Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/221

 RAPHAEL 205 land it yields an enormous amount, the plant standing 4 ft. high ; domestic animals general- ly are fond of it, and it is especially useful for sheep, which are allowed to feed it off, and thus enrich the land ; it is sometimes ploughed under as a green fertilizer. In this country Eape (Brassica campestris, var. rapa). rape has been hut little cultivated ; the winters in the northern states are too severe for the fall-planted kinds, hut the early or German rape, sown in May, has been satisfactorily tried by some sheep raisers. In Europe it is grown in gardens as a salad plant and pot herb, being eaten young in the same manner as mustard. As a forage plant it is sown broadcast, the stems being more succulent if the plants are crowded; but when grown for its seeds, the young plants are raised in a seed bed, and when large enough are set in the field in rows the same as cab- bages; the yield of seed varies from 20 to 40 bushels to the acre. The seeds closely resemble those of the turnip, but are somewhat larger ; they yield about 33 per cent, of oil, which, when freed from the mucilage it contains, is used as a lubricator, for illumination, for dress- ing leather, in the manufacture of woollen cloths, for soap making, and for other pur- poses; it is also called colza oil, a name more especially given to that derived from a sub- variety called B. campestris oleifera. The mass left after the expression of the oil, known as rape cake, is a considerable article of com- merce in Europe; its composition is, in 100 parts, water 15, ash 7*4, albuminoids 18 - 3, car- bohydrates 33'5, crude fibre 15'8, fat, &c., 10; it is a powerful manure, which acts promptly, and is used either in compost, or ground fine and drilled in with the seed; it is especially valuable for turnips and wheat. RAPHAEL (RAFFAELLE SANZIO, or SANTI D'UK- BINO), an Italian painter, born in Urbino, April 6, 1483, died in Rome, April 6, 1520. He be- longed to a family of artists, and his father, Giovanni Santi (whose life has been written by Count Pompeo Gherardi, 1875), was his first instructor. At the age of 12 he was placed in the school of Perugino, and remained with him until near his 20th year, assisting him, but at- tempting nothing which can be authenticated as his own until about 1500. After leaving the school of Perugino, he worked for about a year in Perugia, producing the "Marriage of the Virgin," now in the Brera at Milan, and well known by Longhi's engraving; "The Knight's Dream," now in the British national gallery ; the " Agony in the Garden," and " St. Michael and St. George," all executed in what is known as his first or Peruginesque manner. In 1504 Raphael visited Florence for the first time. The compositions by Leonardo da Vinci and Michel Angelo, known as the " Battle for the Standard " and the " Cartoon of Pisa," had recently been opened to public inspection, and to their influence may be attributed the new era which thenceforth commences in his development. He returned in the same year to Perugia, and for several months was em- ployed in painting altarpieces, after which he revisited Florence, where he remained until the middle of 1508. During this period he painted about 30 pictures, the latest essential- ly after the style of the Florentines, and par- ticularly of Leonardo da Vinci. Preeminent among them were those testifying his devo- tion for the Virgin, to whom in after life he dedicated a chapel in Rome. " The mere col- lection of all the Virgins painted or even de- signed by Raphael," says Quatremere de Quin- cy, " and the detail of the variations which he introduced into his compositions, would form an abridged history of his genius." The Madonna del granduca, now in the Pitti palace, painted either during his first visit to Florence or in the early part of his longer sojourn there, represents the highest perfection of which Perugino's type was capable. Imme- diately succeeding this in date were the " Ma- donna of the Palm Tree," now in the Elles- mere collection ; the Madonna del cardellino (of the goldfinch), in the Florentine gallery, so called because the little St. John is presenting a goldfinch to the infant Christ ; and the pic- ture in the Louvre known as La lelle jar- diniere, in which the Madonna is sitting with the two children in the midst of a beautiful landscape. To this Florentine period belong also the " St. Catharine " in the British national gallery, the two little "St. Georges" in St, Petersburg and the Louvre, the "Entomb- ment " in the Borghese gallery, and the well known portrait of himself in theUffizi at Flor- ence. The production of works like these made Raphael's name famous over all Italy, and Pope Julius II. invited him to complete the frescoes of those halls of the Vatican which had been left unfinished by Nicholas V. and Pius II. In the middle of the year 1508 Ra- phael arrived at the papal court, and began that grand series of works which develop his third or Roman manner. His frescoes, cover-