pendentives, he executed four scenes which he drew and coloured with
great diligence, but with figures of no great size. In one of these,
that near the Theology, he painted the Sin of Adam, the eating of
the apple, which he executed with a most delicate manner; and in the
second, near the Astrology, is a figure of that science setting the
fixed stars and planets in their places. In the next, that belonging
to Mount Parnassus, is Marsyas, whom Apollo has caused to be bound
to a tree and flayed; and on the side of the scene wherein the
Decretals are given, there is the Judgment of Solomon, showing him
proposing to have the child cut in half. These four scenes are all
full of expression and feeling, and executed with excellent
draughtsmanship, and with pleasing and gracious colouring.
But now, having finished with the vaulting--that is, the ceiling--of
that apartment, it remains for us to describe what he painted below
the things mentioned above, wall by wall. On the wall towards the
Belvedere, where there are Mount Parnassus and the Fount of Helicon,
he made round that mount a laurel wood of darkest shadows, in the
verdure of which one almost sees the leaves quivering in the gentle
zephyrs; and in the air are vast numbers of naked Loves, most
beautiful in feature and expression, who are plucking branches of
laurel and with them making garlands, which they throw and scatter
about the mount. Over the whole, in truth, there seems to breathe a
spirit of divinity, so beautiful are the figures, and such the
nobility of the picture, which makes whoever studies it with
attention marvel how a human brain, by the imperfect means of mere
colours, and by excellence of draughtsmanship, could make painted
things appear alive. Most lifelike, also, are those Poets who are
seen here and there about the mount, some standing, some seated,
some writing, and others discoursing, and others, again, singing or
conversing together, in groups of four or six, according as it
pleased him to distribute them. There are portraits from nature of
all the most famous poets, ancient and modern, and some only just
dead, or still living in his day; which were taken from statues or
medals, and many from old pictures, and some, who were still alive,
portrayed from the life by himself. And to begin with one end, there
are Ovid, Virgil, Ennius, Tibullus, Catullus, Propertius, and Homer;
the last-named, blind and chanting his verses with uplifted head,
having at his feet one who is writing them down. Next, in a group,
are all the nine Muses and Apollo, with such beauty in their aspect,
and such divinity in the figures, that they breathe out a spirit of
grace and life. There, also, are the learned Sappho, the most divine
Dante, the gracious Petrarca, and the amorous Boccaccio, who are
wholly alive, with Tibaldeo, and an endless number of other moderns;
and this scene is composed with much grace, and executed with
diligence.
On another wall he made a Heaven, with Christ, Our Lady, S. John the
Baptist, the Apostles, the Evangelists, and the Martyrs, enthroned
on clouds, with God the Father sending down the Holy Spirit over
them all, and particularly over an endless number of saints, who are
below, writing the Mass, and engaged in disputation about the Host,
which is on the altar. Among these are the four Doctors of the
Church, who have about them a vast number of saints, such as
Dominic, Francis, Thomas Aquinas, Buonaventura, Scotus, and Nicholas
of Lira, with Dante, Fra Girolamo Savonarola of Ferrara, and all the
Christian theologians, with an infinite number of portraits from
nature; and in the air are four little children, who are holding
open the Gospels. Anything more graceful or more perfect than these
figures no painter could create, since those saints are represented
as seated in the air, in a circle, and so well, that in truth,
besides the appearance of life that the colouring gives them, they
are foreshortened and made to recede in such a manner, that they
would not be otherwise if they were in relief. Moreover, their
vestments show a rich variety, with most beautiful folds in the
draperies, and the expressions of the heads are more Divine than
human; as may be seen in that of Christ, which reveals all the
clemency and devoutness that Divinity can show to mortal men through
the medium of painting. For Raffaello received from nature a
particular gift of making the expressions of his heads very sweet
and gracious; of which we have proof also in the Madonna, who, with
her hands pressed to her bosom, gazing in contemplation upon her
Son, seems incapable of refusing any favour; not to mention that he
showed a truly beautiful sense of fitness, giving a look of age to
the expressions of the Holy Patriarchs, simplicity to the Apostles,
and faith to the Martyrs. Even more art and genius did he display in
the holy Christian Doctors, in whose features, while they make
disputation throughout the scene in groups of six or three or two,
there may be seen a kind of eagerness and distress in seeking to
find the truth of that which is in question, revealing this by
gesticulating with their hands, making various movements of their
persons, turning their ears to listen, knitting their brows, and
expressing astonishment in many different ways, all truly well
varied and appropriate; save only the four Doctors of the Church,
who, illumined by the Holy Spirit, are unravelling and expounding,
by means of the Holy Scriptures, all the problems of the Gospels,
which are held up by those little boys who have them in their hands
as they hover in the air.
