Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 3.djvu/15

Rh not be surpassed in generosity and courtesy, painted two pictures for Taddeo, wherein there are traces of his first manner, derived from Pietro, and also of that much better one which he acquired at a later period by study, as will be related hereafter. These pictures are still carefully preserved by the heirs of the above-named Taddeo. Paphael also formed a close friendship with Lorenzo Nasi, and the latter, having taken a wife at that time, Raphael painted a picture for him, wherein he represented Our Lady with the Infant Christ, to whom San Giovanni, also a child, is joyously offering a bird, which is causing infinite delight and gladness to both the children. In the attitude of each there is a childlike simplicity of the utmost loveliness: they are besides so admirably coloured, and finished with so much care, that they seem more like living beings than mere paintings. Equally good is the figure of the Madonna: it has an air of singular grace and even divinity, while all the rest of the work—the foreground, the surrounding landscape, and every other particular, are exceedingly beautiful, This picture was held in the highest estimation by Lorenzo Nasi so long as he lived, not only because it was a memorial of Raphael, who had been so much his friend, but on account of the dignity and excellence of the whole composition: but on the 9th of August, in the year 1548, the work was destroyed by the sinking down of the hill of San Giorgio; when the house of Lorenzo was overwhelmed by the fallen masses, together with the beautiful and richly decorated dwelling of the heirs of Marco del Nero, and many other buildings. It is true that the fragments of the picture were found among the ruins of the house, and were put together in the best manner that he could contrive, by Batista the son of Lorenzo, who was a great lover of art.

After having completed these works, Raphael was himself compelled to leave Florence and repair to Urbino, where his mother and Giovanni his father having both died, his