Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 3.djvu/43

Rh man, that is to say; another in that of a lion; the third as an eagle; and the fourth as an ox. The earth beneath exhibits a small landscape, and this work, in its minuteness— all the figures being very small—is no less beautiful than are the others in their grandeur of extent.

To Verona Raphael sent a large picture of no less excellence, for the Counts of Canossa. The subject is the Nativity of Our Lord, admirably treated: the day-break in particular, as here portrayed, has been highly commended, and the same may be said of the figure of Sant’ Anna, and indeed of the whole work, which one could not extol more efiectually than by the simple assertion, that it is by the hand of Raphael da Urbino. The Counts hold this picture in the highest estimation, as it well deserves, very great sums have been offered to them for it by different princes, but they have never been prevailed on to part with it.

For Bindo Altoviti, Raphael executed a portrait of himself when he (Bindo) was still young, and this work also has obtained, as it merits, the highest admiration. He also painted a picture of the Madonna for the same person, who despatched it to Florence: this is now preserved in the Palace of the Duke Cosimo: it has been placed in the Chapel of the new apartments, which have been built and painted by myself, where it serves as the Altar-piece: the subject is Sant’ Anna, a woman much advanced in years, who is seated with the infant Christ in her arms; she is holding him out to the Virgin, and the beauty of his nude figure, with the exquisite loveliness of the countenance which the master has given to the divine Child, is such, that his smile rejoices the heart of all who behold him. To Our Lady