U A P H A E L. 



317 



.-i. twenty to twenty-five men. The vakie of each boat is 

 ^-~' bovt.4000 rupt-rb. chic-fly in bullion; the rest of the 

 cargo consisting of sheathing boards, sticks of cojiprr 

 from China, stick lac, cutch, ivory, and wax. 



The population of Rangoon consists, beside the 

 Uirmans, of Malabars, Moguls, Persians, Panees, 

 Chinese, Armenians, Portuguese, French, and Eng- 

 lish ; many of them insolvent debtors from the differ- 

 ent settlements in India, who support themselves by 

 carrying on a small trade. It contains 5000 registered 

 taxable houses, which, reckoning six persons to a 

 bouse, will give 30,000 inhabitants. The number of 

 priests is estimated at 1500. 



In January 1810, Rangoon was almost destroyed 

 by fire. East long. 96 &, and North 1st. 16 4?'. 



See Syme's Embassy to Ava ; and Cox's Notes on the 

 Birinan Empire. 



RAPHAEL, SANZIO DA URBINO, one of the most 

 celebrated painters ; was born at Urbino in Italy, on the 

 28th of March 1483. The talent for painting which he 

 early exhibited was carefully cultivated by his father 

 John Sanzio, who was himself a painter of moderate 

 talents, and who received from his son, when at a very 

 early age, much assistance in finishing several pictures 

 which he was painting for his native city of Urbino. 

 Raphael was placed under the tuition of Carnevale or 

 Corradini, with whom he remained till he could be re- 

 ceived under the care of Pietro Perugino, a celebrated 

 artist of Perugia. The pupil acquired so speedily and 

 perfectly the manner of his master, that connoisseurs 

 could not distinguish between their work?, so that he 

 soon became the rival of Perugino. 



Raphael appears to have left Perugino about the 

 age of sixteen or seventeen, when he went to Citta di 

 Castello, to paint a St. Nicholas crowned by the Virgin 

 and St. Augustine, for the church of St. Augustine, 

 and another of the crucifixion of our Saviour, for the 

 church of St. Dominic. These works were regarded 

 as equal to those of Perugino ; but in a third picture 

 of the marriage of the Virgin and St. Francisco, paint- 

 ed for the church of St. Francisco, in the same city, he 

 was allowed to have far surpassed his master. 



The celebrity which these pictures procured for Ra- 

 phael induced his friend Pinturicchio, in the year 1503, 

 to engage him to compose designs from the history 

 of Pius II,, for the Library of the cathedral at Sienna, 

 which the Pope had employed him to adorn. Hav- 

 ing begun to prepare the cartoons for this purpose, 

 his progress was stopped in consequence of hearing 

 of the great cartoons at Florence which Leonardo 

 da Vinci and Michael Angelo had painted for the 

 council hall of that city. He immediately went to 

 Florence, along with some of his brother painters, in 

 order to see these great productions of art. But grand 

 as these objects were, Raphael found others equally 

 attractive. He saw at Florence so many beauties, 

 both of nature and art, that he determined to take 

 up his residence in that city. His reputation, which 

 had preceded him, introduced him to the best so- 

 ciety, and his elegant person and agreeable manners 

 gained him many friends among those who neither va- 

 lued talents, nor were able to appreciate his. Among 

 his friends he soon numbered the artists Ghirlandaio, 

 St. Gallo, and Taddeo Taddi, the last of whom laid 

 open the hospitalities of his house and table to our 

 young artist. In return for this kindness, Raphael 

 presented his friend with two pictures which he had 

 painted at Florence j one of which, a Madonna and 



d.i'd, with St. John bringing a little bird to him, was I> 



told to the Archduke Ferdinand at a great price. ^^-v"^ 



The death of both his parents recalled our young 

 artist to l.'rbino, where he was engaged by Glide- 

 baldo de Montefeltro, and others, to paint subject* for 

 the altars of their chapels, among which were the two 

 little Georges now in the Ljuvre. Vasari mentions an- 

 other of these, viz. Christ praying in the garden, 

 painted with all the minuteness of a miniature for the 

 Duke of Urbino. This, however, and others of the 

 same class, are not to be found. 



From Urbino Raphael went to Perugia, where he 

 painted a picture of the Virgin with St. John the Bap- 

 tist and St. Nicholas, for the church of the Fratri tie 

 Servi ; a fresco picture of Christ in glory, with God 

 encircled with angels and six saints for the church of 

 St. Stephen. Raphael seems to have been so much 

 pleased with this picture, that he inscribed his name 

 upon it in large golden letters. 



Raphael also executed at this time for the nuns of 

 St. Antonio da Padua, a picture of our Lady, with the 

 infant upon her lap clothed, and near her St Peter, St. 

 Paul, St. Cecilia, and St. Catherina. The two female 

 heads have been particularly admired. In a semicircle 

 at the top of the picture was represented the Almighty, 

 and in three compartments at the foot of it were the 

 agony in the garden, the carrying of the cross, and a 

 dead Christ in the lap of the Virgin. It is at present 

 unknown what has become of the centre picture, or 

 of the semicircular one ; but the lower ones formed a 

 part of the Orleans collection. 



Soon after he had finished these works at Perugia 

 Raphael paid a second visit to Florence, with the view 

 of still farther improving himself in his profession. 

 Having carried with him a letter of introduction from 

 the dutchess of Urbino to Pietro Soderini Gonfaloniere, 

 he was soon admitted into the best circles ; but his at- 

 tention was almost entirely engrossed in studying the 

 cartoons of Michael Angelo and Leonardo da Vinci, 

 and the works of Masaccio, in the Brancacci and Cor- 

 sini chapels in the church of the Carmelites. His ac- 

 quaintance with Buccio della Porta, by others called 

 Fra Bartolomeo, was of essential service to him. From 

 him he learned the art of casting draperies, and the 

 principles of colouring and chiaro scuro, and to Bar- 

 tolomeo he taught, in return, the art of perspective. 



The pictures which he painted at this time were the 

 portraits of Angelo Doni, and his wife Maddalena 

 Strozzi, and a Madonna with the infant playing with 

 St. John, brought by Elizabeth, who regards St. Joseph 

 as he stands near, leaning both his hands upon a 

 stick, and inclining towards her his head. This picture, 

 which was painted for Dominico Cauregiani, seems tj 

 have been either retouched or completed in 1510', as 

 Raphael's name with the date is written on the drapery 

 of the Virgin in letters of gold. 



During this residence at Florence, Raphael painted a 

 cartoon for a picture bespoken by the Baglioni family 

 at Perugia ; but he now left Florence to paint it at 

 the church of St. Francis in Perugia. This picture, 

 which has been greatly admired for the beauty and ex- 

 pression of the figures, and the superiority of the dra- 

 peries, was one of our Saviour borne to the sepulchre, 

 accompanied by the Virgin, St. John, &c. Pope 

 Paul V. removed it from Perugia, and substituted a 

 copy by Caesare d'Arpino. It was afterwards found 

 in the Borgherse Palace at Rome. 



Upon his return from Perugia to Florence, he paiut- 







