THE GARDENS OF PAPAL ROME 



spot was turned into an earthly paradise." So well 

 pleased was the Cardinal with his work that he re- 

 warded the artist with a canonry of St. Peter's. 



Although Raphael's design was never entirely com- 

 pleted, all his contemporaries speak with enthusiasm of 

 the wonderful beauty and enchantment of the villa on 

 Monte Mario " luogo stupendo e delizioso" His friend, 

 the poet Tebaldeo, sang its praises in verse, and Giulio 

 Romano introduced a view of the house and pillared 

 hemicycle in the background of his fresco of "The 

 Battle of Constantine at Ponte Molle." But, from the 

 first, ill-luck attended Villa Madama. While it was 

 still unfinished Raphael himself died, leaving his scholars 

 orphaned and all Rome in tears. Before the end of 

 the next year Leo the Tenth followed him to the grave 

 and was succeeded by Adrian the Sixth. The works of 

 the Vatican were stopped, Cardinal de' Medici retired 

 to Florence, and artists and poets fled from a court 

 " where genius," as Vasari said, "was no longer esteemed, 

 and painters were left to die of hunger." Twice only 

 during Adrian's brief reign do we find any mention of 

 Raphael's villa. In the spring of 1523 the Florentine 

 ambassadors, who came to Rome to congratulate the 

 new Pope, spent two nights at the Vigna de' Medici, 

 " a most beautiful palace," writes Pesaro, " outside the 

 city gates," in order to allow the Venetian envoys to 

 enter Rome first. The other occasion was a few weeks 

 91 



