Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/294

Rh 276 RAPHAEL its small paintings, especially that of the Annunciation to the Virgin, are interesting as showing his careful study of the rules of per- spective. 1 Several preparatory sketches for this picture exist : fig. 1 shows a study, now at Lille, for the two principal figures, Christ setting the crown on His mother's head (see fig. 2). It is drawn from two youths in the ordi- nary dress of the time; and it is in- teresting to compare it with his later studies from the for nude, many of which jtgmM ^ fJESwJS? of fl Virgin are for figures which (Vatican). In the Lille museum. Illus- in the future picture trating Raphael's use of draped models were to be draped, during his early period. made at a time when his developed style required a more careful rendering of the human form than was necessary for the simpler and more religious manner of Perugia. It was at Florence, as Yasari says, that Raphael began up for which fig. 1 is a study. serious life studies, not only from nude models but also by making careful anatomical drawings from dissected corpses and from skeletons. His first visit to Florence lasted only a few months ; in 1505 he was again in Perugia painting his first fresco, the Trinity and Saints for the Camaldoli monks of San fsevero, now a mere wreck from injury and restorations. The date MDV and the signature were added later, prob- ably in 1521. Part of this work was left incomplete by the painter, and the fresco was finished in 1521 (after his 1 While at Florence he is said to have taught the science of per- spective to his friend Fra Bartolomeo, who certainly gave his young instructor valuable lessons on composition in return. death) by his old master Perugino. 2 It was probably earlier than this that Raphael visited Siena and assisted Pinturicchio with sketches for his Piccolomini frescos. 3 The Madonna of S. Antonio was also finished in 1505, but was probably begun before the Florentine visit. 4 A record of his visit to Siena exists in a sketch of the antique marble group of the Three Graces, then in the cathedral library, from which, not long afterwards, he painted the small panel of the same subject now in Lord Dudley's collection. In 1506 Raphael was again in Urbino, where he painted for the duke another picture of St George, which was sent to England as a present to Henry VII. The bearer of this and other gifts was Guidobaldo's ambassador, the accom- plished Baldassare CASTIGLIONE (q.v.), a friend of Raphael's, whose noble portrait of him is in the Louvre. At the court of Duke Guidobaldo the painter's ideas appear to have been led into a more secular direction, and to this stay in Urbino probably belong the Dudley Graces, the miniature Knight's Dream of Duty and Pleasure in the National Gallery (London), 5 and also the Apollo and Marsyas, sold in 1882 by Mr Morris Moore to the Louvre for 10,000, a most lovely little panel, painted with almost Flemish minuteness, rich in colour, and graceful in arrangement. 6 Towards the end of 1 506 Raphael returned to Florence, and there (before 1508) produced a large number of his finest works, carefully finished, and for the most part wholly the work of his own hand. Several of these are signed and dated, but the date is frequently very doubtful, owing to his custom of using Roman numerals, introduced among the sham Arabic embroidered on the borders of dresses, so that the I's after the V are not always dis- tinguishable from the straight lines of the ornament. The following is a list of some of his chief paintings of this period: the Madonna del Gran Duca (Pitti); Madonna del Giardino, 1506 (Vienna); Holy Family with the Lamb, 1506 or 1507 (Madrid); the Ansidei Madonna, 1506 or 1507 (National Gallery); theBorghese Entombment, 1507; Lord Cowper's Madonna at Panshanger, 1508; La bella Giardiniera, 1508 (Louvre) ; the Eszterhazy Madonna, prob- ably the same year ; as well as the Madonna del Cardellino (Uffizi), the Tempi Madonna (Munich), the Colonna Madonna (Berlin), the Bridgewater Madonna (Bridgewater House), and the Orleans Madonna (Due d'Aumale's col- lection). The Ansidei Madonna was bought in 1884 for the National Gallery from the duke of Marlborough for .70,000, more than three times the highest price ever before given for a picture. 7 It was painted for the Ansidei 2 The fresco of the Last Supper, dated 1505, in the refectory of S. Onofrio at Florence is not now claimed as a work of Raphael's, in spite of a signature partly introduced by the restorer. 3 Raphael probably had no hand in the actual execution of the paintings ; see Schmarsow, Raphael und Pinturicchio in Siena, Stutt- gart, 1880, and Milanesi, in his edition of Vasari, iii. p. 515 sq., appendix to life of Pinturicchio. 4 This fine altar-piece, with many large figures, is now the property of the heirs of the duke of Ripalta, and is stored in the basement of the National Gallery, London. 5 This missal-like painting is about 7 inches square ; it was bought in 1847 for 1000 guineas. The National Gallery also possesses its cartoon, in brown ink, pricked for transference. 8 In spite of some adverse opinions, frequently expressed with ex treme virulence, the genuineness of this little gem can hardly be doubted by any one who carefully studies it without bias. Sketches for it at Venice and in the Uffizi also appear to bear the impress of Raphael's manner. See Delaborde, Etudes sur les B. Arts. . . en Italie,. p. 236; Gruyer, Raphael etl'Antiquite, ii. p. 421 ; Eitelberger, Rafael's Apollo und Marsyas, Vienna, 1860 ; Batte, Le Raphael de M. Moore, Paris, 1859 ; and also various pamphlets on it by its former owner, Mr Morris Moore. 7 It is engraved at p. 53, vol. ii., of Dohme, Kunst und Kunstler des M 'ii I rl alters, Leipsic, 1878, a work which has many good reproductions of Raphael's paintings and sketches.