CHAPTER XV.

LEO X AS THE PATRON OF THE ARTS. —THE STANZE, TAPESTRIES AND LOGGIE OF RAPHAEL

 

AMONG the artistic creations which owed their existence to the Medici Pope, works of painting hold the first rank in point of number, as well as on account of their intrinsic value and of the subjects they portray. Among these the wonderful achievements of Raphael are preeminent.

With the reign of Leo X a new epoch in the artistic career of this master begins. Heavy and varied as the tasks might be with which the Pope plied him, the lovable and gifted painter of Urbino knew how to adapt his great talents to demands which multiplied almost in excess of human capacity. Wondrous was the devotion with which, up to the hour of his early death, he gave himself to the work he had to do ; astonishing was his zeal for study, his inexhaustible productiveness, the unflagging advance of his artistic power. Besides the obvious task of finishing the monumental frescoes in the Stanze, Lao X, in the first year of his pontificate, laid upon him simultaneously a second task not less difficult and extensive than the first, namely, the cartoons for the tapestries of the Sixtine Chapel.

Along with these undertakings, each of which by itself was of a nature to exhaust all the artist's resources, there were yet many other commissions of greater or less importance to execute at the instance of the Pope and his artistic circle. Raphael, whose creative genius delighted in exerting all its powers to meet these increasing demands, found himself, in a proportionate degree, forced to call in his pupils to his aid. Vasari and the historians of art who have followed him have greatly exaggerated their number. There were at first only two painters who stood on a level with their master, Giovanni Francesco Penni and Giulio Romano. On those two favourites, who alone are entitled to be called his disciples in the fullest sense of the word, Raphael bestowed a lifelong affection and trust.

Traces of other hands are already discernible in the fresco of the Meeting of Attila and Leo the Great. in the Stanza d'Eliodoro, the completion of which was interrupted by the illness and death of Julius II. The composition and drawing, as well as the colouring of this picture, disclose defects incompatible with the master-touch of Raphael. The landscape with ruins of Rome bears all the characteristics of Giovanni Francesco Penni ; Giovanni da Udine, to whom it was formerly attributed, is out of the question. In this fresco a marked alteration was made in the figure of Leo I; in Raphael's original sketch, this great Pope appears with the features of Julius II; the warlike Rovere, recognizable by his long beard, is here carried in his litter, wearing an expression of perfect tranquillity, to meet the savage and boisterous Hunnish king and his troop of horsemen, while the princes of the Apostles, Peter and Paul, sweep down from heaven with threatening gestures. The fresco as we now see it shows, in place of Julius II., his beardless successor Leo X, clothed in full pontifical vestments and mounted on the white charger which carried him in the battle of Ravenna, and, a year later, in the magnificent procession on his way to take possession of the Lateran. There is no doubt that the artist effected this metamorphosis at the special wish of the new Pope, who sought thus to hand down to posterity an enduring portrait of himself and a memorial, as well, of his deliverance from French captivity. Two inscriptions on the window beneath the Deliverance of St. Peter attest that the works in the Stanza d'Eliodoro were finished in the summer of I514.

The order to decorate the third Stanza followed without delay, for on the 1st of July, 1514, Raphael informed his uncle, Simone Ciarla, that he had begun to paint another hall for His Holiness, for which he was to receive one thousand two hundred gold ducats. In the following year he sent to Dürer at Nuremburg, in order “to show his hand” to the German master, the red crayon sketch, now preserved at Vienna, of two figures in the sea-fight at Ostia. Not until June, 1517, was the painting of this hall completed ; so states the Ferrarese Envoy, and the inscription on the window is in agreement with this. The extraordinary delay in the completion of the third Stanza is explained by Raphael's nomination as architect of St. Peter's as early as 1514. This additional burden was made all the heavier by the ardour with which Raphael applied himself to it. His absorption in architectural matters led him to a thorough study of the antique, the influence of which is to be seen clearly in the frescoes of the third Stanza. But, on the other hand, the imperative claims of the new undertaking —the building of St. Peter's— forced him to allow his pupils, to a much larger extent, a free hand with his pictures, and to enlarge continually the scope of their co-operation. A merely superficial inspection of the frescoes in the third Stanza shows that not one of them is the work of Raphael's hand alone; more recent investigation has proved that even in their composition Raphael's influence has become, to some extent, sub ordinate.