On another wall, where the other window is, on one side, he painted
Justinian giving the Laws to the Doctors to be revised; and above
this, Temperance, Fortitude, and Prudence. On the other side he
painted the Pope giving the Canonical Decretals; for which Pope he
made a portrait from life of Pope Julius, and, beside him, Cardinal
Giovanni de' Medici, who became Pope Leo, Cardinal Antonio di Monte,
and Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, who afterwards became Pope Paul
III, with other portraits.
The Pope was very well satisfied with this work; and in order to
make the panelling worthy of the paintings, he sent to Monte Oliveto
di Chiusuri, a place in the territory of Siena, for Fra Giovanni da
Verona, a great master at that time of perspective-views in inlaid
woodwork, who made there not only the panelling right round, but
also very beautiful doors and seats, wrought with perspective-views,
which brought him great favour, rewards, and honour from the Pope.
And it is certain that in that craft there was never any man more
able than Giovanni, either in design or in workmanship: of which we
still have proof in the Sacristy, wrought most beautifully with
perspective-views in woodwork, of S. Maria in Organo in his native
city of Verona, in the choir of Monte Oliveto di Chiusuri and that
of S. Benedetto at Siena, in the Sacristy of Monte Oliveto at
Naples, and also in the choir of the Chapel of Paolo da Tolosa in
the same place, executed by that master. Wherefore he well deserved
to be esteemed and held in very great honour by the convent of his
Order, in which he died at the age of sixty-eight, in the year 1537.
Of him, as of a person truly excellent and rare, I have thought it
right to make mention, believing that this was due to his talents,
which, as will be related in another place, led to many beautiful
works being made by other masters after him.
[Illustration: THE "DISPUTA DEL SACRAMENTO"
(_After the fresco by =Raffaello da Urbino=. Rome: The Vatican_)
_Anderson_]
But to return to Raffaello; his powers grew in such a manner, that
he was commissioned by the Pope to go on to paint a second room,
that near the Great Hall. And at this time, when he had gained a
very great name, he also made a portrait of Pope Julius in a picture
in oils, so true and so lifelike, that the portrait caused all who
saw it to tremble, as if it had been the living man himself. This
work is now in S. Maria del Popolo, together with a very beautiful
picture of Our Lady, painted at the same time by the same master,
and containing the Nativity of Jesus Christ, wherein is the Virgin
laying a veil over her Son, whose beauty is such, both in the air of
the head and in all the members, as to show that He is the true Son
of God. And no less beautiful than the Child is the Madonna, in
whom, besides her supreme loveliness, there may be seen piety and
gladness. There is also a Joseph, who, leaning with both his hands
on a staff, and lost in thoughtful contemplation of the King and
Queen of Heaven, gazes with the adoration of a most saintly old man.
Both these pictures are exhibited on days of solemn festival.
By this time Raffaello had acquired much fame in Rome; but, although
his manner was graceful and held by all to be very beautiful, and
despite the fact that he had seen so many antiquities in that city,
and was for ever studying, nevertheless he had not yet given thereby
to his figures that grandeur and majesty which he gave to them from
that time onward. For it happened in those days that Michelagnolo
made the terrifying outburst against the Pope in the chapel, of
which we will speak in his Life; whence he was forced to fly to
Florence. Whereupon Bramante, having the keys of the chapel, allowed
Raffaello, who was his friend, to see it, to the end that he might
be able to learn the methods of Michelagnolo. And the sight of it
was the reason that Raffaello straightway repainted, although he had
already finished it, the Prophet Isaiah that is to be seen in S.
