upon one single person the infinite riches of its treasures, and all
those graces and rarest gifts that it is wont to distribute among
many individuals, over a long space of time, could be clearly seen
in the no less excellent than gracious Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino,
who was endowed by nature with all that modesty and goodness which
are seen at times in those who, beyond all other men, have added to
their natural sweetness and gentleness the beautiful adornment of
courtesy and grace, by reason of which they always show themselves
agreeable and pleasant to every sort of person and in all their
actions. Him nature presented to the world, when, vanquished by art
through the hands of Michelagnolo Buonarroti, she wished to be
vanquished, in Raffaello, by art and character together. And in
truth, since the greater part of the craftsmen who had lived up to
that time had received from nature a certain element of savagery and
madness, which, besides making them strange and eccentric, had
brought it about that very often there was revealed in them rather
the obscure darkness of vice than the brightness and splendour of
those virtues that make men immortal, there was right good reason
for her to cause to shine out brilliantly in Raffaello, as a
contrast to the others, all the rarest qualities of the mind,
accompanied by such grace, industry, beauty, modesty, and excellence
of character, as would have sufficed to efface any vice, however
hideous, and any blot, were it ever so great. Wherefore it may be
surely said that those who are the possessors of such rare and
numerous gifts as were seen in Raffaello da Urbino, are not merely
men, but, if it be not a sin to say it, mortal gods; and that those
who, by means of their works, leave an honourable name written in
the archives of fame in this earthly world of ours, can also hope to
have to enjoy in Heaven a worthy reward for their labours and
merits.
[Illustration: RAPHAEL: S. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON
(_S. Petersburg: Hermitage, 39. Panel_)]
Raffaello was born at Urbino, a very famous city in Italy, at three
o'clock of the night on Good Friday, in the year 1483, to a father
named Giovanni de' Santi, a painter of no great excellence, and yet
a man of good intelligence, well able to direct his children on that
good path which he himself had not been fortunate enough to have
shown to him in his boyhood. And since Giovanni knew how important
it is to rear infants, not with the milk of nurses, but with that of
their own mothers, no sooner was Raffaello born, to whom with happy
augury he gave that name at baptism, than he insisted that this his
only child--and he had no more afterwards--should be suckled by his
own mother, and that in his tender years he should have his
character formed in the house of his parents, rather than learn less
gentle or even boorish ways and habits in the houses of peasants or
common people. When he was well grown, he began to exercise him in
painting, seeing him much inclined to such an art, and possessed of
a very beautiful genius: wherefore not many years passed before
Raffaello, still a boy, became a great help to Giovanni in many
works that he executed in the state of Urbino. In the end, this good
and loving father, knowing that his son could learn little from him,
made up his mind to place him with Pietro Perugino, who, as he heard
tell, held the first place among painters at that time. He went,
therefore, to Perugia: but not finding Pietro there, he set himself,
in order to lessen the annoyance of waiting for him, to execute some
works in S. Francesco. When Pietro had returned from Rome, Giovanni,
who was a gentle and well-bred person, formed a friendship with him,
and, when the time appeared to have come, in the most adroit method
that he knew, told him his desire. And so Pietro, who was very
courteous and a lover of beautiful genius, agreed to have Raffaello:
whereupon Giovanni, going off rejoicing to Urbino, took the boy, not
without many tears on the part of his mother, who loved him dearly,
and brought him to Perugia, where Pietro, after seeing Raffaello's
method of drawing, and his beautiful manners and character,
formed a judgment of him which time, from the result, proved to be
very true.
It is a very notable thing that Raffaello, studying the manner of
Pietro, imitated it in every respect so closely, that his copies
could not be distinguished from his master's originals, and it was
not possible to see any clear difference between his works and
Pietro's; as is still evident from some figures in a panel in S.
Francesco at Perugia, which he executed in oils for Madonna
Maddalena degli Oddi. These are a Madonna who has risen into Heaven,
with Jesus Christ crowning her, while below, round the sepulchre,
are the twelve Apostles, contemplating the Celestial Glory, and at
the foot of the panel is a predella divided into three scenes,
painted with little figures, of the Madonna receiving the
Annunciation from the Angel, of the Magi adoring Christ, and of
Christ in the arms of Simeon in the Temple. This work is executed
with truly supreme diligence; and one who had not a good knowledge
of the two manners, would hold it as certain that it is by the hand
of Pietro, whereas it is without a doubt by the hand of Raffaello.
