_Uffizi Gallery, Florence_]
Masterpieces of Art
RAPHAEL
A COLLECTION OF FIFTEEN PICTURES
AND A PORTRAIT OF THE PAINTER
WITH INTRODUCTION AND
INTERPRETATION
_EDITED BY_
ESTELLE M. HURLL
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
Copyright, 1899, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO
* * * * *
PREFACE
The object of this collection of prints is to introduce the student to
Raphael through the pictures which appeal directly to the imagination
with some story interest. With this characteristic as the leading
principle of choice, the variety of subjects is perhaps as wide as the
conditions admit. No attempt is made to represent all the sides of the
painter's art; his portraits are ignored and his Madonnas inadequately
represented, in order to give place to pictures which awaken as many
points of interest as possible. Within these narrow limits Raphael, as
an illustrator and a composer, is even in these few pictures clearly
represented.
Had choice been limited to pictures painted throughout by Raphael
himself, the value of the collection would have been seriously
affected, as some of the master's most interesting works were handed
over to his pupils for execution. Our list, however, contains only
such works as are at this date reckoned indisputably to be from
Raphael's own designs.
The text has only the modest aim of making the pictures intelligible.
Critical explanations are beyond its scope, and historical data are
for the most part relegated to the accompanying tables. The
Introduction is intended for teachers, and contains suggestions for a
comparative study of the pictures which may be carried out at
discretion.
All the reproductions in this book are from photographs made directly
from the original paintings. In order to get the best results a
careful comparison was made of the work of leading photographers. The
photographer of each picture is mentioned in the Table of Contents.
ESTELLE M. HURLL.
NEW BEDFORD, MASS.
June, 1899.
* * * * *
CONTENTS AND LIST OF PICTURES
PORTRAIT OF RAPHAEL. PAINTED BY HIMSELF. _Frontispiece._
FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRATELLI ALINARI.
INTRODUCTION
I. ON RAPHAEL'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST
II. ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE
III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES
IV. COLLATERAL READING FROM LITERATURE
V. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN RAPHAEL'S LIFE
VI. RAPHAEL'S CONTEMPORARIES
I. THE MADONNA OF THE CHAIR
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRATELLI ALINARI
II. ABRAHAM AND THE THREE ANGELS
PICTURE FROM CARBON PRINT BY BRAUN, CLEMENT & CO.
III. THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY THURSTON THOMPSON
IV. THE SACRIFICE AT LYSTRA
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY THURSTON THOMPSON
V. HELIODORUS DRIVEN FROM THE TEMPLE
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRATELLI ALINARI
VI. THE LIBERATION OF PETER
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRATRELLI ALINARI
VII. THE HOLY FAMILY OF FRANCIS I.
PICTURE FROM CARBON PRINT BY BRAUN, CLEMENT & CO.
VII. ST. CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANZ HANFSTAENGL
IX. ST. CECILIA
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRATELLI ALINARI
X. THE TRANSFIGURATION
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRATELLI ALINARI
XI. PARNASSUS
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRATELLI ALINARI
XII. SOCRATES AND ALCIBIADES
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY GIACOMO BROGI
XIII. THE FLIGHT OF AENEAS
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRATELLI ALINARI
XIV. ST. MICHAEL SLAYING THE DRAGON
PICTURE FROM CARBON PRINT BY BRAUN, CLEMENT & CO
XV. THE SISTINE MADONNA
PICTURE FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANZ HANFSTAENGL
XVI. PORTRAIT OF RAPHAEL (_See Frontispiece_)
PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES AND FOREIGN WORDS
* * * * *
INTRODUCTION
I. ON RAPHAEL'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST.
No one of the old Italian masters has taken such a firm hold upon the
popular imagination as Raphael. Other artists wax and wane in public
favor as they are praised by one generation of critics or disparaged
by the next; but Raphael's name continues to stand in public
estimation as that of the favorite painter in Christendom. The passing
centuries do not dim his fame, though he is subjected to severe
criticism; and he continues, as he began, the first love of the
people.
The subjects of his pictures are nearly all of a cheerful nature. He
exercised his skill for the most part on scenes which were agreeable
to contemplate. Pain and ugliness were strangers to his art; he was
preeminently the artist of joy. This is to be referred not only to his
pleasure-loving nature, but to the great influence upon him of the
rediscovery of Greek art in his day, an art which dealt distinctively
with objects of delight.
Moreover Raphael is compassionate towards mind as well as heart; he
requires of us neither too strenuous feeling nor too much thinking. As
his subjects do not overtax the sympathies with harrowing emotions,
neither does his art overtax the understanding with complicated
effects. His pictures are apparently so simple that they demand no
great intellectual effort and no technical education to enjoy them.
He does all the work for us, and his art is too perfect to astonish.
It was not his way to show what difficult things he could do, but he
made it appear that great art is the easiest thing in the world. This
ease was, however, the result of a splendid mastery of his art. Thus
he arranges the fifty-two figures in the School of Athens, or the
three figures of the Madonna of the Chair, so simply and unobtrusively
that we might imagine such feats were an every-day affair. Yet in both
cases he solves most difficult problems of composition with a success
scarcely paralleled in the history of art.
