A letter written by Raphael to his uncle Simone Ciarla on the 1st of
July 1514 is of incalculable importance for the light it throws upon
the master's private life and character. It is written by a man flushed
with success, but modest withal--in the full enjoyment of all the gifts
that fortune and his talent and tact have brought to him, but in no way
overbearing or boastful. And through it all sounds a note of cool
calculation--in money matters as well as in the weighing of matrimonial
chances. He states the amount of his fortune, of his salary as
architect of St. Peter's, and of the payments that are to be made to
him for "work in hand." And in the same way he refers to an
"advantageous match" proposed to him by Cardinal Bibbiani, to which he
has already pledged himself, but should it fall to the ground, "I will
fall in with your wishes"--a reference apparently to an eligible
matrimonial candidate in Urbino. Nor are there chances lacking in Rome,
where, indeed, he knows of a pretty girl with a dowry of 3000 gold
crowns! He also mentions with no little pride that he is living in Rome
in his own house.
These remarks about his matrimonial schemes take us to one of the most
interesting and most disputed chapters of Raphael's life--his irregular
attachment to the "Bella Fornarina," the beautiful daughter of a baker
from Siena, which is referred to first by Vasari, and then, in 1665, by
Fabio Chigi, and has been treated as mere invention by many modern
writers. The evidence collected by Signor Rodolfo Lanciani proves,
however, the truth of Vasari's story, and furthermore establishes the
name and ultimate fate of the "Fornarina." According to local
tradition, three houses in Rome are pointed out as the successive
homes of Raphael's _inamorata_; and each of these houses is in close
proximity to the buildings, on the decoration of which the master was
successively employed. The first of these houses in the Via di Sta.
Dorotea is still occupied by a bakery known as "il forno della
Fornarina;" the second is in the Vicolo del Cedro near St. Egidio in
Trastevere; and the third is the Palazzetto Sassi, which has a tablet
let into the wall with an inscription to the effect that "Tradition
says that the one who became so dear to Raphael, and whom he raised to
fame, lived in this house."
It has now been ascertained from a census return made under Leo X. in
1518, that one of the houses of the Sassi family was occupied by the
baker Francesco from Siena, which completely tallies with the tradition
that "Margherita, donna di Raffaello," as she is described in a
contemporary marginal note in a copy of the Giunta edition of Vasari
in 1568, was the daughter of a baker from Siena. But even more decisive
is the proof which was found in 1897 in an entry in the ledger of the
Congregation of Sant'Apollonia in Trastevere, a kind of home for fallen
and repentant women. This entry, which is under the date of the 18th
August 1520, that is a little over four months after Raphael's death,
runs as follows: "A di 18 Augusti 1520 Hoggi e stata recenta nel nostro
Conservatorio ma^a Margarita vedoa, figliola del quondam Francescho
Luti da Siena." ("August 18, 1520.--To-day has been received into our
establishment the widow _Margarita, daughter of the late Francesco Luti
of Siena_.") The remarkable coincidence of dates and names leaves no
doubt that this "widow" was the Bella Fornarina, Margherita, the
daughter of the baker Francesco from Siena, and the beautiful creature
who served Raphael as model for the "Donna Velata," for the "Sistine
Madonna," and for one of the heads in the "St. Cecilia."
The story goes that Raphael's attachment lasted up to the time of his
death, when, on the insistence of the Pope's messenger who was to bring
the dying man the benediction, she was removed from the room. Vasari
also relates that in his will Raphael "left her a sufficient provision
wherewith she might live in decency." His long infatuation with the
baker's daughter may well account for his unwillingness to enter into
the bonds of matrimony even with as desirable and noble a partner as
Cardinal Bernardo Divizio's niece, Maria Bibbiena, to whom he was
practically engaged in 1514, and who after years of postponement is
said to have died of a broken heart. Vasari's statement that Raphael's
hesitation was due to the prospect of a cardinal's hat being bestowed
upon him is utterly untrustworthy and contrary to all precedent and
reason. It is much more likely that Raphael considered it diplomatic to
humour a man in as powerful a position as Cardinal Bibbiena, and to
agree to become engaged to his niece, even though his own position at
the time was such that he could speak on terms of equality to
cardinals, as may be gathered from this witty repartee recorded by his
friend Baldassare Castiglione: Two cardinals, who examined a painting
upon which he was just engaged, found fault with the redness of the
complexion of St. Peter and St. Paul. "My Lords," retorted Raphael, "be
not concerned; because I painted them so with full intention, since we
have reason to believe that St. Peter and St. Paul are as red in Heaven
as you see them here, for shame that their Church should be governed by
such as you!"