After this work, Pietro returning to Florence on some business of
his own, Raffaello departed from Perugia and went off with some
friends to Città di Castello, where he painted a panel for S.
Agostino in the same manner, and likewise one of a Crucifixion for
S. Domenico, which, if his name were not written upon it, no one
would believe to be a work by Raffaello, but rather by Pietro. For
S. Francesco, also in the same city, he painted a little
panel-picture of the Marriage of Our Lady, in which one may
recognize the excellence of Raffaello increasing and growing in
refinement, and surpassing the manner of Pietro. In this work is a
temple drawn in perspective with such loving care, that it is a
marvellous thing to see the difficulties that he was for ever
seeking out in this branch of his profession.
Meanwhile, when he had acquired very great fame by following his
master's manner, Pope Pius II[23] had given the commission for
painting the library of the Duomo at Siena to Pinturicchio; and he,
being a friend of Raffaello, and knowing him to be an excellent
draughtsman, brought him to Siena, where Raffaello made for him some
of the drawings and cartoons for that work. The reason that he did
not continue at it was that some painters in Siena kept extolling
with vast praise the cartoon that Leonardo da Vinci had made in the
Sala del Papa[24] of a very beautiful group of horsemen, to be
painted afterwards in the Hall of the Palace of the Signoria, and
likewise some nudes executed by Michelagnolo Buonarroti in
competition with Leonardo, and much better; and Raffaello, on
account of the love that he always bore to the excellent in art, was
seized by such a desire to see them, that, putting aside that work
and all thought of his own advantage and comfort, he went off to
Florence.
Having arrived there, and being pleased no less with the city than
with those works, which appeared to him to be divine, he determined
to take up his abode there for some time; and thus he formed a
friendship with some young painters, among whom were Ridolfo
Ghirlandajo, Aristotile da San Gallo, and others, and became much
honoured in that city, particularly by Taddeo Taddei, who, being one
who always loved any man inclined to excellence, would have him ever
in his house and at his table. And Raffaello, who was gentleness
itself, in order not to be beaten in courtesy, made him two
pictures, which incline to his first manner, derived from Pietro,
but also to the other much better manner that he afterwards acquired
by study, as will be related; which pictures are still in the house
of the heirs of the said Taddeo.
[Illustration: LO SPOSALIZIO
(_After the panel by =Raffaello da Urbino=. Milan: Brera, 472_)
_Anderson_]
Raffaello also formed a very great friendship with Lorenzo Nasi; and
for this Lorenzo, who had taken a wife about that time, he painted a
picture in which he made a Madonna, and between her legs her Son, to
whom a little S. John, full of joy, is offering a bird, with great
delight and pleasure for both of them. In the attitude of each is a
certain childlike simplicity which is wholly lovely, besides that
they are so well coloured, and executed with such diligence, that
they appear to be rather of living flesh than wrought by means of
colour and draughtsmanship; the Madonna, likewise, has an air truly
full of grace and divinity; and the foreground, the landscapes, and
in short all the rest of the work, are most beautiful. This
picture was held by Lorenzo Nasi, as long as he lived, in very great
veneration, both in memory of Raffaello, who had been so much his
friend, and on account of the dignity and excellence of the work;
but afterwards, on August 9, in the year 1548, it met an evil fate,
when, on account of the collapse of the hill of S. Giorgio, the
house of Lorenzo fell down, together with the ornate and beautiful
houses of the heirs of Marco del Nero, and other neighbouring
dwellings. However, the pieces of the picture being found among the
fragments of the ruins, the son of Lorenzo, Battista, who was a great
lover of art, had them put together again as well as was possible.
