in which he is accordingly placed, is distinguished from the Florentine,
of which it may be said to have been an offshoot, by several
well-defined characteristics. Chief of these are, first, the more
sentimental expression of religious feeling, and second, the greater
attention paid to distance as compared with the principal figures; both
of which are explainable on the ground of local circumstances. They
reflect the difference between the bustling intellectual activity of
Florence and the dreamy existence but broader horizon of the dwellers
in the upper valley of the Tiber. In the beautiful _Nativity_ of PIERO
DELLA FRANCESCA (No. 908 in the National Gallery) we see something akin
to the Florentine pictures, and yet something more besides. Piero shared
with Paolo Uccello the eager desire to discover the secrets of
perspective; but in addition he seems to have been influenced by the
study of nature herself, in the open air, as Uccello never was. His
pupil, LUCA SIGNORELLI (1441-1523), was more formal and less
naturalistic, as may be seen by a comparison between the _Circumcision_
(No. 1128 in the National Gallery) and Piero's _Baptism of Christ_ on
the opposite wall. PIETRO PERUGINO (1446-1523)--his real name was
Vannucci--was influenced both by Signorelli and by Verrocchio. In the
studio of the latter he had probably worked with Leonardo and Lorenzo di
Credi, so that in estimating the influences which went to form the art
of Raphael we need not insist too strongly on the distinction between
"Umbrian" and "Florentine."
Raphael's first independent works (about 1500) are entirely in
Perugino's style. They bear the general stamp of the Umbrian School, but
in its highest beauty. His youthful efforts are essentially youthful,
and seem to contain the earnest of a high development. Two are in the
Berlin Museum. In the one (No. 141) called the _Madonna Solly_, the
Madonna reads in a book; the Child on her lap holds a goldfinch. The
other (No. 145), with heads of S. Francis and S. Jerome, is better.
Similar to it, but much more finished and developed, is a small round
picture, the _Madonna Casa Connestabile_, now at St. Petersburg.
A more important picture of this time is the _Coronation of the
Virgin_, painted for the church of S. Francesco at Perugia in 1503, but
now in the Vatican. In the upper part, Christ and the Madonna are
throned on clouds and surrounded by angels with musical instruments;
underneath, the disciples stand around the empty tomb. In this lower
part of the picture there is a very evident attempt to give the figures
more life, motion, and enthusiastic expression than was before attempted
in the school.
After this, Raphael appears to have quitted the school of Perugino, and
to have commenced an independent career: he executed at this time some
pictures in the neighbouring town of Citta di Castello. With all the
features of the Umbrian School, they already show the freer impulse of
his own mind,--a decided effort to individualize. The most excellent of
these, and the most interesting example of this first period of
Raphael's development, is the _Marriage of the Virgin_ (Lo Sposalizio),
inscribed with his name and the date 1504, now in the Brera at Milan.
With much of the stiffness and constraint of the old school, the figures
are noble and dignified; the countenances, of the sweetest style of
beauty, are expressive of a tender, enthusiastic melancholy, which lends
a peculiar charm to this subject.
In 1504 Raphael painted the two little pictures in the Louvre, _S.
George_ and _S. Michael_ (Nos. 1501-2) for the Duke of Urbino. _The
Knight Dreaming_, a small picture, now in the National Gallery (No.
213), is supposed to have been painted a year earlier.
In the autumn of 1504 Raphael went to Florence. Tuscan art had now
attained its highest perfection, and the most celebrated artists were
there contending for the palm. From this period begins his
emancipation
[Illustration: PLATE VI.--PIETRO PERUGINO
CENTRAL PORTION OF ALTAR-PIECE
_National Gallery, London_]
from the confined manner of Perugino's school; the youth ripens into
manhood and acquires the free mastery of form.
To this time belong the celebrated _Madonna del Granduca_, now in the
Pitti Gallery, and another formerly belonging to the Duke of Terra
Nuova, and now at Berlin (No. 247a). In the next year we find him
employed on several large works in Perugia; these show for the first
time the influence of Florentine art in the purity, fullness, and
intelligent treatment of form; at the same time many of the motives of
the Peruginesque school are still apparent. The famous _Cowper Madonna_,
recently sold to an American for L140,000, also belongs to the year
1505, when the blending of the two influences resulted in a picture
which has been extolled by the sanest of critics as "the loveliest of
Raphael's Virgins." An altar-piece, executed for the church of the
Serviti at Perugia, inscribed with the date 1506, is the famous _Madonna
dei Ansidei_, purchased for the National Gallery from the Duke of
Marlborough. Besides the dreamy religious feeling of the School of
Perugia, we perceive here the aim at a greater freedom, founded on
deeper study.