But we must return to Raphael's work in the last decade of his life.
He could now no longer devote himself entirely to the art of his
choice, and found it utterly impossible to cope with the multitude of
commissions that were showered upon him by the mighty of this earth,
even though a swarm of assistants were constantly kept at work. The
vain appeals of Isabella d'Este for a small painting from his hand
prove the difficulty of obtaining such a favour. For Raphael was now
the Pope's architect and superintendent of ceremonies, and in 1515 he
was appointed inspector of antiquities in succession to Fra Giocondo of
Verona. He had to paint scenery and to design medals and plans; and on
one occasion he was actually called upon to paint a life-size elephant
on the walls of the Vatican!
[Illustration: PLATE VIII.--PORTRAIT OF RAPHAEL
(In the Uffizi Gallery, Florence)
Though much "restored" and over-painted--and not by the most competent
hands--the portrait of Raphael in the _Sala dei Pittori_ at the Uffizi,
the Walhalla of pictorial fame, is undoubtedly painted by the master
himself, at the age of about twenty-three, when his features had lost
none of the almost girlish charm and delicacy of which we are told by
contemporary writers. In time the portrait stands midway between
Timoteo Viti's charming drawing of his "apprentice," the boy Raphael,
at the Oxford University Galleries, and Sebastiano del Piombo's
portrait of the "Prince of Painters" at the Buda-Pesth Museum.]
Yet, with all these absorbing occupations he found time to model
several reliefs for the Chigi tomb in the Chigi Chapel of St. Maria
del Popolo, notably a panel of classic design representing "Christ and
the Woman of Samaria," which was cast in bronze by Lorenzotto, who also
executed in marble a statue of Jonah from a model by Raphael. He
furnished the architectural designs of the Villa Madama for Giulio dei
Medici (afterwards Clement VII.) and several other palaces in Rome, and
also for the dainty Palazzo Pandolfini in Florence, where the
alternating arched and triangular pediments are for the first time
introduced in secular Renaissance architecture. He furnished the
engraver Marcantonio Raimondi of Bologna with designs like the famous
"Judgment of Paris." He planned and began an elaborate Cosmography of
Rome; and yet in the midst of all his varied labours he found leisure
to scribble some ardent love sonnets on his sheets of drawings. An
example of his poetic effusions is preserved at the British Museum,
and its ardent tone lends colour to Vasari's assertion that Raphael was
extremely susceptible to the charms of the fair sex. The palace in
which he lived in princely state was built by Bramante and bought by
Raphael on October 7, 1517. In very much altered form it still stands
in the Piazza di Scossacavalli at the corner of the Via di Borgo Nuovo.
Since the present building has been identified as Raphael's palace, his
studio has been discovered, cut into two apartments, but with a
beautiful wooden ceiling by Bramante left intact.
In this studio he must have painted the greatest and most deservedly
popular of his altar-pieces, the "Madonna di San Sisto," and the
"Transfiguration," now at the Vatican Gallery, which was on his easel
when death stayed his hand. Here, too, he probably painted that
masterly portrait of "Baldassare Castiglione," which is one of the
priceless treasures of the Louvre, and perhaps the magnificent group of
"Leo X. with Cardinals Giulio dei Medici and L. dei Rossi," now at the
Pitti Palace. All the most notable men who were in Rome at that period
passed through Raphael's studio, but of the portraits which he is known
to have painted in Rome, comparatively few have come down to us. That
of the humanist Tommaso Inghirami was until recently at the Inghirami
Palace in Volterra, but has now gone across the Atlantic; one of
Cardinal Bibbiena is in Madrid; and one of the Venetian humanists
Navagero and Beazzano in the Doria Palace in Rome. Among the lost
portraits are those of Pietro Bembo, of Giuliano dei Medici, Duke of
Nemours, of Federigo Gonzaga, and of Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino.