[Illustration: MADDALENA DONI
(_After the panel by =Raffaello da Urbino=. Florence: Pitti, 59_)
_Anderson_]
After these works, Raffaello was forced to depart from Florence and
go to Urbino, where, on account of the death of his mother and of
his father Giovanni, all his affairs were in confusion. While he was
living in Urbino, therefore, he painted for Guidobaldo da
Montefeltro, then Captain of the Florentines, two pictures of Our
Lady, small but very beautiful, and in his second manner, which are
now in the possession of the most illustrious and excellent
Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino. For the same patron he painted a little
picture of Christ praying in the Garden, with the three Apostles
sleeping at some distance from Him. This painting is so highly
finished, that a miniature could not be better, or in any way
different; and after having been a long time in the possession of
Francesco Maria, Duke of Urbino, it was then presented by the most
illustrious Signora Leonora, his consort, to the Venetians Don Paolo
Giustiniano and Don Pietro Quirini, hermits of the holy Hermitage of
Camaldoli, who afterwards placed it, as a relic and a very rare
thing, and, in a word, as a work by the hand of Raffaello da Urbino,
and also to honour the memory of that most illustrious lady, in the
apartment of the Superior of that hermitage, where it is held in the
veneration that it deserves.
Having executed these works and settled his affairs, Raffaello
returned to Perugia, where he painted a panel-picture of Our Lady,
S. John the Baptist, and S. Nicholas, for the Chapel of the Ansidei
in the Church of the Servite Friars. And in the Chapel of the
Madonna in S. Severo, a little monastery of the Order of Camaldoli,
in the same city, he painted in fresco a Christ in Glory, and a God
the Father with angels round Him, and six saints seated, S.
Benedict, S. Romualdo, S. Laurence, S. Jerome, S. Mauro, and S.
Placido, three on either side; and on this picture, which was held
at that time to be most beautiful for a work in fresco, he wrote his
name in large and very legible letters. In the same city, also, he
was commissioned by the Nuns of S. Anthony of Padua to paint a
panel-picture of Our Lady, with Jesus Christ fully dressed, as it
pleased those simple and venerable sisters, in her lap, and on
either side of the Madonna S. Peter, S. Paul, S. Cecilia, and S.
Catherine; to which two holy virgins he gave the sweetest and most
lovely expressions of countenance and the most beautifully varied
head-dresses that are anywhere to be seen, which was a rare thing in
those times. Above this panel, in a lunette, he painted a very
beautiful God the Father, and in the predella of the altar three
scenes with little figures, of Christ praying in the Garden, bearing
the Cross (wherein are some soldiers dragging Him along with most
beautiful movements), and lying dead in the lap of His Mother. This
work is truly marvellous and devout; and it is held in great
veneration by those nuns, and much extolled by all painters.
I will not refrain from saying that it was recognized, after he had
been in Florence, that he changed and improved his manner so much,
from having seen many works by the hands of excellent masters, that
it had nothing to do with his earlier manner; indeed, the two might
have belonged to different masters, one much more excellent than the
other in painting.
Before he departed from Perugia, Madonna Atalanta Baglioni besought
him that he should consent to paint a panel for her chapel in the
Church of S. Francesco; but since he was not able to meet her wishes
at that time, he promised her that, after returning from Florence,
whither he was obliged to go on some affairs, he would not fail her.
And so, having come to Florence, where he applied himself with
incredible labour to the studies of his art, he made the cartoon for
that chapel, with the intention of going, as he did, as soon as the
occasion might present itself, to put it into execution.
[Illustration: RAFFAELLO DA URBINO: ANGELO DONI
(_Florence: Pitti, 61. Panel_)]
While he was thus staying in Florence, Agnolo Doni--who was very
careful of his money in other things, but willing to spend it,
although still with the greatest possible economy, on works of
painting and sculpture, in which he much delighted--caused him to
make portraits of himself and of his wife; and these may be seen,
painted in his new manner, in the possession of Giovan Battista, his
son, in the beautiful and most commodious house that the same Agnolo
built on the Corso de' Tintori, near the Canto degli Alberti, in
Florence. For Domenico Canigiani, also, he painted a picture of Our
Lady, with the Child Jesus welcoming a little S. John brought to Him
by S. Elizabeth, who, as she holds him, is gazing with a most
animated expression at a S. Joseph, who is standing with both his
hands leaning on a staff, and inclines his head towards her, as
though praising the greatness of God and marvelling that she, so
advanced in years, should have so young a child. And all appear to
be amazed to see with how much feeling and reverence the two
cousins, for all their tender age, are caressing one another; not to
mention that every touch of colour in the heads, hands, and feet
seems to be living flesh rather than a tint laid on by a master of
that art. This most noble picture is now in the possession of the
heirs of the said Domenico Canigiani, who hold it in the estimation
that is due to a work by Raffaello da Urbino.