Agostino at Rome, above the S. Anne by Andrea Sansovino; in which
work, by means of what he had seen of Michelagnolo's painting, he
made the manner immeasurably better and more grand, and gave it
greater majesty. Wherefore Michelagnolo, on seeing afterwards the
work of Raffaello, thought, as was the truth, that Bramante had done
him that wrong on purpose in order to bring profit and fame to
Raffaello.
Not long after this, Agostino Chigi, a very rich merchant of Siena,
who was much the friend of every man of excellence, gave Raffaello
the commission to paint a chapel; and this he did because a short
time before Raffaello had painted for him in his softest manner, in
a loggia of his palace, now called the Chigi, in the Trastevere, a
Galatea in a car on the sea drawn by two dolphins, and surrounded by
Tritons and many sea-gods. Raffaello, then, having made the cartoon
for that chapel, which is at the entrance of the Church of S. Maria
della Pace, on the right hand as one goes into the church by the
principal door, executed it in fresco, in his new manner, which was
no little grander and more magnificent than his earlier manner. In
this painting Raffaello depicted some Prophets and Sibyls, before
Michelagnolo's chapel had been thrown open to view, although he had
seen it; and in truth it is held to be the best of his works, and
the most beautiful among so many that are beautiful, for in the
women and children that are in it, there may be seen a marvellous
vivacity and perfect colouring. And this work caused him to be
greatly esteemed both in his lifetime and after his death, being the
rarest and most excellent that Raffaello executed in all his life.
Next, spurred by the entreaties of a Chamberlain of Pope Julius, he
painted the panel for the high-altar of the Araceli, wherein he made
a Madonna in the sky, with a most beautiful landscape, a S. John, a
S. Francis, and a S. Jerome represented as a Cardinal; in which
Madonna may be seen a humility and a modesty truly worthy of the
Mother of Christ; and besides the beautiful gesture of the Child as
He plays with His Mother's hand, there is revealed in S. John that
penitential air which fasting generally gives, while his head
displays the sincerity of soul and frank assurance appropriate to
those who live away from the world and despise it, and, in their
dealings with mankind, make war on falsehood and speak out the
truth. In like manner, the S. Jerome has his head uplifted with his
eyes on the Madonna, deep in contemplation; and in them seem to be
suggested all the learning and knowledge that he showed in his
writings, while with both his hands he is presenting the
Chamberlain, in the act of recommending him to her; which portrait
of the Chamberlain is as lifelike as any ever painted. Nor did
Raffaello fail to do as well in the figure of S. Francis, who,
kneeling on the ground, with one arm outstretched, and with his head
upraised, is gazing up at the Madonna, glowing with a love in tone
with the feeling of the picture, which, both by the lineaments and
by the colouring, shows him melting with affection, and taking
comfort and life from the gracious sight of her beauty and of the
vivacity and beauty of her Son. In the middle of the panel, below
the Madonna, Raffaello made a little boy standing, who is raising
his head towards her and holding an inscription: than whom none
better or more graceful could be painted, what with the beauty of
his features and the proportionate loveliness of his person. And in
addition there is a landscape, which is singularly beautiful in its
absolute perfection.
[Illustration: THE MASS OF BOLSENA
(_After the fresco by =Raffaello da Urbino=. Rome: The Vatican_)
_Anderson_]
Afterwards, going on with the apartments of the Palace, he painted a
scene of the Miracle of the Sacramental Corporal of Orvieto, or of
Bolsena, whichever it may be called. In this scene there may be
perceived in the face of the priest who is saying Mass, which is
glowing with a blush, the shame that he felt on seeing the Host
turned into blood on the Corporal on account of his unbelief. With
terror in his eyes, dumbfoundered and beside himself in the presence
of his hearers, he seems like one who knows not what to do; and in
the gesture of his hands may almost be seen the fear and trembling
that a man would feel in such a case. Round him Raffaello made many
figures, all varied and different, some serving the Mass, others
kneeling on a flight of steps; and all, bewildered by the
strangeness of the event, are making various most beautiful
movements and gestures, while in many, both men and women, there is
revealed a belief that they are to blame. Among the women is one who
is seated on the ground at the foot of the scene, holding a child in
her arms; and she, hearing the account that another appears to be
giving her of the thing that has happened to the priest, turns in a
marvellous manner as she listens to this, with a womanly grace that
is very natural and lifelike. On the other side he painted Pope
Julius hearing that Mass, a most marvellous work, wherein he made a
portrait of Cardinal di San Giorgio, with innumerable others; and
the window-opening he turned to advantage by making a flight of
steps, in such a way that all the painting seems to be one whole:
nay, it appears as if, were that window-space not there, the work
would in nowise have been complete. Wherefore it may be truly
credited to him that in the invention and composition of every kind
of painted story, no one has ever been more dexterous, facile, and
able than Raffaello.