Even the Master himself seldom achieved the same kind of success
twice. His Parnassus lacks the variety of the School of Athens, though
the single figures have a similar grace, and the Incendio del Borgo or
Conflagration in the Borgo, with groups equal in beauty to any in the
other two frescoes, has not the unity of either. Again, while the
Parnassus and the Liberation of Peter show a masterly adaptation to
extremely awkward spaces, the Transfiguration fails to solve a much
easier problem of composition.
Preferring by an instinct such as the Greek artist possessed, the
statuesque effects of repose to the portrayal of action, Raphael
showed himself capable of both. The Hellenic calm of Parnassus is not
more impressive than the splendid charge of the avenging spirits upon
Heliodorus; the visionary idealism of the angel-led Peter is matched
by the vigorous realism of Peter called from his fishing to the
apostleship; the brooding quiet of maternity expressed in the Madonna
of the Chair has a perfect complement in the alert activity of the
swiftly moving Sistine Madonna.
Great as was Raphael's achievement in many directions, he is
remembered above all else as a painter of Madonnas. Here was the
subject best expressing the individuality of his genius. From the
beginning to the end of his career the sweet mystery of motherhood
never ceased to fascinate him. Again and again he sounded the depths
of maternal experience, always making some new discovery.
The Madonna of the Chair emphasizes most prominently, perhaps, the
physical instincts of maternity. "She bends over the child," says
Taine, "with the beautiful action of a wild animal." Like a mother
creature instinctively protecting her young, she gathers him in her
capacious embrace as if to shield him from some impending danger. The
Sistine Madonna, on the other hand, is the most spiritual of Raphael's
creations, the perfect embodiment of ideal womanhood. The mother's
love is here transfigured by the spirit of sacrifice. Forgetful of
self, and obedient to the heavenly summons, she bears her son forth to
the service of humanity.
Sister spirits of the Madonnas, and hardly second in delicate
loveliness, are the virgin saints of Raphael; the Catherine, the
Cecilia, the Magdalene, and the Barbara are abiding ideals in our
dreams of fair women.
The same sweetness of nature which prompted Raphael's fondness for
lovely women and happy children shows itself also in his delineation
of angels. The archangel Michael, the angel visitors of Abraham, and
the celestial spirits appearing to Heliodorus all follow closely upon
the Madonnas in the purity and serenity of their beauty. In the same
fellowship also belongs the beautiful youth in the crowd at Lystra,
who is as sharply contrasted with his surroundings as if he were a
denizen of another sphere. The ideal is again repeated in the St. John
of the Cecilia altar-piece, whose uplifted face has a sweetness which
is not so much feminine as celestial. The angel of Peter's deliverance
is less successful than the artist's other angel types. The head
seems too small for the splendidly vigorous body, and the face lacks
somewhat of strength.
If Raphael's favorite ideals were drawn from youth and womanhood, it
was not because he did not understand the purely masculine. The AEneas
of the Borgo fresco, the Paul of the Cecilia altar-piece, and the
Sixtus of the Sistine Madonna show, in three ages, what is best and
most distinctive in ideal manhood.
Raphael's type of beauty is not such as calls forth immediate or
extravagant admiration: it is satisfying rather than amazing, and its
qualities dawn slowly though steadily upon the imagination. Raphael
holds always to the golden mean; no exaggerated note jars upon the
perfection of his harmonies. For this reason his pictures never grow
tiresome. They stand the test of daily companionship and grow ever
lovelier through familiarity.
Without forcing the parallel, we may say that something of the same
spirit which animated the work of Raphael reappears in the familiar
poetry of Longfellow. The one artist had an eye for beautiful line,
the other had an ear for melodious verse, and both alike shunned
whatever was inharmonious, always seeking grace and symmetry. Their
subjects were, indeed, of dissimilar range. Raphael, impressed by the
scholarship of his time, chose themes which were larger and more
related to the experience of the world, while Longfellow was never
very far removed from the golden milestone of domestic life. Yet in
diverse subjects both turned instinctively to aspects of womanhood, to
what was refined and gently emotional, and turned away from the
violent and revolutionary.
II. ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE.
Within the last forty years the methods of criticism as applied to art
have undergone so many changes that there has been a rapid succession
of biographers and critics of Raphael until the student reader of
to-day scarcely knows whom to believe. The time was when Vasari, in
his important "Lives of the Painters," was the accepted source of
information, and all current writers borrowed unquestioningly from him
both facts and opinions; but the old chronicler was too often
influenced by popular gossip and personal prejudice to be depended
upon. Many of his stories are positively disproved by documentary
evidence, and for some years he has stood in dust and disgrace on the
upper shelves of the bookcase. From this exile a revised edition has
recently brought him forth to fresh honors. The joint work of Mr. and
Mrs. E. H. Blashfield with A. A. Hopkins has given us an annotated
text which we may read with equal pleasure and profit. This is
certainly the best of all reference books to put us in touch with the
period in which Raphael lived.
The German work on Raphael by Passavant, once so weighty, is now
useful only to those who have opportunity to compare it with other
authorities. So likewise the work of Crowe and Cavalcaselle is no
longer desirable as a sole authority. Even the splendid work of Eugene
Muentz (translated by Walter Armstrong), the latest and most valuable
of the comprehensive books on Raphael, must be read in the light of
later criticism. Muentz's volume contains a complete list of the
master's works,--frescoes, easel pictures, tapestries, drawings, and
works in architecture and sculpture,--each class subdivided according
to subject.