This most excellent of painters studied in the city of Florence the
old works of Masaccio; and what he saw in those of Leonardo and
Michelagnolo made him give even greater attention to his studies, in
consequence of which he effected an extraordinary improvement in his
art and manner. While he was living in Florence, Raffaello, besides
other friendships, became very intimate with Fra Bartolommeo di San
Marco, being much pleased with his colouring, and taking no little
pains to imitate it: and in return he taught that good father the
principles of perspective, to which up to that time the monk had not
given any attention.
But at the very height of this friendly intercourse, Raffaello was
recalled to Perugia, where he began by finishing the work for the
aforesaid Madonna Atalanta Baglioni in S. Francesco, for which, as
has been related, he had made the cartoon in Florence. In this most
divine picture there is a Dead Christ being borne to the Sepulchre,
executed with such freshness and such loving care, that it seems to
the eye to have been only just painted. In the composition of this
work, Raffaello imagined to himself the sorrow that the nearest and
most affectionate relatives of the dead one feel in laying to rest
the body of him who has been their best beloved, and on whom, in
truth, the happiness, honour, and welfare of a whole family have
depended. Our Lady is seen in a swoon; and the heads of all the
figures are very gracious in their weeping, particularly that of S.
John, who, with his hands clasped, bows his head in such a manner as
to move the hardest heart to pity. And in truth, whoever considers
the diligence, love, art, and grace shown by this picture, has great
reason to marvel, for it amazes all who behold it, what with the air
of the figures, the beauty of the draperies, and, in short, the
supreme excellence that it reveals in every part.
[Illustration: "THE SCHOOL OF ATHENS"
(_After the fresco by =Raffaello da Urbino=. Rome: The Vatican_)
_Anderson_]
This work finished, he returned to Florence, where he received from
the Dei, citizens of that city, the commission for an altar-panel
that was to be placed in their chapel in S. Spirito; and he began
it, and brought the sketch very nearly to completion. At the same
time he painted a picture that was afterwards sent to Siena,
although, on the departure of Raffaello, it was left with Ridolfo
Ghirlandajo, to the end that he might finish a piece of blue drapery
that was wanting. This happened because Bramante da Urbino, who was
in the service of Julius II, wrote to Raffaello, on account of his
being distantly related to him and also his compatriot, that he had
so wrought upon the Pope, who had caused some new rooms to be made
(in the Vatican), that Raffaello would have a chance of showing his
worth in them. This proposal pleased Raffaello: wherefore,
abandoning his works in Florence, and leaving the panel for the Dei
unfinished, in the state in which Messer Baldassarre da Pescia had
it placed in the Pieve of his native city after the death of
Raffaello, he betook himself to Rome. Having arrived there, he found
that most of the rooms in the Palace had been painted, or were still
being painted, by a number of masters. To be precise, he saw that
there was one room in which a scene had been finished by Piero della
Francesca; Luca da Cortona had brought one wall nearly to
completion; and Don Pietro[25] della Gatta, Abbot of S. Clemente
at Arezzo, had begun some works there. Bramantino, the Milanese, had
likewise painted many figures, which were mostly portraits from
life, and were held to be very beautiful. After his arrival,
therefore, having been received very warmly by Pope Julius,
Raffaello began in the Camera della Segnatura a scene of the
theologians reconciling Philosophy and Astrology with Theology:
wherein are portraits of all the sages in the world, disputing in
various ways. Standing apart are some astrologers, who have made
various kinds of figures and characters of geomancy and astrology on
some little tablets, which they send to the Evangelists by certain
very beautiful angels; and these Evangelists are expounding them.