This he also proved in another scene in the same place, opposite to
the last-named, of S. Peter in the hands of Herod, and guarded in
prison by men-at-arms; wherein he showed such a grasp of
architecture, and such judgment in the buildings of the prison, that
in truth the others after him seem to have more confusion than he
has beauty. For he was ever seeking to represent stories just as
they are written, and to paint in them things gracious and
excellent; as is proved in this one by the horror of the prison,
wherein that old man is seen bound in chains of iron between the two
men-at-arms, by the deep slumber of the guards, and by the dazzling
splendour of the Angel, which, in the thick darkness of the night,
reveals with its light every detail of the prison, and makes the
arms of the soldiers shine resplendent, in such a way that their
burnished lustre seems more lifelike than if they were real,
although they are only painted. No less art and genius are there in
the action of S. Peter, when, freed from his chains, he goes forth
from the prison, accompanied by the Angel, wherein one sees in the
face of the Saint a belief that it is rather a dream than a reality;
and so, also, terror and dismay are shown in some other armed guards
without the prison, who hear the noise of the iron door, while a
sentinel with a torch in his hand rouses the others, and, as he
gives them light with it, the blaze of the torch is reflected in all
their armour; and all that its glow does not reach is illumined by
the light of the moon. This composition Raffaello painted over the
window, where the wall is darkest; and thus, when you look at the
picture, the light strikes you in the face, and the real light
conflicts so well with the different lights of the night in the
painting, that the smoke of the torch, the splendour of the Angel,
and the thick darkness of the night seem to you to be wholly real
and natural, and you would never say that it was all painted, so
vividly did he express this difficult conception. In it are seen
shadows playing on the armour, other shadows projected, reflections,
and a vaporous glare from the lights, all executed with darkest
shade, and so well, that it may be truly said that he was the master
of every other master; and as an effect of night, among all those
that painting has ever produced, this is the most real and most
divine, and is held by all the world to be the rarest.
On one of the unbroken walls, also, he painted the Divine Worship
and the Ark of the Hebrews, with the Candlestick; and likewise Pope
Julius driving Avarice out of the Temple, a scene as beautiful and
as excellent as the Night described above. Here, in some bearers who
are carrying Pope Julius, a most lifelike figure, in his chair, are
portraits of men who were living at that time. And while the people,
some women among them, are making way for the Pope, so that he may
pass, one sees the furious onset of an armed man on horseback, who,
accompanied by two on foot, and in an attitude of the greatest
fierceness, is smiting and riding down the proud Heliodorus, who is
seeking, at the command of Antiochus, to rob the Temple of all the
wealth stored for the widows and orphans. Already the riches and
treasures could be seen being removed and taken away, when, on
account of the terror of the strange misfortune of Heliodorus, so
rudely struck down and smitten by the three figures mentioned above
(although, this being a vision, they are seen and heard by him
alone), behold, they are all dropped and upset on the ground, those
who were carrying them falling down through the sudden terror and
panic that had come upon all the following of Heliodorus. Apart from
these may be seen the holy Onias, the High Priest, dressed in his
robes of office, with his eyes and hands raised to Heaven, and
praying most fervently, being seized with pity for the poor
innocents who were thus nearly losing their possessions, and
rejoicing at the help that he feels has come down from on high.
Besides this, through a beautiful fancy of Raffaello's, one sees
many who have climbed on to the socles of the column-bases, and,
clasping the shafts, stand looking in most uncomfortable attitudes;
with a throng of people showing their amazement in many various
ways, and awaiting the result of this event.
