Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/298

Rh 280 RAPHAEL (also in 1513) his celebrated Sibyls in S. Maria della Pace, figures of exquisite grace, arranged with perfect skill in an awkward space. It is not without reason that Vasari gives these the highest position among his fresco- paintings. 1 Agostino Chigi also employed Raphael to build for him a private chapel in S. Maria del Popolo, and to make a series of cartoons to be executed in mosaic on the inner dome. 2 The central medallion has a figure of God among clouds and angel boys, such as Raphael drew with unrivalled grace (fig. 6), and around are the eight FIG. 6. Mosaic of God creating the stars, from the Chigi chapel, in centre of dome, designed by Raphael. planets, each with its pagan deity and directing angel. 3 He has not hampered himself by any of the usual rules which should apply to the designing of mosaic ; they are simply treated as pictures, with almost deceptive effects of perspective. The execution of these brilliant mosaics was carried out by the Venetian Luigi della Pace, whose signature is introduced on the torch of Cupid in the panel representing the star Venus (Ludovico della Pace Veneziano fecit, 1516). These mosaics are still as perfect and brilliant as if they were the work of yesterday. Probably in the early years of Leo X.'s reign were painted the Madonna della Seggiola (Pitti), the S. Cecilia at Bologna (not com- pleted till 1516), the miniature Vision of Ezekiel (Pitti), and three important pictures at Madrid. The latest of these, known as Lo Spasimo, from the church at Palermo, for which it was painted, is one of Raphael's finest com- positions, representing Christ bearing His Cross. It bears signs of Giulio Romano's hand in its heavy colouring with unpleasant purple tones. The Madonna called Della Per la has much changed from the darkening of the pigments ; in design it recalls Leonardo da Vinci. 4 The small Madonna della Rosa is the most perfect in colour of all the master's pictures in the Madrid Gallery, and is usually rather undervalued; it is a most graceful little picture. The portrait of Leo X. with Cardinals de' Rossi and de' Medici, in the Pitti, is one of his finest portrait-pictures, especially as regards the figure of the pope. 5 Little is 1 Thanks to Michelangelo's generous intervention, Raphael was paid the large sum for that time of 900 gold ducats for this fresco. 2 Gruner, Mosaici in S. Maria del Popolo, Rome, 1839. 3 In accordance with Dante's scheme in the Paradiso. ally painted for Bishop Louis of Canossa ; it was sold by Cromwell with the greater part of Charles I.'s collection at Hampton Court. The com- position, though not the execution, of this picture belongs to Raphael's early years in Rome ; it is very remarkable for its delicacy of touch and high finish. 6 The magnificent portrait-heads of the Venetian scholars Navagero and Beazzano, now in the Doria Gallery in Rome, are worthy of Raphael at his best, and have for long been attributed to him. There are good contemporary copies at Madrid. known about the Madonna di S. Sisto, the glory of the Dresden Gallery ; no studies or sketches for it exist. In style it much resembles the Madonna di Foligno; it is less injured by restoration than the latter. Among the latest works of Raphael are the large St Michael and the Devil, in the Louvre, signed "Raphael Urbinas pingebat, MDXVIII.," and the very beautiful por- trait of the Violin-player, in the Sciarra-Colonna Palace in Rome, also dated 1518; this last bears much resemblance to the painter himself. The British Museum possesses one of Raphael's finest portraits, though only a chalk drawing, that of his friend the painter Timoteo della Vite, a masterpiece of expression and vigour ; it is executed in black and red, and is but little inferior in chromatic effect to an oil-painting; it is life-size, and is executed with wonderful skill and evident keen interest in the subject. The tapestry cartoons, seven of which are in the South Kensington Museum, were painted by pupils from Raphael's designs. They are part of ' a set of ten, with scenes from the Acts of the Apostles, intended, when copied in tapestry, to adorn the lower part of the walls of the Sistine chapel. The tapestries themselves, worked at Brussels, are now, after many vicissitudes, hung in a gallery in the Vatican ; the set is complete, thus preserving the design of the three lost cartoons. The existing seven, after being cut up into strips for use on the looms, were bought by Rubens for Charles I. 6 The tapestry copies are executed with wonder- ful skill, in spite of Raphael's having treated the subjects in a purely pictorial way, with little regard to the exi- gencies of textile work. The designs are reversed, and the colours far more brilliant than those of the cartoons, much gold and silver being introduced. The noble figure of Christ in the Delivery of the Keys to St Peter is in the tapestry much disfigured by the addition of a number of large gold stars all over the drapery, which spoil the simple dignity of the folds. The rich framework round each pic- ture, designed by Raphael's pupils, probably by Penni and Giovanni da Udine, exists in the tapestries and adds greatly to their decorative effect. The cartoons were executed in 1515 and 1516, and the finished tapestries were first exhi- bited in their place in the Sistine chapel on 26th December 1519, a very short time for the weaving of such large and elaborate pictures. The three of which the cartoons are lost represent the Martyrdom of St Stephen, the Con- version of St Paul, and St Paul in Prison at Philippi. Probably no pictures are better known or have been more often engraved and copied than these seven cartoons. 7 The Transfiguration. 3 In 1519 Cardinal Giuliano de' Medici (afterwards Clement VII.), as bishop of Nar bonne, ordered two altar-pieces for his cathedral, the one by Raphael, the other by Raphael's Venetian rival Sebastiano del Piombo (see SEBASTIANO). That by the latter painter is the noble Resurrection of Lazarus, now in the National Gallery, in the drawing of which the Venetian received important aid from Michelangelo. Several studies for Raphael's picture exist, showing that he at first intended to paint a Resurrection of Christ as a pendant to Sebas- tiano's subject, but soon altered his scheme into the Trans- figuration. The eight or nine existing studies are scattered through the Oxford, Lille, Windsor, and some private 6 Fortunately they were not sold with the bulk of Charles's collec- tion, and remained at Hampton Court till a few years ago. See Koch, RafaeVs Tapeten im Vatican, Vienna, 1878, and Miintz, Hist, de la tapisserie Italienne, Paris, 1880. 1 The name " arazzi " given by Italians to these tapestries is derived from Arras, where they were erroneously thought to have been woven ; they were made at Brussels. It is much to be regretted that visitors to the Vatican are no longer allowed to see these priceless examples of textile work. 8 See Morgenstern, Ueber RafaeVs Verkldrung, Leipsic, 1822, and Justi, Die Verklarung Christi, Leipsic, 1870.
 * La Perla, " the pearl " of the Spanish royal collection, was origin-