A few of the shorter biographies of Raphael have been corrected
according to the conclusions of the most recent critical scholarship,
as represented by Morelli. Notable among these is the life of Raphael
in Kugler's "Handbook of the Italian Schools," revised by A. H.
Layard, and the life of Raphael included in Mrs. Jameson's "Early
Italian Painters," revised by Estelle M. Hurll.
The latest entirely new short biographies of Raphael are those (1) by
Mrs. Henry Ady (Julia Cartwright), issued in two parts as monographs for
"The Portfolio:" the "Early Work of Raphael" and "Raphael in Rome," and
(2) by H. Knackfuss in a series of German "Kuenstler-Monographien" (also
published in an English translation). Both are well illustrated and
useful books.
Finally the student is referred to Bernhard Berenson's "Central
Italian Painters of the Renaissance" for an exceedingly valuable
estimate of Raphael's character as an artist.
Many books have been written on the separate works of Raphael,--the
Vatican frescoes, the cartoons, the Madonnas, etc.,--but as most of
these are in German and Italian they are not generally available. The
Blashfield Vasari enumerates a long list of them in the Bibliography
preceding the "Life of Raphael."
III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS COLLECTION.
_Portrait frontispiece._ Painted on wood, 1506, as a gift from the
painter to his uncle, Simone Ciarla, of Urbino. In 1588 the portrait
passed from Urbino to the Academy of St. Luke, Rome. Later it was sold
to Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici for the Hall of Portraits of the Old
Masters in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
1. _The Madonna of the Chair_ is a wood panel 2 ft. 4-3/4 in.
diameter. It was painted between 1510-1514, and is now in the Pitti
Gallery, Florence.
2. _Abraham and the Three Angels_ is a mural painting in the fourth
arcade of the Loggie, Vatican Palace, Rome. It was executed by
Francesco Penni.
3, 4. _The Miraculous Draught of Fishes_ and _The Sacrifice at Lystra_
are cartoons in distemper colors. The execution was by Raphael's
pupils in 1515-1516. They were sent to Flanders as designs for
tapestries, and discovered by Rubens in a manufactory at Arras, 1630;
Charles I. of England purchased them, and they are now in the South
Kensington Museum, London.
5. _Heliodorus driven from the Temple_ (detail of the larger
composition known by this name) is a mural painting which gives the
name to the Camera d' Eliodoro, Vatican Palace, Rome. The date of the
painting is 1511-1512.
6. _The Liberation of Peter_ is a mural painting in the Camera d'
Eliodoro, Vatican Palace, Rome; the execution is by Giulio Romano,
1514.
7. _The Holy Family of Francis I._ is a canvas panel 8 ft. 9 in. by 5
ft. 3 in., painted for Lorenzo de' Medici, and presented by the Pope
Leo X. to Francis I. of France; hence the name. It was executed by
Giulio Romano in 1518, and is now in the Louvre, Paris.
8. _St. Catherine of Alexandria_ is a wood panel 2 ft. 4 in. by I ft.
9-1/2 in., painted in 1507, and now in the National Gallery, London.
9. _St. Cecilia_ is a panel painting which was transferred from wood
to canvas. It was painted about 1516 for the Church of S. Giovanni a
Monte, Bologna, and is now in the Bologna Gallery.
10. _The Transfiguration_, 14 ft. 9 in. by 9 ft. 1-1/2 in. Raphael
painted the upper part in 1519, and the picture was finished after his
death by Giulio Romano. It was ordered by the Cardinal de' Medici for
the Cathedral at Narbonne (France), but was retained in Rome after the
artist's death. It was taken to Paris during the French Revolution,
and restored to Rome in 1815. It is now in the Vatican Gallery.
11. _Parnassus_ is a mural painting in the Camera della Segnatura,
Vatican Palace, Rome. The date is 1509-1511.
12. _Socrates and Alcibiades_ (detail of the School of Athens) is a
mural painting in the Camera della Segnatura, Vatican Palace, Rome. It
was painted in 1509-1511.
13. _The Flight of AEneas_ (detail of the Conflagration in the Borgo),
a mural painting in the Camera dell' Incendio, Vatican Palace, Rome.
It was executed by Giulio Romano about 1515.
14. _St. Michael slaying the Dragon_, a panel 8 ft. 9-1/2 in. by 5 ft.
3 in. It was painted on wood and transferred to canvas. It was ordered
by Leo X. as a gift to Francis I., and was presented to him by Lorenzo
de' Medici. The execution is by Giulio Romano, 1518. It is now in the
Louvre, Paris.
15. _The Sistine Madonna_, a canvas panel 8 ft. 8 in. by 6 ft. 5 in.,
was painted about 1515 for the high altar of the Church of St. Sixtus,
Piacenza, and received its name from the portrait figure of St. Sixtus
which it contains; it was purchased by the Elector of Saxony in
1753-1754 for the Dresden Gallery.
IV. COLLATERAL READINGS FROM LITERATURE.
In connection with St. Catherine:--
Latin Hymn, Vox Sonora Nostri Chori, St. Catherine's
Day. Translated by David Morgan.
Mrs. Jameson. Sacred and Legendary Art.
S. Baring-Gould. Lives of the Saints. Volume for
November.
