Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 3.djvu/32

24 duced a fresco of the most exquisite beautj, in a Loggia of his palace, in the Trastevere, now called the Chisi; the subject of this is Galatea in a car on the sea drawn by two dolphins and surrounded by Tritons and different marine deities. Having made the cartoon for the above named chapel, which is at the entrance of the Church of Santa Maria della Pace, on the right as one enters by the principal door, the master executed it in fresco, and in his new manner, which was somewhat grander and more majestic than the earlier one. In this picture Raphael painted some of the Prophets and Sybils, before Michelangelo had thrown open the chapel, which he had nevertheless seen, as has been related; and of a truth, these figures are considered to be the best, and among so many beautiful the most beautiful, seeing that in the women and children represented, there is the very perfection of truth and animation; the colouring, moreover, is faultless. This work caused the master to be most highly extolled, both during his life and after his death, being, as it was, the most remarkable and most excellent one that Raphael ever executed. Raphael being earnestly entreated by a chamberlain of Pope Julius II. to paint the picture for the high