Among them is Diogenes with his cup, lying on the steps, and lost in
thought, a figure very well conceived, which, for its beauty and the
characteristic negligence of its dress, is worthy to be extolled.
There, also, are Aristotle and Plato, one with the Timæus in his
hand, the other with the Ethics; and round them, in a circle, is a
great school of philosophers. Nor is it possible to express the
beauty of those astrologers and geometricians who are drawing a vast
number of figures and characters with compasses on tablets: among
whom, in the figure of a young man, shapely and handsome, who is
throwing out his arms in admiration, and inclining his head, is the
portrait of Federigo II, Duke of Mantua, who was then in Rome. There
is also a figure that is stooping to the ground, holding in its hand
a pair of compasses, with which it is making a circle on a tablet:
this is said to be the architect Bramante, and it is no less the man
himself than if he were alive, so well is it drawn. Beside a figure
with its back turned and holding a globe of the heavens in its hand,
is the portrait of Zoroaster; and next to him is Raffaello, the
master of the work, who made his own portrait by means of a mirror,
in a youthful head with an air of great modesty, filled with a
pleasing and excellent grace, and wearing a black cap.
Nor is one able to describe the beauty and goodness that are to be
seen in the heads and figures of the Evangelists, to whose
countenances he gave an air of attention and intentness very true to
life, and particularly in those who are writing. Thus, behind S.
Matthew, who is copying the characters from the tablet wherein are
the figures (which is held before him by an angel), and writing them
down in a book, he painted an old man who, having placed a piece of
paper on his knee, is copying all that S. Matthew writes down; and
while intent on his work in that uncomfortable position, he seems to
twist his head and his jaws in time with the motion of the pen. And
in addition to the details of the conceptions, which are numerous
enough, there is the composition of the whole scene, which is truly
arranged with so much order and proportion, that he may be said to
have given therein such a proof of his powers as made men understand
that he was resolved to hold the sovereignty, without question,
among all who handled the brush.
He also adorned this work with a view in perspective and with many
figures, executed in such a sweet and delicate manner, that Pope
Julius was induced thereby to cause all the scenes of the other
masters, both the old and the new, to be thrown to the ground, so
that Raffaello alone might have the glory of all the labours that
had been devoted to these works up to that time. The work of
Giovanni Antonio Sodoma of Vercelli, which was above Raffaello's
painting, was to be thrown down by order of the Pope; but Raffaello
determined to make use of its compartments and grotesques. There
were also some medallions, four in number, and in each of these he
made a figure as a symbol of the scenes below, each figure being on
the same side as the scene that it represented. Over the first
scene, wherein he painted Philosophy, Astrology, Geometry, and
Poetry making peace with Theology, is a woman representing
Knowledge, who is seated on a throne that is supported on either
side by a figure of the Goddess Cybele, each with those many breasts
which in ancient times were the attributes of Diana Polymastes; and
her dress is of four colours, standing for the four elements; from
the head downwards there is the colour of fire, below the girdle
that of the sky, from the groin to the knees there is the colour of
earth, and the rest, down to the feet, is the colour of water. With
her, also, are some truly beautiful little boys. In another
medallion, on the side towards the window that looks over the
Belvedere, is a figure of Poetry, who is in the form of Polyhymnia,
crowned with laurel, and holds an antique musical instrument in one
hand, and a book in the other, and has her legs crossed. With a more
than human beauty of expression in her countenance, she stands with
her eyes uplifted towards Heaven, accompanied by two little boys,
who are lively and spirited, and who make a group of beautiful
variety both with her and with the others. On this side, over the
aforesaid window, Raffaello afterwards painted Mount Parnassus. In
the third medallion, which is above the scene where the Holy Doctors
are ordaining the Mass, is a figure of Theology, no less beautiful
than the others, with books and other things round her, and likewise
accompanied by little boys. And in the fourth medallion, over the
other window, which looks out on the court, he painted Justice with
her scales, and her sword uplifted, and with the same little boys
that are with the others; of which the effect is supremely
beautiful, for in the scene on the wall below he depicted the giving
of the Civil and the Canon Law, as we will relate in the proper
place.