In connection with St. Cecilia:--
S. Baring-Gould. Lives of the Saints. Volume for
November.
Mrs. Jameson. Sacred and Legendary Art.
Chaucer. Second Nonnes Tale.
Dryden. Alexander's Feast: Ode in honor of St. Cecilia's
Day.
In connection with Parnassus:--
Shelley. Hymn of Apollo.
Keats. Ode to Apollo.
Bulfinch. Age of Fable.
In connection with the Flight of AEneas:--
Virgil. AEneid, Book II. Translated by C. P. Cranch.
In connection with Socrates and Alcibiades:--
Fenelon. Lives of the Philosophers. Translated by
John Cormack.
Plato. Alcibiades, The Symposium, Protagoras. Translated
by Jowett.
Milton. Paradise Regained. Book IV. lines 240-285.
In connection with St. Michael and the Dragon:--
Milton. Paradise Lost. Book VI.
In connection with the Sistine Madonna:--
Mrs. Jameson. Sacred and Legendary Art (for St.
Barbara).
V. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN RAPHAEL'S LIFE.
1483. Raphael born at Urbino.
1499. Raphael enters Perugino's studio at Perugia.
1504. "The Marriage of the Virgin."
1504. Raphael's first visit to Florence.
1505. Raphael in Perugia:--
The Madonna of St. Anthony.
The fresco of San Severo.
1506. Visit at Urbino:--
Raphael's portrait by himself.
1504-1508. The Florentine Period:--
Granduca Madonna.
Tempi Madonna.
Madonna in the Meadow.
The Madonna del Cardellino.
The Belle Jardiniere.
The Canigiani Madonna.
1508. Raphael called to Rome by Pope Julius II.
1511. Raphael frescoes the Camera della Segnatura.
1512. Raphael begins decoration of the Camera d' Eliodoro.
1513. Raphael commissioned by Leo X. to continue work begun
under Julius II.
1514. "Galatea."
1514. Raphael appointed architect of St. Peter's by Leo X.
1508-1515. Some Madonnas of the Roman Period:--Foligno
Madonna.
Garvagh Madonna.
The Madonna of Casa Alba.
The Madonna of the Chair.
The Sistine Madonna.
1515. Camera dell' Incendio completed under Raphael's direction.
1515-1516. Cartoons for tapestries executed under Raphael's
direction.
1517. Farnesina frescoes painted under Raphael's direction.
1519. The Transfiguration.
1520. Raphael died in Rome.
VI. SOME FAMOUS CONTEMPORARIES OF RAPHAEL.
IN ITALY.
Rulers:--
Lorenzo de' Medici (reigned 1469-1492) and Pietro de' Medici
(1492-1494), dukes of Florence.
Giovanni Galeazzo Sforza (reigned 1476-1494), Lodovico Maria
Sforza (1494-1500), and Massimiliano Sforza (1512-1515),
dukes of Milan.
Francesco Maria della Rovere, duke of Urbino (born 1490;
died 1535).
Ferdinand I. (reigned 1458-1494), Ferdinand II. (reigned
1495-1496), and Ferdinand III., kings of Naples, the last
being he who was also king of Spain as Ferdinand V.
Innocent VIII. (1484-1492), Alexander VI. (1492-1503),
Pius III. (1503), Julius II. (1503-1513), and Leo X. (1513-1523),
popes.
Painters:--
Older group:--
Perugino (1446-1523).
Bazzi (1477-1549).
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519).
Bartolommeo (1475-1517).
Giorgione (1477-1510).
Titian (1477-1576).
Giovanni Bellini (1428-1516).
Compeers:--
Andrea del Sarto (1486-1531).
Sebastian del Piombo (1485-1547).
Assistants and Pupils:--
Giulio Romano (1492-1546).
Giovanni da Udine (1487-1564).
Francesco Penni (1488-1528).
Marc Antonio (1487-1539), engraver.
Michelangelo (1474-1564), sculptor.
Bramante (1444-1514), architect of St. Peter's.
Sanazzaro Jacopo (1458-1530 or 1532), poet (De Partu Virginia).
Ariosto (1474-1533), poet (Orlando Furioso).
Francesco Berni (1496-1536), comic poet.
Cardinal Bembi (1470-1547), celebrated scholar.
Count Baldasarre Castiglione (1478-1529), writer and patron of literature.
Christopher Columbus (1436 or 1446-1506), discoverer.
IN PORTUGAL.
Vasco da Gama (died 1525), discoverer.
IN ENGLAND.
Richard III. (1483-1485), Henry VII. (1485-1509), Henry
VIII. (1509-1547), kings.
Sebastian Cabot (1477-15?), discoverer.
IN GERMANY.
Frederick III. (1440-1493), emperor of Austria, and
Maximilian I. (1493-1519).
Martin Luther (1483-1546), religious reformer.
Albert Duerer (1471-1528), painter.
Holbein (1498-1543), painter.
Copernicus (1473-1545), astronomer.
IN FRANCE.
Charles VIII. (1483-1498), king.
Rabelais (1483 or 1495-1553), satirist.
IN SPAIN.
Ferdinand (died 1516) and Isabella (died 1504), king and
queen, beginning to reign in 1474.