Raphael was soon back in Florence, where he remained until 1508. The
early paintings of this period betray, as might be expected, many
reminiscences of the Peruginesque school, both in conception and
execution; the later ones follow in all essential respects the general
style of the Florentines.
One of the earliest is the _Virgin in the Meadow_, in the Belvedere
Gallery at Vienna. Two others show a close affinity with this
composition; one is the _Madonna del Cardellino_, in the Tribune of the
Uffizi, in which S. John presents a goldfinch to the infant Christ. The
other is the so-called _Belle Jardiniere_, inscribed 1507, in the
Louvre.
It is interesting to observe Raphael's progress in the smaller pictures
which he painted in Florence--half-figures of the Madonna and Child.
Here again the earliest are characterised by the tenderest feeling,
while a freer and more cheerful enjoyment of life is apparent in the
later ones. The _Madonna della Casa Tempi_, at Munich, is the first of
this series. In the picture from the Colonna Palace at Rome, now in the
Berlin Museum (No. 248), the same childlike sportiveness, the same
maternal tenderness, are developed with more harmonious refinement. A
larger picture, belonging to the middle time of his Florentine period,
is in the Munich Gallery--the _Madonna Canignani_, which presents a
peculiar study of artificial grouping, in a pyramidal shape. Among the
best pictures of the latter part of this Florentine period are the _S.
Catherine_, now in the National Gallery, formerly in the Aldobrandini
Gallery at Rome, and two large altar-pieces. One of these is the
_Madonna del Baldacchino_, in the Pitti Gallery. The other, _The
Entombment_, painted for the church of S. Francesco at Perugia, is now
in the Borghese Gallery at Rome. This is the first of Raphael's
compositions in which an historical subject is dramatically developed;
but in this respect the task exceeded his powers. The composition lacks
repose and unity of effect; the movements are exaggerated and mannered;
but the figure of the Saviour is extremely beautiful, and may be placed
among the greatest of the master's creations.
About the middle of the year 1508, when only in his twenty-fifth year,
Raphael was invited by Pope
[Illustration: PLATE VII.--RAPHAEL
THE ANSIDEI MADONNA
_National Gallery, London_]
[Illustration: PLATE VIII.--RAPHAEL
LA BELLE JARDINIERE
_Louvre, Paris_]
Julius II. to decorate the state apartments in the Vatican. With these
works commences the third period of his development, and in these he
reached his highest perfection. The subjects, more important than any in
which he had hitherto been occupied, gave full scope to his powers; and
the proximity of Michelangelo, who at this time began the painting of
the Sistine Chapel, excited his emulation.
At this period, just before the Reformation, the Papal power had reached
its proudest elevation. To glorify this power--to represent Rome as the
centre of spiritual culture--were the objects of the paintings in the
Vatican. They cover the ceilings and walls of three chambers and a large
saloon, which now bear the name of the "Stanze of Raphael."
The execution of these paintings principally occupied Raphael to the
time of his death, and were only completed by his scholars.
In 1513 and 1514 Raphael also executed designs for the ten tapestries
intended to adorn the Sistine Chapel, representing events from the lives
of the apostles. Seven of these magnificent cartoons are now in the
South Kensington Museum.
Beside these important commissions executed for the Papal court, during
twelve years, many claims were made on him by private persons. Two
frescoes executed for Roman churches may be mentioned. One, in S. Maria
della Pace, represents four Sibyls surrounded by angels, which it is
interesting to compare with the Sibyls of Michelangelo. In each we find
the peculiar excellence of the two great masters; Michelangelo's figures
are grand, sublime, profound, while the fresco of the Pace exhibits
Raphael's serene and ingenious grace. In a second fresco, the prophet
Isaiah and two angels, in the church of S. Agostino at Rome, the
comparison is less favourable to Raphael, the effort to rival the
powerful style of Michelangelo being rather too obvious.
