Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 8.djvu/44

 224 ARTISTS AND AUTHORS chambers of the Vatican. The famous frescos of the Vatican need neither enu- meration nor description ; the world is their judge and their eulogist. No artist ever consecrated his works more by his affections than Raphael. The same hallowed influence of the heart gave inexpressible charm to Correggio's, afterward. One of Raphael's friends said to him, in looking upon particular fig- ures in his groups, " You have transmitted to posterity your own likeness." " See you nothing beyond that ? " replied the artist. " I see," said the critic, " the deep-blue eye, and the long, fair hair parted on the forehead." " Observe," said Raphael, " the feminine softness of expression, the beautiful harmony of thought and feeling. When I take my pencil for high and noble purposes, the spirit of my mother hovers over me. It is her countenance, not my own, of which you trace the resemblance." This expression is always observable in his Madonnas. His portraits of the Fornarina are widely different. Raphael, in his last and most excellent style, united what was graceful and exquisite in Leonardo with the sublime and noble manner of Michael Angelo. It is the privilege and glory of genius to appropriate to itself whatever is noble and true. The region of thought is thus made a com- mon ground for all, and one master mind becomes a reservoir for the present and future times. When Raphael was invited to Rome by Pope Julius II., Michael Angelo was at the height of his glory ; his character tended to inspire awe rather than affec- tion ; he delighted in the majestic and the terrible. In boldness of conception and grandeur of design, he surpassed Leonardo, but never could reach the sweet- ness and gentleness of his figures. Even his children lose something of their in- fantine beauty, and look mature ; his women ar.e commanding and lofty ; his men of gigantic proportions. His painting, like his sculpture, is remarkable for ana- tomical exactness, and perfect expression of the muscles. For this union of magnificence and sublimity, it was necessary to prepare the mind ; the first view was almost harsh, and it was by degrees that his mighty works produced their de- signed effect. Raphael, while he felt all the greatness of the Florentine, con- ceived that there might be something more like nature — something that should be harmonious, sweet, and flowing — that should convey the idea of intellectual rather than of external majesty. Without yielding any of the correctness of science, he avoided harshness, and imitated antiquity in uniting grace and ele- gance with a strict observation of science and of the rules of art. It was with surprise that Michael Angelo beheld in the youthful Raphael a rival artist ; nor did he receive this truth meekly ; he treated him with coldness and distance. In the meantime Raphael went on with his works ; he completed the frescos of the Vatican, and designed the cartoons. He also produced those exquisite paintings in oil which seem the perfection of human art. Human affection is necessary to awaken the sympathy of human beings ; and Raphael, in learning how to portray it, had found the way to the heart. In mere grandeur of invention he was surpassed by Michael Angelo. Titian excelled him