The idea of the fresco decoration in the third Stanza is closely connected with that in the Stanza d'Eliodoro : here also the greatness and power of the Papacy, as the central point of the Church, is to be celebrated with reference to the actual sovereignty of the exalted patron of the work. The purely personal references to the reigning Pontiff, which, only lightly touched on in the first Stanza, are brought out much more clearly in the second, receive in the third so strong an emphasis that the continuity of subject runs a risk of being broken ; and the intention thus intrusively forced on the notice of the beholder has a disturbing effect. The idea of restoring a combination with the subjects on the ceiling, where the Christ in Glory, painted by Perugino for Julius II, retained its place, was abandoned : the great frescoes on the walls tell their own story, but the only link which holds them together is the name of Leo. The fitting designation for the chamber would thus be “the Leonine Hall”. From the respective histories of Leo III and Leo IV, whom the Church has raised to her altars, two important incidents have been chosen which, besides suggesting the identity of the Papal names, were at the same time capable of application to events in the glorious present. And, as if something still were wanting, Leo III and Leo IV are invariably portrayed with the uncomely features of the Medici Pope. In thus displaying pictures which were mere offerings of homage to Leo X, the fact was over looked that paintings of this sort produce only a dis agreeable and chilling impression. One can well conceive that Raphael took little pleasure in a task so uncongenial to the natural bent of his genius, and delegated, as much as possible, its fulfilment to his pupils. At the utmost, by means of sketches and studies, he supplied the ground work of the “Fire in the Borgo”, which, as the master piece of the series, has given to the apartment the name of the “Stanza del Incendio”.

The Liber Pontificalis relates how Leo IV, by making the sign of the Cross, quenched with marvellous quickness a fire which was ravaging the Borgo di San Pietro, the suburb which he had founded and fortified. The difficulty of treating such an occurrence pictorially need not be insisted upon, since the wonderful power of the pontifical blessing does not admit of perceptible expression. The person of the Pope in the act of blessing—the feature of the picture which to Leo X was of capital importance— has been thrown boldly into the background by the artist ; here he appears on a loggia of the Vatican, near to which the facade of the then existing Church of St. Peter’s is visible, while in the foreground the threatened victims of the raging flames are depicted with broad and powerful strokes, running, amid cries of distress, to the rescue or in flight. The frightful power of fire, when “it breaks through its fetters”, is here represented in a “genre picture of masterful style” with such extraordinary actuality that one understands why this particular fresco was such an object of admiration and imitation in the academic epoch. On both sides of the picture ancient palatial buildings, in which the fire is raging, are purposely dis played. On the one on the right hand men are busy trying to quench the flames ; two female figures, the modelling of which has hardly a counterpart in painting, and has made the group famous, hold out vessels full of water to the stout-hearted rescuers. On the left hand the flames have got the mastery, and have driven the inmates to head long flight. Only one, a mother, is forgetful of her own safety, and holds out her infant in swaddling clothes to the father who has roused himself in terror. Close by a stalwart youth, who has jumped naked from his bed, slides down the wall. On the extreme left a son, in the strength of youth, carries his father, scantily clothed, into the open, like Aeneas bearing Anchises ; behind him runs a spirited boy, likewise clad with only a few scraps of clothing. Amid these incidents, which recall Virgil's description of burning Troy, the group of women in the centre must not be overlooked, since it not only connects the foreground with the two sides of the picture, but also carries the eye back again to the figure of the Pope, in the background, as he makes the sign of blessing. One of the terror-stricken women who have congregated here has thrown herself on the ground and, with outstretched arms, cries to the Pontiff for help ; on him also is turned the gaze of a mother whose child has sunk upon its knees in prayer —a touching idyll in the midst of this world of distraction and fear! To the Head of the Church, as to a place of refuge, fly also the groups of people on the steps of the Papal palace—figures of extraordinary beauty, and portrayed with a thorough grasp of what is true in nature. All these beautiful details are certainly to be attributed to Raphael’s invention ; but he is not responsible for their combination, which is in parts defective, nor for the discrepancies in proportion. It is certain that the execution of the fresco was left entirely to his pupils ; the foreground is the work of Giulio Romano and the back ground that of Penni.