Like all other artists, Raphael is at his best when, undisturbed by
outside influences, he follows the free original impulse of his own
mind. His peculiar element was grace and beauty of form, in so far as
these are the expression of high moral purity.
The following works of his third period are especially deserving of
mention.
The _Aldobrandini Madonna_, now in the National Gallery--in which the
Madonna is sitting on a bench, and bends down to the little S. John, her
left arm round him. The _Madonna of the Duke of Alba_, in the Hermitage
at St. Petersburg. _La Vierge au voile_, in the Louvre; the Madonna is
seated in a kneeling position, lifting the veil from the sleeping Child
in order to show him to the little S. John. The _Madonna della
Seggiola_, in the Pitti at Florence (painted about 1516), a circular
picture. The _Madonna della Tenda_ at Munich; a composition similar to
the last, except that the Child is represented in more lively action,
and looking upwards.
A series of similar, but in some instances more copious compositions,
belong to a still later period; they are in a great measure the work of
his scholars, painted after his drawings, and only partly worked upon by
Raphael himself. Indeed many pictures of this class should perhaps be
considered altogether as the productions of his school, at a time when
that school was under his direct superintendence, and when it was
enabled to imitate his finer characteristics in a remarkable degree.
In this class are the _Madonna dell'Impannata_, in the Pitti, which
takes its name from the oiled-paper window in the background. The large
picture of a _Holy Family_ in the Louvre, painted in 1518, for Francis
I., is peculiarly excellent. The whole has a character of cheerfulness
and joy: an easy and delicate play of graceful lines, which unite in an
intelligible and harmonious whole. Giulio Romano assisted in the
execution.
With regard to the large altar-pieces of his later period in which
several Saints are assembled round the Madonna, it is to be observed
that Raphael has contrived to place them in reciprocal relation to each
other, and to establish a connection between them; while the earlier
masters either ranged them next to one another in simple symmetrical
repose, or disposed them with a view to picturesque effect.
Of these the _Madonna di Foligno_, in the Vatican, is the earliest. In
the upper part of the picture is the Madonna with the Child, enthroned
on the clouds in a glory, surrounded by angels. Underneath, on one side,
kneels the donor, behind him stands S. Jerome. On the other side is S.
Francis, kneeling, while he points with one hand out of the picture to
the people, for whom he entreats the protection of the Mother of Grace;
behind him is S. John the Baptist, who points to the Madonna, while he
looks at the spectator as if inviting him to worship her.
The second, the _Madonna del Pesce_ has much more repose and grandeur as
whole, and unites the sublime and abstract character of sacred beings
with the individuality of nature in the happiest manner. It is now in
Madrid, but was originally painted for S. Domenico at Naples, about
1513. It represents the Madonna and Child on a throne; on one side is
S. Jerome; on the other the guardian angel with the young Tobias who
carries a fish (whence the name of the picture). The artist has imparted
a wonderfully poetic character to the subject. S. Jerome, kneeling on
the steps of the throne, has been reading from a book to the Virgin and
Child, and appears to have been interrupted by the entrance of Tobias
and the Angel. The infant Christ turns towards them, but at the same
time lays his hand on the open book, as if to mark the place. The Virgin
turns towards the Angel, who introduces Tobias; while the latter
dropping on his knees, looks up meekly to the Divine Infant. S. Jerome
looks over the book to the new-comers, as if ready to proceed with his
occupation after the interruption.
But the most important is the famous _Madonna di San Sisto_, at Dresden.
Here the Madonna appears as the queen of the heavenly host, in a
brilliant glory of countless angel-heads, standing on the clouds, with
the eternal Son in her arms; S. Sixtus and S. Barbara kneel at the
sides. Both of them seem to connect the picture with the real
spectators. This is a rare example of a picture of Raphael's later time,
executed entirely by his own hand.
Two large altar pictures still claim our attention; they also belong to
Raphael's later period. One is the _Christ Bearing the Cross_, in
Madrid, known by the name of _Lo Spasimo di Sicilia_, from the convent
of Santa Maria dello Spasimo at Palermo, for which it was painted. Here,
as in the tapestries, we again find a finely conceived development of
the event, and an excellent composition. The other is the
_Transfiguration_, now in the Vatican, formerly in S. Pietro at
Montorio.