Meanwhile Raphael's pupils had been busy with the decoration of the
remaining two _Stanze_ of the Vatican after Raphael's designs. In the
Stanza dell'Incendio del Borgo, which was decorated for Leo. X. between
1514-1517, Giulio Romano had painted the "Battle of Ostia" and most of
the "Incendio del Borgo," though parts of the latter, which illustrates
the staying of the great conflagration by Leo IV.'s prayer, are
unquestionably Raphael's own. The last room, called the Hall of
Constantine, was almost entirely painted after the master's death by
his pupils, who also had the chief share in the execution of the
fifty-two scriptural subjects in the Loggia of the Vatican, which are
known as "The Bible of Raphael." Most of this work was done by Perino
del Vaga, while Giovanni da Udine added the arabesques and grotesques
round the panels. But all this has suffered much from exposure to the
elements, and has been entirely repainted.
For Agostino Chigi's Villa Farnesina, Raphael painted the beautiful
"Galatea" fresco, which may be considered the supreme expression of the
spirit of the Renaissance. This merchant prince gave the master another
opportunity for displaying his decorative skill, when he employed him
in adorning the Chigi Chapel in St. Maria della Pace. The Sibyls and
Angels of these frescoes afford the most striking instance of
Michelangelo's influence upon Raphael; and it is a curious coincidence
that it was just in reference to this work that Michelangelo was called
upon to express his opinion as to the fairness of Raphael's charge of
500 ducats. That small jealousy was not one of Buonarroti's faults
appears from the generous valuation of 900 ducats he put upon his
rival's work.
In 1515-1516 Raphael designed the cartoons for the tapestries which
were to complete the decoration of the Sistine Chapel. The cartoons
were translated into the material by the looms of Flanders at a cost
of 34,000 scudi; and these tapestries are now, after many wanderings,
and after having suffered much dilapidation, housed on the upper floor
of the Vatican. Seven of the cartoons, cut into strips for the
exigencies of the loom, were discovered in Flanders by Rubens, and
purchased on his advice by Charles I. in 1630. On the breaking up of
the ill-fated king's collection, they were saved from transportation by
Oliver Cromwell and are now at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The
execution of these cartoons is almost entirely due to Gian Francesco
Penni, and the borders of the tapestries were designed by Giovanni da
Usline. About 1516 Raphael also decorated Cardinal Bibbiena's bathroom
with the "Triumphs of Venus and Cupid," in Pompeian style. The frescoes
are still in existence, but are not accessible to the public.
In the early days of April 1520 Raphael was attacked by a fever which
he had probably contracted in superintending some excavations. He made
his last will on the 4th of April and died on the 6th. That he repented
of his treatment of Maria Bibbiena is fairly evident from the epitaph
which, by his wish, was placed upon her tomb: "We, Baldassare Turini da
Pescia and Gianbattista Branconi dall'Aquila, testamentary executors
and recipients of the last wishes of Raphael, have raised this memorial
to his affianced wife, Maria, daughter of Antonio da Bibbiena, whom
death deprived of a happy marriage." After providing for the Fornarina,
so that she might "live in decency," he left his fortune of 16,000
ducats to his relatives, and his drawings and sketches to his favourite
pupils Giulio Romano and Penni. He was buried in the Pantheon in close
proximity to Maria Bibbiena. His epitaph was written by Cardinal Bembo,
and Count Baldassare Castiglione also put his grief into the shape of
a beautiful sonnet.
"The death of Raphael," says Vasari, "was bitterly deplored by all the
Papal court, not only because he had formed part thereof, since he had
held the office of chamberlain to the Pontiff, but also because Leo X.
had esteemed him so highly, that his loss occasioned that sovereign the
bitterest grief. Oh, most happy and thrice blessed spirit, of whom all
are proud to speak, whose actions are celebrated with praise by all
men, and the least of whose works left behind thee is admired and
prized."