The same considerations hold good in the case of the second fresco, which represents the victory of Leo IV in the sea-fight of Ostia ; only with this difference, that here Giulio Romano has, to a very considerable extent, influenced the composition as a whole. Leo IV, who faces the spectator in the person of Leo X, appears on the left, not far from the shore, enthroned on a fallen pedestal from the ruins of Ostia ; behind him are seen two of his chief advisers, Cardinals Medici and Bibbiena; the Pope, with uplifted eyes, gives thanks to heaven for his victory on the sea. The naval action itself fills the background. In front of him captive Saracens are already landing, who are represented as gagged and roughly handled ; among them is conspicuous the splendid form of a warrior ; the design of this figure was included in the sketch sent by Raphael to Dürer. Many of the subjects in this fresco show as clearly as those in the Conflagration in the Borgo how intent at this time Raphael and his school were on the study of ancient models.

The two other frescoes in the Stanza del Incendio represent scenes from the life of Leo III : one is the Oath of Purgation against False Accusations, which this Pope “voluntarily and at no man’s instigation” took on the 23rd of December, 800, in the Church of St. Peter ; the other is the Coronation of Charlemagne, previously held in the same place, in which he assumes the bodily presence of Francis I. No sketches by Raphael, for these ceremonial pictures, which display all the pomp of the Leonine era, are extant. Everything indicates that not only their execution, but also their composition, was the work of Raphael’s pupils. The hard outlines and feeble colouring point to the conclusion that these frescoes come from the hand of Giovanni Francesco Penni.

The choice of the events in the reigns of Leo III and Leo IV, which are represented in the Stanza del Incendio, was, we may be pretty sure, determined by an appropriate­ness to the historical career of Leo X which was more easily perceived by his contemporaries than it is by us at the present day. In order to discover in each fresco the circumstance to which it corresponds, we must carefully examine the administration of the Medici Pope previous to the year 1517, instead of losing ourselves among far­fetched surmises and generalities. An indication of the clearest kind is afforded by the fresco of the victory over the Saracens in the naval battle of Ostia. In the previous course of this history we have shown how preoccupied Leo X had been, from the beginning of his Pontificate, with the plan of a Crusade. At the time when the scheme of the frescoes was decided upon, the Pope’s crusading enthusiasm was at its height. The success of the Christian arms, which the Portuguese envoys had vouched for, and the continuous danger to which the seaboard of the Papal States was exposed from the piratical attacks of the Moslem, from whose hand Leo X had on one occasion escaped at Ostia, as if by a miracle, must have raised the interest of his contemporaries in this fresco to the highest pitch. Moreover, the arrival of unbelievers as captives, which is seen in the very forefront of the picture, was, for the Romans of Leo’s days, a by no means unusual spectacle. What far-reaching hopes were based on Leo X’s action in this question of a Crusade by an earnest man, Egidio Canisio, the General of the Augustinian Order, may be seen from a passage in his History, in which he represents the overthrow of Islam as already assured, since it is written   in the Apocalypse of St. John that victory belongs to the Lion (Leo) of the tribe of Juda. At a later day, when Leo X was engaged in his great attempt to unite the Princes of Christendom in an armed league against the unbelievers, the fresco in his chamber in the Vatican may have arisen before his eyes with even greater force of appeal than this sentence of holy writ.

