Page:Drawing for Beginners.djvu/237

 The story goes that Raphael was passing through a village at a vintage time, and seeing a mother and child sitting in a doorway was filled with a desire to paint the beautiful group. The only materials to hand were empty wine-vats. On one of these Raphael seized, and began this picture on the upturned bottom of the vat.


 * Then Raphael snatched a half-charred ozier stick,
 * And on the wine-cask at that moment drew
 * That Child and Mother, just then glorified
 * By the last sunshine's deepest, softest hue.

The picture is treasured as one of the world's most beautiful paintings, but whether the wine-vat legend was invented to explain the peculiar shape we shall never know. As a composition pure and simple, look and judge for yourself.