I
THE MADONNA OF THE CHAIR
In early days an Italian in addressing a lady used the word Madonna,
which, like the French word Madame, means My Lady. Now he says
Signora; Madonna would have to him an old-fashioned sound. To the rest
of the world this word Madonna has come to be applied almost wholly to
the Virgin Mary, with or without the child Jesus; and as Raphael
painted a great many pictures of the Madonna for churches or other
sacred places, a name has been given to each, drawn usually from some
circumstance about it.
The Madonna of the Chair is so called because in this picture the
Virgin is seated. She is sitting in a low chair, holding her child on
her knee, and encircling him with her arms. Her head is laid tenderly
against the child's, and she looks out of the picture with a tranquil,
happy sense of motherly love.
The child has the rounded limbs and playful action of the feet of a
healthy, warm-blooded infant, and he nestles into his mother's embrace
as snugly as a young bird in its nest. But as he leans against the
mother's bosom and follows her gaze, there is a serious and even grand
expression in his eyes which Raphael and other painters always sought
to give to the child Jesus to mark the difference between him and
common children.
By the side of the Madonna is the child who is to grow up as St. John
the Baptist. He carries a reed cross, as if to herald the death of the
Saviour; his hands are clasped in prayer, and though the other two
look out of the picture at us, he fixes his steadfast look on the
child, in ardent worship.
Around each of the heads is very faintly seen a nimbus, as it is
called; that is, the old painters were wont to distinguish sacred
persons by a circle about the head. Sometimes, as here, the circle is
a golden line only; sometimes it is a gold band almost like a plate
against which the head is set. This circular form took the name Nimbus
from the Latin word for a cloud, as if the heads of sacred persons
were in an unearthly surrounding. It is also called a halo. Such a
representation is a symbol or sign to indicate those higher and more
mysterious qualities which are beyond the artist's power to portray.
This simple composition is a perfect round, and if one studies it
attentively one will see how curved and flowing are all the lines
within the circle; even the back of the chair, though perpendicular,
swells and curves into roundness. It is by such simple means as this
that the painter gives pleasure to the eye. The harmony of the lines
of the composition makes a perfect expression of the peaceful group
centred thus about the divine child.
[Illustration: MADONNA OF THE CHAIR
_Pitti Gallery, Florence_]
It is a home scene and one such as Raphael might have seen in Rome
in his own time. Not unlikely he saw a mother enfolding her child thus
when he was taking a walk at the quiet end of day, and caught at once
a suggestion from the scene for a Madonna. There is indeed an old
legend which grew up about this picture, relating the supposed
circumstances under which Raphael found a charming family group which
served him as a model, and which he rapidly sketched upon the head of
a cask; the circular form of the picture is thus accounted for.
Whether or not this pretty story is true, it is certain that the
Madonna of the Chair is a true picture of home life either in
Raphael's time or even in our own day. The mother wears a handkerchief
of many colors over her shoulders, and another on her head like the
Roman scarf one still sees nowadays.
We may see what delight and reverence Madonna pictures like this have
awakened as we read the words of an old chant. In quaint diction and
with fanciful imagery the writer tried to express his feelings in the
presence of a painting which, if not this veritable Madonna of the
Chair, was certainly very like it.
"When I view the mother holding
In her arms the heavenly boy,
Thousand blissful thoughts unfolding
Melt my heart with sweetest joy.
"As the sun his radiance flinging
Shines upon the bright expanse,
So the child to Mary clinging
Doth her gentle heart entrance.
"See the Virgin Mother beaming!
Jesus by her arms embraced,
Dew on softest roses gleaming,
Violet with lily chaste!
"Each round other fondly twining.
Pour the shafts of mutual love,
Thick as flowers in meadow shining,
Countless as the stars above.
"Oh, may one such arrow glowing,
Sweetest Child, which thou dost dart
Thro' thy mother's bosom going,
Blessed Jesus, pierce my heart."
II
ABRAHAM AND THE THREE ANGELS
In the story of Abraham, as related in our Bible, we read of the
wandering and adventurous life of the patriarch as he moved from place
to place. In process of time he became "very rich in cattle, in
silver, and in gold." He was as brave as he was industrious. When Lot,
his brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, was taken captive by some
foreign kings who had conquered the king of Sodom, Abraham armed his
large company of servants and went to the rescue. He recovered not
only his nephew, but all the booty which the victors had taken.
Moreover, Abraham was a man of vision as well as of action, a man who
feared God and sought righteousness.
In his old age he was living with his aged wife Sarah on the plains of
Mamre. "He sat in the tent door in the heat of the day," the story
goes on,[1] "and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo, three men
stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent
door, and bowed himself toward the ground, and said, 'My Lord, if now
I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy
servant: let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your
feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: and I will fetch a morsel of
bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for
therefore are ye come to your servant.' And they said, 'So do, as thou
hast said.'
[Footnote 1: Genesis, chapter xviii., verses 1-8.]
"And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, 'Make ready
quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the
hearth.' And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and
good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it. And he
took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it
before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat."
In the picture we see Abraham welcoming his strange visitors in front
of his simple dwelling-place. He is dressed in Oriental robes and bows
himself to the ground after the custom of the Eastern people, who are
noted for their courtesy. He offers hospitality not as a favor to his
guests, but as a privilege which he craves from them. His, not theirs,
is the honor, he seems to say.
