318 



RAPHAEL. 



Raphael. e d for the family of Dei, part of a picture for their al- 

 <-*-v"<^ tar, in Santo Spirito ; and, about the same time, he 

 executed for the city of Sienna, a picture of the Ma- 

 donna in an open country, with the child standing by 

 her, and St. John kneeling before her. An invitation to 

 Rome from Julius II., induced him to ask his friend 

 Ghirlandaio to finish a piece of the drapery in this pic- 

 ture, which was afterwards sold to Francis I., and is 

 now in the collection of the Louvre, where it is known 

 by the name of La Belle Jardiniere. The picture above 

 alluded to for the church of the Spirito, was bought 

 from Raphael's heirs by Baldassare Turini, and placed 

 at the altar of his country church. It afterwards came 

 into the possession of the Grand Duke Ferdinand. 



When Raphael arrived at Rome in 1508, Pope Ju- 

 lius received him with great benignity, and assigned to 

 him the Camera della Segnatura. Here he began the 

 School of Theology, or the Dispute of the Sacrament, 

 a picture which is said to exhibit both the dry style of 

 Perugino, and the more enlarged, and the beautiful 

 style to which Raphael afterwards attained. 



In the same chamber he executed the School of 

 Athens ; the Parnassus, painted in 1512, in which he 

 has introduced portraits of the great poets, both of an- 

 tiquity and of his own time ; the Jurisprudence, repre- 

 senting Justinian delivering to Tribonius his code of 

 laws, and Pope Gregory IV. giving the decretal to a 

 member of the Consistory. In circular spaces above 

 each of these subjects, are painted figures representing 

 theology, philosophy, poetry, and justice. 



The Pope was so highly pleased with the School of 

 Theology, that he ordered all the chambers which were 

 to be ornamented, to be intrusted to Raphael, and all 

 the previous labours of Perugino, Pietro del Borgo, 

 II Soddoma, and Bramante di Milane, to be removed. 

 Raphael, however, preserved entire the ceiling execut- 

 ed by Perugino, and part of the ornamental labours of 

 II Soddoma. 



During these great undertakings Raphael painted for 

 the church of St. Augustin the pictures of the Prophet 

 Isaiah, and the Sibyls ; and also the portrait of Pope 

 Julius, now in the Louvre, and several smaller pictures 

 of Madonnas, and other Scriptural subjects. About 

 this time he also executed the Galatea for Agostini 

 Ghigi, the Madonna di Foligno, at the desire of Segis- 

 mundo Conti, secretary of Pope Julius II. This pic- 

 ture, which is now in the Louvre, was painted for the 

 great altar of the church of Araceli. 



Raphael executed many other works for the cham- 

 bers of the Vatican. Among these are the Miracle of 

 Bolsenna, when the priest is offering up the host, and 

 perceives it distilling drops of blood ; St. Peter's libera- 

 tion from prison ; the Heliodorus ; Attila arrested by 

 a vision ; St. Peter and St. Paul, in their journey to 

 Rome ; all of which were completed between 1512 and 

 .1514. For another chamber, he composed the Incen- 

 dio del Borgo ; the Coronation of Charlemagne by Leo 

 III. ; Leo III. defending his conduct to Charlemagne ; 

 and the landing of the Saracens at the harbour of 

 Ostia. 



By the death of his patron, Julius II. in 151 3, Raphael 

 fortunately lost only a friend. His successor, Leo X., was 

 as ardent a patron of the arts, and he immediately en- 

 gaged Raphael to proceed with his labours, and to 

 make designs for the great hall of Constantine. Leo 

 likewise employed him to draw the celebrated cartoons 

 representing the origin and progress of the Christian 

 religion, as copies for tapestry, which was to be wrought 

 in Flanders, for ornamenting the hall of Constantine. 

 They were completed at the expence of 70,000 crowns. 



Seven of the originals were afterwards purchased by Raphael. 

 Charles I., and are now in England. The Incendio S< "-V~ ' 

 del Borgo was the best picture which he finished for 

 the Vatican. 



In consequence of the death of Bramante in 15 14-, Ra- 

 phael obtained the situation of architectural superintend- 

 ent of the Vatican, and in that new office he executed 

 many architectural designs. Inl515, he accompanied the 

 Pope to Florence to design the f^ade of the church of 

 St. Lorenzo, and he planned also the Bishop of Troja's 

 house in the street of St. Gallo in Florence. His other 

 architectural designs are the Caflfarelli palace in Rome, 

 which is regarded as his chef d'oeuvre ; a palace for 

 M. Giovanni Baptista dell' Aquila in Rome ; a villa for 

 Cardinal Julius de Medici ; a set of stables in the Lan- 

 gara, for Prince Ghigi ; and a chapel in the church of 

 St. Maria del Popolo. He is said also to have design- 

 ed a palace for himself. 



Like his great contemporary Michael Angelo, Ra- 

 phael enjoys the reputation of being an excellent sculp- 

 tor. One of his works of this kind is the statue of 

 a child, which seems to be lost. In the Ghigi chapel,, 

 however, there is a statue of Jonah, executed from Ra- 

 phael's own model, by Lorenzetto, which is considered 

 equal to the best productions of the art. 



In addition to the labours which we have already 

 enumerated, Raphael executed the Fresco designs 

 which ornament the palace of Agostino Ghigi ; the ce- 

 lebrated portrait of Leo X., with the Cardinals de 

 Medici and Rossi, now in the Louvre ; the St. Michael, 

 and the Vision of Ezekiel, both in the Louvre ; a Ma- 

 donna child and St. Anne for Florence ; a large picture 

 of the carrying of the Cross for a monastery at Paler- 

 mo ; the picture of St. John, in the Orleans collection ; 

 - and the Transfiguration, now in the Louvre, a picture 

 of immortal touch, which terminated the labours of the 

 divine Raphael. 



While on the eve of finishing that grand picture, 

 Raphael was seized with an illness, from which he 

 never recovered. His malady has been ascribed, with- 

 out any authority, to sensual excesses, but this is a 

 misapprehension which ought to be carefully corrected. 

 He had become early attached to the beautiful daughter 

 of a baker at Rome, called, by way of distinction, La 

 Bella Fornarina. Having become his mistress, his at- 

 tachment to her was constant, and he left her by his 

 will in a state of independence. The infirmities of a 

 naturally weak constitution had been increased by his 

 professional labours. When under the influence of a 

 violent fever, his physicians are stated to have bled 

 when they ought to have strengthened him ; and, in 

 consequence of this alleged mismanagement, Raphael 

 died on 7th of April, in the year 1520, at the early age 

 of 37- His body lay in state in the hall of his own 

 house, and at the public funeral with which he was ho- 

 noured, the Transfiguration was carried in procession 

 before his body ; and, in place of being sent to France, 

 as was originally intended, the Cardinal de Medici or- 

 dered it to be placed in the church of St. Pietro, in 

 Montorio. His remains were carried to the Pantheon, 

 and at the express desire of Leo X. Cardinal Bembo 

 wrote an inscription in honour of his memory. 



The following character of Raphael as an artist, is 

 taken from Fuseli's edition of Pilkington's Dictionary. 

 " The general opinion has placed Raphael at the 

 head of his art, not because he possessed a decided su- 

 periority over every other painter in every branch, but 

 because no other artist ever arrived at uniting with his 

 own peculiar excellence all the other parts of the art in 

 an equal degree with him. 