The Coronation of Charlemagne, who appears with the features of Francis I, contains, according to the commonly accepted explanation, a reference to the Papal approval of the French monarch’s efforts to secure the Imperial crown during the electoral conflict of 1519. But this interpretation is in the highest degree doubtful. The fresco was finished in 1517, when the vaguest rumours concerning the projects of Francis were current—rumours which sprang up on the occasion of the Conference at Bologna, but had no substantial basis of fact. Still less apposite is the view of a more recent investigator, who sees in the picture the expression of the “absolute supremacy of the Church over the secular power”. Of course, it is correct to say that the ecclesiastical character of the Mediaeval Empire is forcibly brought out. But the really essential significance of the picture must be found in the strong accentuation of the duty of supporting the Holy See, which was bound up with the Imperial dignity. To this points the inscription beneath the fresco : “Charles the Great, support and shield of the Roman Church”. Now, if Charlemagne bears the likeness of Francis I, we learn from this what meaning was attached by members of the Roman Curia to the treaty made in October, 1515, with the King of France. By that treaty Francis had pledged himself expressly to protect the States of the Church in their entirety. It is he who now appears as the champion of the Church, and not the weak and vacillating prince who then bore the Imperial title.

If these two frescoes in the Stanza del Incendio thus contain clear allusions to the political activity of Leo X, the two others may likewise bear a reference to his distinctively ecclesiastical government. Two events occupied the first place in point of interest at the time when the arrangements for the fresco decoration of the third Stanza were settled : the close of the Schism and the Council of the Lateran. With the latter the Oath of Purgation of Leo III is, without doubt, closely connected. The explanation of this fresco also has for long been a matter of hazardous and forced conjecture. Once again, a simple and yet sound interpretation is afforded by the inscription under the picture: “God, and not Man, is the Judge of Bishops”. This principle was laid down in the eleventh session of the Council, on the 19th of December, 1516, and in the Bull Unam sanctam, which had again been promulgated simultaneously with the repeal of the Pragmatic Sanction. The highest spiritual authority, it is here declared, must be judged by God alone, and not by men.

The connection between the fresco of the quelling of the conflagration in the Borgo and the history of Leo X. presents an enigma of great difficulty. The allusion is, probably, to the close of the Schism, whereby the Pope was able, with unexpected promptitude, to extinguish a perilous intestine fire within the Church. But along with this motive there is another which cannot be mistaken. The representation of the facade of the old St Peter’s, which was doomed to destruction, the architectural details in the foreground so obviously intended for display and which have nothing to do with the Borgo, might be intended to suggest the zeal with which, from the first, Leo had applied himself to the construction of the new basilica of the Prince of the Apostles. Thus the transference of the real subject of the picture to the background explains itself. Raphael, as the architect of St. Peter's, wished, by means of this fresco, to convey to his patron, who had nominated him the successor of Bramante, a delicate compliment of homage and thanks.

After the works in the Stanza del Incendio were finished, there yet remained, for the completion of the adornment of the Pope's state apartments, the mural painting of the great hall next the Stanza d'Eliodoro, which immediately adjoins the Loggie. The choice of subjects for treatment presented difficulties, for a continuation of the line adopted in the Leonine chamber was open to question. Even Leo X did not refuse to recognize that, by confining Raphael's work to pictures of a merely ceremonial and official character, he was turning his talent into a narrowing groove ; that his tasks must again have a wider scope and higher aim, if there was not to be too great an incongruity between the first and the last paintings in the Stanze. Under these circumstances it was a very happy conception of the Pope’s when he fixed, as his choice of subject, on the events in the life of the Emperor Constantine—events belonging to the history of the world, and of a prince under whom Christianity made its victorious entry into Rome, and to whom tradition had ascribed the donation of the States of the Church. To Raphael also was entrusted the task of settling the beautiful general arrangement of this hall. Of the frescoes, that of Constantino's victory at the Milvian Bridge is, in all certainty, drawn from a detailed sketch by the master himself. The grandeur of style which runs through this whole fresco, executed by Giulio Romano, shows the touch of a master of the first rank. If we turn our eyes from the cold grey colouring of the fresco, and, with the aid of an engraving, scrutinize the drawing alone, we receive the impression that this, the noblest battle-piece in the world, can have come from the hand of Raphael alone.