The three angels have a mysterious air. They are in human form, and
yet they are unlike ordinary visitors. Their attitudes, the flowing of
the robes, their gestures, all denote something unusual. While the
three stand with outstretched hands as if encouraging and blessing
their host, Sarah peeps through the open door and listens to the talk.
A country landscape, such as may be seen in the vineyards of Italy,
stretches away in the distance. Raphael never traveled outside his own
country, and painted only such landscapes as were familiar to him.
[Illustration: ABRAHAM AND THE THREE ANGELS
_Vatican Palace, Rome_]
The picture was intended as an illustration of the Bible. In the days
when Raphael was painting, though the art of printing had been
invented, only scholars and learned men could read books, and those
which were printed were rarely in the language which the people spoke.
Men and women did indeed hear stories read out of the Bible, but they
knew these stories chiefly from paintings, and from carvings in wood
and stone. Churches and monasteries, palaces and public halls, were
adorned with fresco paintings, and these storied walls formed the
people's literature.
Now the Pope, Leo the Tenth, employed Raphael to decorate parts of the
Vatican. The Vatican was the palace of the Popes in Rome, and one of
the open courts of the palace had a gallery or Loggia, as it is
called, built about its three sides. Raphael caused to be painted on
the walls of this gallery festoons of flowers and fruit and sometimes
animals, all surrounded and entwined with graceful ornaments. But it
was the vaulted ceiling of the gallery that he treated with the
greatest care. He made a great series of pictures from scenes in the
Old Testament, and some from the New, and his pupils painted these
upon the ceiling, so that it came to be known popularly as "Raphael's
Bible."
The ceiling is not flat, and it does not stretch without break, but
the gallery is like a succession of arched porches, and the ceiling of
each is divided into panels, sloping in four directions, with a flat
panel in the centre. These panels are filled with charming pictures
which you can see by standing with your head thrown back.
Raphael's Bible begins with the creation of the world; then follow the
history of Adam and Eve, and Noah and the deluge; in the fourth
section is the story of Abraham told in four compositions. Thus,
besides this picture of Abraham and the Three Angels, there is the
scene where Lot and his family are fleeing from Sodom, and his wife is
turned into a pillar of salt. There is also the meeting of Abraham and
Melchisedec (after Abraham's rescue of Lot), and a picture of God
promising a long line of descendants to Abraham.
In this open gallery the people of Rome could walk and read the Bible
in a succession of pictures. Since these and similar pictures and
statues and carvings were everywhere, men, women, and children read
them as they would read books, and a popular painter was like a
popular story-teller nowadays.
III
THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES
Another of the Bible scenes which Raphael painted was one which is
told in the New Testament concerning the Lord Jesus and his Apostles.
Some of these, as Peter and Andrew, James and John, were fishermen who
lived near the lake of Gennesaret in Galilee, and had spent most of
their lives in their boats. They had been much with their Master, and
sometimes left their boats to go with him through the country, when he
talked with them and healed the sick, and told the glad tidings, for
that is what the word Gospel means. One day he had been using Simon
Peter's boat as a sort of pulpit from which to speak to the people on
the shore.
"Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, 'Launch
out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught,'
And Simon answering said unto him, 'Master, we have toiled
all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy
word I will let down the net.' And when they had this done,
they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net
brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in
the other ship, that they should come and help them. And
they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to
sink.
"When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus's knees,
saying, 'Depart from me: for I am a sinful man, O Lord.' For
he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the
draught of the fishes which they had taken; and so was also
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners
with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, 'Fear not: from
henceforth thou shalt catch men.'"[2]
[Footnote 2: Luke, chapter v., verses 4-10.]
In the picture we see the two boats laden with fish, one containing
Jesus with Peter and Andrew, and the other containing the partners
hauling in the net. The lake stretches away in the distance until it
seems to meet the sky in a line of light at the horizon. On the
opposite shore are the people to whom Jesus was speaking before the
fishermen launched out. Others on the bank are watching to get some of
the fish which are not hauled in. There is a boat over there just
pushing off. Fishhawks hover overhead, and on the nearer shore are
herons.
Just as before in the Madonna of the Chair we saw how all the lines in
the picture were drawn as it were in a circle, so here it is the long
horizontal line on which the picture is built: the boats extending
across the foreground, the distant shore, and the horizon line
swelling into the upland. Some one has said that the boats are so
placed that it looks as if the figures were slowly passing before the
eye of the spectator.
[Illustration: THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES
_South Kensington Museum, London_]
Now this picture is not, like so many, painted on canvas or on wood.
Raphael was bidden to make designs for some great hangings or
tapestries for the chapel in the Vatican palace known as the Sistine
Chapel. He made his drawings, cartoons they are called, on a coarse
kind of paper, the pieces put together on a great frame, and these
cartoons were sent to Arras in Flanders, where they were copied in
tapestry by skillful artists.
Raphael intended to represent scenes in the lives of the Apostles, and
his series was in two groups of five each, the first centring about
the life of St. Peter, the second about the life of St. Paul. The
tapestries are in the Vatican palace, but seven of the cartoons are in
the South Kensington Museum in London. There they are kept with great
care, but they have led a perilous life. When they were sent to Arras,
they were cut in strips for the convenience of the weavers, and
pricked with holes. Then after they had been copied in the tapestries,
they were thrown aside, as so much waste paper, and lay in a cellar,
neglected, for a hundred years. Fortunately they were not destroyed,
and the fragments were found in 1630, by the great Flemish painter
Rubens, who knew their value. He advised King Charles I. of England to
buy them, and they were still regarded as patterns for tapestries. The
king set up a manufactory at Mortlake, and some tapestries were made
from these cartoons.