This work is in every part so stupendous, that even the cartoons are
held in the greatest veneration; wherefore Messer Francesco Masini,
a gentleman of Cesena--who, without the help of any master, but
giving his attention by himself from his earliest childhood, guided
by an extraordinary instinct of nature, to drawing and painting, has
painted pictures that have been much extolled by good judges of
art--possesses, among his many drawings and some ancient reliefs in
marble, certain pieces of the cartoon which Raffaello made for this
story of Heliodorus, and he holds them in the estimation that they
truly deserve. Nor will I refrain from saying that Messer Niccolò
Masini, who has given me information about these matters, is as much
a true lover of our arts as he is a man of real culture in all other
things.
But to return to Raffaello; on the ceiling above these works, he
then executed four scenes, God appearing to Abraham and promising
him the multiplication of his seed, the Sacrifice of Isaac, Jacob's
Ladder, and the Burning Bush of Moses: wherein may be recognized no
less art, invention, draughtsmanship, and grace, than in the other
works that he painted.
While the happy genius of this craftsman was producing such marvels,
the envy of fortune cut short the life of Julius II, who had
fostered such abilities, and had been a lover of every excellent
work. Whereupon a new Pope was elected in Leo X, who desired that
the work begun should be carried on; and Raffaello thereby soared
with his genius into the heavens, and received endless favours from
him, fortunate in having come upon a Prince so great, who had by the
inheritance of blood a strong inclination for such an art.
Raffaello, therefore, thus encouraged to pursue the work, painted on
the other wall the Coming of Attila to Rome, and his encounter at
the foot of Monte Mario with Leo III, who drove him away with his
mere benediction. In this scene Raffaello made S. Peter and S. Paul
in the air, with swords in their hands, coming to defend the Church;
and while the story of Leo III says nothing of this, nevertheless it
was thus that he chose to represent it, perchance out of fancy, for
it often happens that painters, like poets, go straying from their
subject in order to make their work the more ornate, although their
digressions are not such as to be out of harmony with their first
intention. In those Apostles may be seen that celestial wrath and
ardour which the Divine Justice is wont often to impart to the
features of its ministers, charged with defending the most holy
Faith; and of this we have proof in Attila, who is to be seen riding
a black horse with white feet and a star on its forehead, as
beautiful as it could be, for in an attitude of the utmost terror he
throws up his head and turns his body in flight. There are other
most beautiful horses, particularly a dappled jennet, which is
ridden by a figure that has all the body covered with scales after
the manner of a fish; which is copied from the Column of Trajan,
wherein the figures have armour of that kind; and it is thought that
such armour is made from the skins of crocodiles. There is Monte
Mario, all aflame, showing that when soldiers march away, their
quarters are always left a prey to fire. He made portraits from
nature, also, in some mace-bearers accompanying the Pope, who are
marvellously lifelike, as are the horses on which they are riding;
and the same is true of the retinue of Cardinals, and of some grooms
who are holding the palfrey on which rides the Pope in full
pontificals (a portrait of Leo X, no less lifelike than those of the
others), with many courtiers; the whole being a most pleasing
spectacle and well in keeping with such a work, and also very useful
to our art, particularly for those who have no such objects at their
command.
At this same time he painted a panel containing Our Lady, S. Jerome
robed as a Cardinal, and an Angel Raphael accompanying Tobias, which
was placed in S. Domenico at Naples, in that chapel wherein is the
Crucifix that spoke to S. Thomas Aquinas. For Signor Leonello da
Carpi, Lord of Meldola, who is still alive, although more than
ninety years old, he executed a picture that was most marvellous in
colouring, and of a singular beauty, for it is painted with such
force, and also with a delicacy so pleasing, that I do not think it
is possible to do better. In the countenance of the Madonna may be
seen such a divine air, and in her attitude such a dignity, that no
one would be able to improve her; and he made her with the hands
clasped, adoring her Son, who is seated on her knees, caressing a S.
John, a little boy, who is adoring Him, in company with S. Elizabeth
and Joseph. This picture was once in the possession of the very
reverend Cardinal da Carpi, the son of the said Signor Leonello, and
a great lover of our arts; and it should be at the present day in
the hands of his heirs.