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RAP the then celebrated Pietro Vannucci at Perugia. Raphael lost his mother when he was only eight years old. He spent some years with Pietro Perugino, and in 1502 we find him employed at Siena in assisting Pinturicchio, an older pupil of Perugino. Raphael had, however, little to do with the execution of Pinturicchio's frescoes in the library at Siena. In 1504 he visited Florence; he was greatly impressed with the works of the painters of this advanced school, and he contracted a special friendship with Fra Bartolomeo. Florence was Raphael's head quarters until 1508, when he was invited to Rome by Julius II., through the recommendations of his fellow-townsman Bramante, then all-powerful in matters of art at Rome. Up to this time Raphael had painted much in the taste of Pietro Perugino, and the Umbrian painters generally, though he had much enlarged his manner of drawing before he left Florence. The famous Cartoon of Pisa, exhibited at Florence by Michelangelo in 1506, could not fail to have much influence on so impressible a mind as that of the young painter of Urbino. Notable works of this period are the "Sposalizio" at the Brera, painted in 1504; the "Madonna del Baldachino," at Florence; the "Entombment," in the Borghese gallery at Rome, painted in 1507; and even the St. Catherine in the National gallery in London, painted at the same time. At Rome, Raphael again met Michelangelo, against whom, in the pope's favour, he was pitted by Bramante. The great work of Raphael in Rome was the decoration of the dwelling-rooms of the popes in the Vatican palace, now, through these very frescoes, world-renowned as the Vatican Stanze. They consist of four principal rooms, and are generally designated after the most remarkable frescoes which they contain, as the "Sala di Costantino," the "Stanza dell' Eliodoro," the "Stanza dell' Incendio." The "Hall of Constantine," the first entered, is the last that was painted, and it was not completed until after Raphael's death, in 1523, by his principal scholars, Giulio Romano and Gianfrancesco Penni. It contains the great battle between Constantine and Maxentius. The second chamber, the "Stanza della Segnatura" (of the signature), was the first painted, and Raphael was here engaged about three years, 1509-11. It contains the "Theology," or so called Disputa on the nature of the sacrament of the Lord's supper, 1509; the "Philosophy, or the School of Athens," 1511; with "Poetry," and "Jurisprudence." The first two large frescoes show the painter's gradual progress to his own second or enlarged manner. The "Theology" is in his Florentine taste; the "Philosophy" in his Roman, showing some influence of the antique. It was, however, in the next apartment, in the "Stanza dell' Eliodoro," that Raphael first entirely developed his grand manner, in the "Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple of Jerusalem," from the book of Maccabees. This is the chief fresco of this room, and was painted in 1512, at the same time that Michelangelo completed his vast series of frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel; and as Raphael saw these works in progress, his own great improvement in style is generally attributed to the example of the great Florentine painter. In this room are also the "Mass of Bolsena," the "Attila," and "Peter Delivered from Prison," all completed by 1514. The works of the fourth room, the "Stanza dell' Incendio," in which the most remarkable picture is the arresting the fire of the Borgo, a suburb of Rome, are inferior to the rest; they were painted in 1517, and were executed chiefly by the painter's scholars. From this time Raphael was too much engaged on other' works to bestow much of his own time on the Stanze, and, as observed above, the first room was not completed until after his death. All these great frescoes, now unfortunately in a deplorable state through the neglect and ill-treatment they suffered in the seventeenth century, are among the triumphs of modern art, and are monumental works, notwithstanding the difficulties thrown in the painter's way from the unsuitable character of the walls, and the general meanness of the rooms. All are grand in character, in dramatic truth of composition, and some are, compared with ordinary frescoes, magnificent even in colour. They are of a mixed historical, and representative or symbolical character, being typical of the delivery of the states of the church, more particularly by Julius II. and Leo X.. from all foreign enemies; and illustrating the establishment of the temporal as well as the spiritual power of the popes. The first room contains the "Triumph of Constantine over Maxentius," the "Appearance of the Cross," the "Baptism of Constantine," and the "Presentation of Rome to the Pope;" the last room contains the "Oath of Leo III. before Charlemagne," and the "Coronation