the style of 

 Fra Bartolommeo; and, under the influence of that 

 master of monumental painting, he brought in 

 part to perfection the Apostles attendant on the 

 Eternal, in a fresco at San Severo of Perugia, 

 whilst he composed and finished the Madonna del 

 Baldacchino at Florence. During the progress of 

 these works Raphael got into a Targe practice at 

 Florence, where he reigned supreme in the absence 

 of Perugino, Leonardo, and Michelangelo. Some 

 of the l>est work of his Florentine period was now 

 produced the small Holy Family with the Lamb 

 at Madrid, much in the spirit of Da Vinci ; the St 

 Catharine of the Louvre ; the Bridgewater and 

 Colonna Madonnas ; the Virgin and Sleeping In- 

 fant of Milan; the large Cowper Madonna; the 

 Bella Giardiniern, and the Esterhazy Madonna. 



From the days of Giotto and Masaccio to those 

 of Raphael Rome had always attracted to its 

 centre painters and sculptors of acknowledged 

 skill in other cities of Italy. Michelangelo had 

 left Florence for the Vatican, and Raphael in 1508 

 did the game at the instigation of his relative 

 Bramante, who was in great favour with Julius 

 II., and not without support from Michelangelo. 

 The plans of this pope were gigantic. He laid the 

 foundation of the new cathedral of St Peter be- 

 cause old St Peter's was tottering to its fall, and he 

 caused the papal chambers to l>e decorated afresh 

 liecause he disliked the frescoes of the old masters 

 at that time covering their walis. He employed 

 Raphael because Perugino, Sodoma, and others 

 had failed to satisfy his taste. The date of 

 Raphael's engagement to paint the 'Camere' of 

 the Vatican is now fixed with certainty as 1509. 

 In the ceiling of the chamber ' of the Signature ' 

 the space is divided into fields, in which the 

 Temptation, the Judgment of Solomon, the Crea- 

 tion of the Planets, and Marsyas and Apollo were 

 inserted side by side with medallions enclosing 

 allegories of Theology, Philosophy, Justice, and 

 Poetry. All these pictures exhibit an expanded 

 style, in which the spirit of Perugino, quickened 

 by the subtler spirit of Leonardo and Fra Bar- 

 tolommeo, liecomes associated with the antique. 

 Never before had the artist had such an oppor- 

 tunity of study as now. When at Rome he was 

 enabled to visit the treasures of old sculpture and 