[Illustration: PLATE IX.--RAPHAEL
PORTRAIT OF BALDASSARE CASTIGLIONE
_Louvre, Paris_]
This was the last work of the master (left unfinished at his death); the
one which was suspended over his coffin, a trophy of his fame, for
public homage.
"I cannot believe myself in Rome," wrote Count Castiglione, on the death
of the master, "now that my poor Raphael is no longer here." Men
regarded his works with religious veneration as if God had revealed
himself through Raphael as in former days through the prophets. His
remains were publicly laid out on a splendid catafalque, while his last
work, the _Transfiguration_, was suspended over his head. He was buried
in the Pantheon, under an altar adorned by a statue of the Holy Virgin,
a consecration offering from Raphael himself. Doubts having been raised
as to the precise spot, a search was made in the Pantheon in 1833, and
Raphael's bones were found; the situation agreeing exactly with Vasari's
description of the place of interment. On the 18th of October, in the
same year, the relics were reinterred in the same spot with great
solemnities.
* * * * *
The schools of Lombardy and the Emilia, which derive their
characteristics from Florentine rather than from Venetian influences,
may here be briefly mentioned before turning to the consideration of the
Venetian School. In 1482, it will be remembered, Leonardo went to Milan,
where he remained till the end of the century; and the extent of his
influence may be judged from many of the productions of BERNADINO LUINI
(1475-1532) and GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI, known as SODOMA (1477-1549). Of
AMBROGIO DI PREDIS we have already heard in connection with the painting
of our version of Leonardo's _Virgin of the Rocks_. GIOVANNI ANTONIO
BOLTRAFFIO (1467-1516) was a pupil of VINCENZO FOPPA, but he soon
abandoned the manner of the old Lombard School, and came under the
influence of the great Florentine, of whom he became a most enthusiastic
disciple.
More independent--indeed, he is officially characterised as "an isolated
phenomenon in Italian Art"--was ANTONIO ALLEGRI, commonly called
CORREGGIO, from the place of his birth. In 1518 he settled at Parma,
where he remained till 1530, so that he is usually catalogued as of the
School of Parma, which for an isolated phenomenon serves as well as any
other. Of late years his popularity has been somewhat diminished by the
increasing demands of private collectors for works which are
purchasable, and most of Correggio's are in public galleries. At Dresden
are some of the most famous, notably the _Nativity_, called "La Notte,"
from its wonderful scheme of illumination, and two or three large
altar-pieces. The _Venus Mercury and Cupid_ in our National Gallery,
though sadly injured, is still one of his masterpieces. It was purchased
by Charles I. with the famous collection of the Duke of Mantua. Our
_Ecce Homo_ is entitled to rank with it, as is also the little _Madonna
of the Basket_.
[Illustration: PLATE X.--CORREGGIO
MERCURY, CUPID, AND VENUS
_National Gallery, London_]
_VENETIAN SCHOOLS_
I
THE VIVARINI AND BELLINI
In Venice the Byzantine style appears to have offered a more stubborn
resistance to the innovators than in Tuscany, or, in fact, in any other
part of Italy. Few, if any, of the allegorical subjects with which
Giotto and his scholars decorated whole buildings are to be found here,
and the altar pictures retain longer than anywhere else the gilt
canopied compartments and divisions, and the tranquil positions of
single figures. It was not until a century after the death of Cimabue
and Duccio that the real development of the Venetian School was
manifested, so that when things did begin to move the conditions were
not the same, and the results accordingly were something substantially
different.
The influence of the Byzantine style still hangs heavily over the work
of NICOLO SEMITECOLO, who was working in Venice in the middle of the
fourteenth century, as may be seen in the great altar-piece ascribed to
him in the Academy--the Coronation of the Virgin with fourteen scenes
from the life of Christ. In this work there is little of the general
advancement visible in other parts of Italy. It corresponds most nearly
with the work of Duccio of Siena, though without attaining his
excellence; while the gold hatchings and olive brown tones are still
Byzantine.