When the king was put to death, Cromwell bought the cartoons, and put
them away in some boxes at Whitehall. When Charles II. came to the
throne, he tried to sell them to France, but was stopped, and finally
they found a home at Hampton Court Palace. A few years ago they were
removed to their present place of keeping.
The original tapestries, as we have said, were designed for the
Sistine Chapel, but they were long ago removed from that place and are
now preserved in the Gallery of Tapestries in the Vatican.
The colors of the tapestries have faded, but color never formed the
chief attraction of these compositions. What one always admired, and
can still admire in engravings and other copies, is what we call the
dramatic character of the picture, the way in which the painter has so
arranged his figures as to make them tell a story in a lively, graphic
fashion.
He can also, as his eye is more and more trained, discover the beauty
which lies in the drawing of forms, in masses and in lines. For an
engraving or a pencil drawing in black and white can give a great deal
of pleasure, and some painters make better pictures with pen and ink
than they can with a paint-box and brushes.
IV
THE SACRIFICE AT LYSTRA
The Sacrifice at Lystra was another of the great tapestries, and was
in the second series of five which had to do with the life of St. Paul
as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. The apostle was on a journey
with his companion Barnabas, and they were teaching and healing as
they went. At Lystra they had performed a wonderful cure in healing a
man who had been a cripple from his birth.
"And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up
their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, 'The gods
are come down to us in the likeness of men,' And they called
Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercurius, because he was the
chief speaker.
"Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city,
brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have
done sacrifice with the people. Which, when the apostles,
Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and
ran in among the people, crying out, and saying, 'Sirs, why
do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with
you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these
vanities unto the living God.' ...
"And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people,
that they had not done sacrifice unto them."[3]
[Footnote 3: Acts of the Apostles, chapter xiv., verses 11-15, 18.]
In the picture we see the two apostles standing on a platform at the
left, by the steps of a temple, just as the crowd sweeps along from
the other side with two oxen in the midst of them. It was just such a
sacrificial procession as was formed on the days when they honored
their gods in the temples. Paul and Barnabas receive the demonstration
with dismay, the former rending his garments, and the latter clasping
his hands in perplexity.
In the tumult of many figures we pick out five principal persons. At
the right is the restored cripple whose recovery is the origin of the
excitement. His folded hands, raised in adoration, come against the
back of a youth who, quick to see the apostles' displeasure, reaches
out an arm to stay the sacrifice. His hand nearly touches the shoulder
of the sturdy priest in front, who is lifting his axe to deal the
deathblow to the sacrificial ox. The priest's up-raised hand is
brought near the elbow of Paul, behind whom stands his fellow apostle.
Thus there is a continuous chain extending across the picture to link
together those who make up the plot of the story. The most attractive
face in the company is that of the youth in the centre, eager and
handsome among the stolid countenances surrounding him. The apostles
themselves are presently to join him in his efforts to restrain the
people, but for the moment, single-handed among so many, he springs
forward fearlessly to oppose the purpose of the mob.
[Illustration: THE SACRIFICE AT LYSTRA
_South Kensington Museum, London_]
These five figures thus linked together carry the story, but how
abundantly the scene is enriched by the minor characters! There are
not a great many figures, and each head is seen perfectly, so that one
can count the actual number of persons present; but the first
impression made on the eye is of a hurrying, eager crowd. As one looks
more closely, he discovers particular persons who help to fill out the
story. There are two priestesses kneeling beside the ox that is to be
sacrificed. One figure, other than the cripple who has been healed, is
shown in the attitude of prayer. Perhaps the old man at the extreme
right is drawing aside the robe of the cripple, curious to see if
there are any signs of the miracle, or if that really was the leg
which was helpless.
The two children who stand by the altar, one playing the pipes, the
other with a book of music, are very characteristic of Raphael, who
loved thus to introduce a playful, innocent element. The singing child
has his eyes bent on the ram which is led up for sacrifice.
Raphael, like other illustrators of the Bible, does not always follow
exactly the text which he is to illustrate. The people called Barnabas
Jupiter, and Paul Mercury. This would seem to show that Barnabas was a
great, imposing figure, and Paul, according to tradition, was a small,
undersized man; but there is no such contrast to be seen here.
By a happy suggestion, the painter has placed in the background on a
pedestal a statue of Mercury. We know it by the winged staff which
Mercury is supposed to carry as a sign of his office of messenger of
the gods.
Raphael painted at a time when scholars and artists were enthusiastic
over the rediscovery of the literature and art of the ancient world.
Such a scene as this, therefore, appealed to him; for he could not
only depict a Biblical incident, but he could make his picture a study
of ancient life. The architecture, the altar, the figure of Mercury,
the wreath-bound heads, the sacrificial act itself, were all such as
he could imagine from ancient Greece. Indeed, the whole picture is
like a copy of an antique bas-relief; and in the original cartoon
there is, below the picture, a decorative border studied from antique
sculpture, and below that still an ornamental edge which was very
common in Greek work.
