306 TOUR THROUGH ITALY. [1804. 



combined with splendour, and elegance, and beauty of 

 every sort. The paintings are all mosaic. The chief 

 piece is certainly the "Transfiguration," and I fancy the 

 original, now in Paris, is not much finer ! The light 

 on Christ's figure is radiant. His attitude is a little 

 constrained. The hill is too petty ; but Christ's head, 

 the attitude of Moses and Elias, and the stupefaction 

 of the dazzled apostles, are miraculous indeed. His 

 hands and feet, and the feet and hands of the two 

 former (Moses and Elias), are like bas-relief. One 

 can't possibly think it flat mosaic. A number of 

 other mosaics, both in the roof and altar. " Christ 

 walking on the Sea," His baptism, and that of Con- 

 stantine, are the most striking. The repairs of the 

 outside of this great temple make it look new and 

 small ; but perhaps the former effect counterbalances 

 the latter, as in point of size it has much to spare. 

 The Vatican rather fell short of my expectations, 

 chiefly from the frescoes having suffered much from 

 damp and time. The four rooms (the stanze), with 

 vaulted roofs, all designed by Raphael, and all but 

 one painted by him, and that one by Giulio Eomano, 

 are indeed noble, in spite of slight defects. The most 

 striking appeared to be the " Disputes of the Doctors," 

 done when he was twenty-three, and had been only 

 one year in Rome. This is full of his peculiar genius. 

 All his drawing and imagination are there in full 

 force. The School of Athens has suffered consider- 

 ably. Socrates' countenance is taken from Christ in 

 the " Transfiguration." " St Peter delivered by the 