An altar-piece, by MICHELE GIAMBONO, also in the Academy, painted during
the first half of the fifteenth century, shows a more decided advance,
and even anticipates some of the later excellences of the Venetian
School. The drapery is in the long and easy lines which we see in the
Tuscan pictures of the period, and what is especially significant, in
view of the subsequent development of Venetian painting, the colouring
is rich, deep, and transparent, and the flesh tints unusually soft and
warm. This is signed by Giambono, and is one of his most important
works, as well as the most complete, as it exists in its original state
as an _ancona_ or altar-piece divided into compartments by canopies of
joiners' work. It is unusual in form, inasmuch as the central panel,
though slightly larger than the pair on either side, contains but a
single figure. This figure was generally supposed to be the Saviour, but
it has recently been pointed out that it is S. James the Great, the
others being SS. John the Evangelist, Philip Benizi, Michael, and Louis
of Toulouse. Some of Giambono's finest work was in mosaic, and the walls
and roof of the Cappella de'Mascoli in S. Mark's may be regarded as the
highest achievement in mosaic of the early Venetian School. While this
species of decoration had given place to fresco painting elsewhere, it
was here, in 1430, brought to a pitch of perfection by Giambono which
entitles this work to a prominent place in the history of painting.
But the two chief pioneers of the early fifteenth century were Giovanni,
or JOHANNES ALAMANUS, and ANTONIO DA MURANO. The former appears from his
surname to have been of German origin, the latter belonged to the family
of VIVARINI, and they used to work together on the same pictures. Two
excellent examples of this combination are in the Academy at Venice.
The one, dated 1440, is a Coronation of the Virgin, with many figures,
including several boys, and numerous saints seated. In the heads of the
saints we may trace the hand of Alamanus, in the Germanic type of
countenance which recalls the style of Stephen of Cologne. A repetition
of this, if it is not actually the original, is in S. Pantalone at
Venice. The other picture, dated 1446, of enormous dimensions,
represents the Virgin enthroned, beneath a canopy sustained by angels,
with the four Fathers of the Church at her side. The colouring is fully
as flowing and splendid as that of Giambono.
We do not recognise here, as Kugler rightly observes, the influence of
the school of Giotto, but rather the types of the Germanic style
gradually assuming a new character, possibly owing to the social
condition of Venice itself. There was something perhaps in the nature of
a rich commercial aristocracy of the middle ages calculated to encourage
that species of art which offered the greatest splendour and elegance to
the eye; and this also, if possible, in a portable form; thus preferring
the domestic altar or the dedication picture to wall decorations in
churches. The contemporary Flemish paintings, under similar conditions,
exhibit analogous results. With regard to colour, the depth and
transparency observable in the works of the old Venetian School had long
been a distinguishing feature in the Byzantine paintings on wood, and
may therefore be traceable to this source without assuming an influence
on the part of Padua, or from the north through Giovanni Alamanus.
The two side panels of an altar-piece, representing severally SS. Peter
and Jerome, and SS. Francis and Mark, now in the National Gallery (Nos.
768 and 1284), are ascribed to Antonio Vivarini alone, though the centre
panel, the Virgin and Child, now in the Poldi Pezzoli collection at
Milan is said to be the joint work of Alamanus and Antonio. However that
may be, there is no longer any dispute about the fascinating Adoration
of the Kings in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum at Berlin, formerly supposed
to be the work of Gentile da Fabriano, but now catalogued as that of
Antonio.
In 1450 the name of Alamanus disappears altogether, and that of
BARTOLOMMEO VIVARINI, Antonio's younger brother, replaces it in an
inscription upon the great altar-piece commissioned by Pope Nicholas V.
in commemoration of Cardinal Albergati, now in the Pinacoteca of
Bologna. The change is noticeable as introducing the Paduan influence of
Squarcione, under whom Bartolommeo had studied, instead of the northern
influence of Alamanus, into Antonio's workshop, and while this work of
1450, as might be supposed, bears a general resemblance to that of 1446,
the change of partnership is at least perceptible, and had a determining
influence on the development of the Venetian style.
A slightly earlier work of Bartolommeo alone is a Madonna and Child
belonging to Sir Hugh Lane, signed and dated 1448. An altar-piece in the
Venice Academy is dated 1464, a Madonna and Four Saints, in the Frari,
1482, and S. Barbara, in the Academy, 1490. Bartolommeo is supposed to
have died in 1499.