And yet, though Raphael thus made much of the Greek spirit in his
design, he was like all great painters of his day. He did not try
minutely to repeat Greek life as he imagined it. The men and women and
children were like those he was wont to see in Rome or Florence, or
Urbino, where he was born, and the headdresses were such as the women
of his time wore.
V
HELIODORUS DRIVEN FROM THE TEMPLE
In the Vatican palace there is one chamber in a series of chambers
decorated with Raphael's paintings which is called in Italian Stanza
d'Eliodoro, or the Heliodorus Room. The name is taken from the first
of the paintings which cover the walls of the room.
The story which Raphael told in this picture is taken from an incident
in the history of Jerusalem, which is related in one of the books of
the Apocrypha and in Josephus's History.
It was at a time when Jerusalem was a prosperous city, owing its good
government to the upright and honorable character of the high priest
Onias. Through his efforts a large fund of money and treasure had been
laid up for the relief of widows and orphans. This treasure was stored
in the sacred precincts of the temple and carefully guarded for the
uses for which it was intended.
Now it came about that a distant king heard of this valuable treasure
and set his heart upon it. He called his treasurer Heliodorus, and
straightway sent him to Jerusalem to bring back the treasure by fair
means or foul. Heliodorus was a bold man ready for his evil task.
Arriving at Jerusalem, he sought out Onias and made his demand,
which, as a matter of course, was promptly refused. Heliodorus then
prepared to take the treasure by force, and, accompanied by his men,
pushed into the temple amid the lamentations of the people and the
prayers of the priests. But just as the robbers had laid hands upon
the coveted treasure, a strange thing happened; and this is what the
old narrative relates:--
"There appeared unto them a horse with a terrible rider upon
him, and adorned with a very fair covering, and he ran
fiercely and smote at Heliodorus with his forefeet, and it
seemed that he that sat upon the horse had complete harness
of gold.
"Moreover, two other young men appeared before him, notable
in strength, excellent in beauty, and comely in apparel, who
stood by him on either side, and scourged him continually
and gave him many sore stripes.
"And Heliodorus fell suddenly unto the ground, and was
compassed with great darkness."[4]
[Footnote 4: Maccabees, book ii., chapter iii., verses 25-27.]
[Illustration: HELIODORUS DRIVEN FROM THE TEMPLE
_Vatican Palace, Rome_]
In the picture the priests still kneel at the distant altar while the
temple treasures are being borne away in heavy chests and jars.
Meanwhile swift retribution overtakes the despoiler. In gallops the
mysterious gold-armored horseman, his prancing steed crushing the
prostrate Heliodorus under his forefeet. On rush the two celestial
avengers, springing through the air in great flying leaps. Their feet
do not touch the ground as, with outspread arms and wind-blown hair,
they bound lightly forward, raising their scourges to drive out the
enemy. Heliodorus vainly lifts his spear to save himself; his men are
panic-stricken; his plot is undone. And yet in all this the angelic
avengers do not touch one of the prostrate or falling figures. Even
the horse's hoofs are not planted on Heliodorus. The victory is not
won by force, but by the mysterious power of celestial spirits.
Here is the way this picture affected a lover of art who stood before
it: "The Scourging of Heliodorus is full of energy, power, and
movement. The horse and his rider are irresistible, and the scourging
youths, terrible as embodied lightning; mortal weapons and mortal
muscles are powerless as infancy before such supernatural energies.
Like flax before the flame--like leaves before the storm--the strong
man and his attendants are consumed and borne away."
There is an interesting contrast in this great picture, for while all
this terrible action is going on at one side, one sees in an opposite
part a group of women and children, looking on with astonishment and
alarm. Near by is a figure carried in a chair on the shoulders of
strong men. This figure is Pope Julius II, and the reason why Raphael
introduced him into the painting is as follows:--
Julius was a warlike Pope who had expelled the enemies of the church
from the Papal territories and enlarged the boundaries of these
territories. He was also a great patron of the arts. He called on
Raphael to make designs for this chamber which should represent the
miraculous deliverance of the church from her secular foes; and as he
was regarded as the chief instrument in the victory, Raphael made him
present at this Expulsion of Heliodorus.
Not only the walls of the Heliodorus Room are adorned with pictures,
but the ceiling also is covered with designs, illustrating four Old
Testament stories of divine promises to the patriarchs: The Promise of
God to Abraham of a numerous posterity,[5] The Sacrifice of Isaac,
Jacob's Dream, Moses and the Burning Bush.
[Footnote 5: Sometimes interpreted as God appearing to Noah.]
Probably Raphael, who had friends among the cardinals and other
learned men of Rome, consulted them as to the selection of subjects
for this room. One can trace the thought which binds them all
together. On the ceiling we have God's promises made to his people of
old, while the pictures on the walls show how the same watchful
Providence delivered the church in later years.
VI
THE LIBERATION OF PETER
On the wall below the design of Jacob's Dream, in the ceiling of this
same Heliodorus Room, is the Liberation of Peter, painted above and on
each side of a window. The story is taken from the Acts of the
Apostles, Herod the king, as the narrative says, "stretched forth his
hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of
John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he
proceeded further to take Peter also." The story of the imprisonment
and liberation of Peter now follows:--
"And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and
delivered him to four quarternions of soldiers to keep him;
intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.
Peter therefore was kept in prison; but prayer was made
without ceasing of the church unto God for him.