of the emperor by that Pope;" also, the "Victory of Leo IV. over the Saracens at Ostia," and that same pope miraculously arresting the fire at Borgo. Leo X. succeeded Julius II. in 1513, after the completion of the "Heliodorus," which was painted for Julius, and is the grandest of all Raphael's frescoes. The slow progress of these works from this time is chiefly owing to the numerous commissions with which Leo himself, and other patrons, almost overwhelmed Raphael. He executed from that time—besides many madonnas and holy families, portraits, and other less important works—the series of the Vatican loggie, known as "Raphael's Bible," the "St. Cecilia" at Bologna; the "Madonna di San Sisto" at Dresden; the "Spasimo" at Madrid; the "Transfiguration" in the Vatican; the "Galatea," and other frescoes of the Farnesina; and the magnificent series of cartoons, of which seven are now at Hampton court. And from the year 1514 he was the superintending architect of the new church of St. Peter's, succeeding Bramante in that office. It was doubtless owing to his multifarious occupations, that his brilliant career was so prematurely terminated. On one occasion, in March, 1520, when engaged at the Farnesina, he was suddenly summoned by Leo X. to the Vatican, and in the haste to meet the pope, overheated himself; and in this state had his interview with his holiness and caught a cold and fever from which he never recovered. He died on his birthday, the 6th of April following, having exactly completed his thirty-seventh year; and as he died on Good Friday, Vasari, and others after him, overlooking the fact of Good Friday being a movable feast, were led into the mistake that he was born also on Good Friday, which has in consequence become a popular error. His body lay in state, with his last work, the "Transfiguration," at his head, and was buried with great pomp in the Pantheon or Santa Maria della Rotonda at Rome. A skull was long shown in the academy of St. Luke, as that of Raphael; but in 1833 his tomb was opened, and the skeleton, with all the teeth, found entire. A mould was taken from the skull, and the tomb was closed up again. He was of a sallow complexion, had brown eyes, was slight in form, and was about five feet eight inches high. There are several portraits of him extant, from his childhood upwards. He was never married, but was said to have been engaged to Maria Bibiena, niece of the cardinal of that name: she died before him. He left property to the value of sixteen thousand ducats, a large fortune at that time; and he had two houses at Rome, a fine mansion in the city, and a small villa outside the walls. The last was inhabited by the beautiful baker's daughter, the Fornarina, to whom Raphael bequeathed an independence. His painting materials and works of art he bequeathed to his two favourite scholars, Gianfrancesco Penni, and Giulio Romano, then both young men, on condition of completing his unfinished works. In 1527 his great and numerous school was dispersed. Giulio Romano established his style at Mantua, and Penni carried it to Naples; Polidoro da Caravaggio spread it to Sicily; Garofalo early introduced it into Ferrara, and Pierino del Vaga founded a school upon its principles at Genoa. There are few departments in the art in which Raphael did not excel, whether for the church or palace, sacred or profane; whether in history or portrait, allegory or ornament. About nine hundred various works and drawings are attributed to him, and any of his pictures constitute the chief pride of such collections as are fortunate enough to comprise examples. His designs are distinguished for refined religious sentiment, or the utmost dramatic vigour; his expression, drawing, and composition, are generally admirable; and in his third or last style his forms are invariably in a grand taste. He did not sacrifice the sensuous to the sentimental. On the contrary, he showed that the two were essentially compatible, quite early in his career. He evidently had no tolerance for the separation of the sound body from the sound mind, believing one as worthy of representation as the other. In the art of Raphael, physical vigour no more implies moral licentiousness, than an emaciated body indicates sanctity of spirit; he knew that God made the body as well as the soul. Yet the grand vigorous character of Raphael's representations, compared with the prevailing predominance of sentiment in earlier works at the expense of the physical, has led modern affectation and ignorance, to pronounce his art profane, and a new adjective has been introduced into our art criticism, pre-Raphaelite, to express this disparagement. Another innovation of modern times is to spell his name in England as the modern Italians spell it, Raffaelle, a word of four syllables, and yet to pronounce this Italian word as if it were English, as Raphael. Vasari wrote Raffaello, he himself wrote