While Raphael’s pupils were painting the Leonine hall, their master was engaged on the designs for the tapestries, which on Church festivals were to adorn the lower walls of the Sixtine Chapel in place of the older hangings now worn out and shabby. This work must have come to an end about Christmas, 1516, after several years’ application. It consisted of ten lightly-tinted cartoons, of the exact size and shape which were to be reproduced in the looms, on which the chief events in the lives of St. Peter and St. Paul were painted in distemper. For each cartoon the Pope paid one hundred gold ducats.

At that time the execution of the tapestries could only be carried out in Flanders. The former headquarters for the fabrication of such articles in that country, Arras, whence from an early period the Italians had given the name “Arazzi” to the productions of the weaver’s skill, had, ever since its capture by Louis XI in 1477, been unable to maintain so important a manufacture. Brussels had for a long time become the centre for this industry, and thither accordingly Leo X. also turned. The despatch of the cartoons to Brussels must have followed without delay, since already, at the end of July, 1517, Cardinal Luigi d'Aragona was able, during his stay in that city, to admire the first of the designs, the Committal of the Keys to Peter. The Cardinal, who was a man of artistic tastes, visited the workshops in person ; in his opinion the whole series of tapestries would be reckoned among the most wonderful achievements of Christian Art. The execution in wool, silk, and gold thread was, under the supervision of Raphael's pupil Bernhard van Orley. in the hands of Peter van Aelst, who, besides the title of Court Purveyor to His Holiness, received for each piece of tapestry 1500 ducats, making a total of 15,000.

By the beginning of July, 1519, three of the hangings had reached Rome : the Venetian Ambassador writes in admiration of their fine workmanship and of their value.* Four more must have come to hand in the autumn ; for it is on record that the Pope ordered seven of these new tapestries, as beautiful as they were costly, to be hung in the Sixtine Chapel oil St. Stephen's day, below the frescoes on the walls. Although here and there the voice of envy found expression in unfavourable criticism, yet the general impression was one of unmixed admiration. “All present in the Chapel”, relates the Papal Master of Ceremonies, Paris de Grassis, “were struck at the sight of these noble tapestries, which, with universal consent, were adjudged to be among the things of beauty which cannot be surpassed in all the world”.  The Venetian Marcantonio Michiel bears witness that in the general opinion these tapestries are the most beautiful productions of their kind that have ever yet been wrought ; they excel those in the antechamber of Julius II. as much as the latter surpass those of the Marquis of Mantua, or those in the palace of the King of Naples. The latest criticism is more matter-of-fact, and discovers technical faults due to defective execution. Not only Raphael’s own contemporaries but later generations have overlooked these defects. “A marvellous and astonishing work”, writes Vasari, “for it passes human wit to understand how it is possible for the interweaving of threads so to represent in the woof the hairs of the head and beard or so to reproduce the consistency of human flesh, and the impression made by the whole is rather that of a miracle than of a work of human skill. Water, animals, and buildings are represented in such perfection that they appear not to have been woven on the loom, but to have been painted with the brush”.

The best evidence both of the extent and the continuity of this great admiration of the tapestries is afforded by the numerous plates which were struck, and by the copies, in the form of hand-worked carpets, which were already forthcoming, in a certain quantity, before the close of the 1 6th century. Of the latter, some of the finest specimens adorn, at the present day, the art collections of Berlin, Dresden, Madrid, and Vienna, and also the Cathedral of Loreto.

The Vatican originals have undergone many vicissitudes which reflect in a remarkable way the changing fortunes of the Papal power. After the death of Leo X they were pawned, on account of the then existing financial distress, but were afterwards redeemed and again restored to the Sixtine Chapel. They were still conspicuous there when, in May, 1527, the corpse of the Constable de Bourbon found a shelter in that sanctuary. Soon, however, the gold threads in their tissue aroused the love of plunder in the mercenaries. Since an attempt to extract them by melting, which was tried on the lower part of the hanging representing the Blinding of Elymas, led to little result, at any rate several of the pieces, if not all, were put up for sale. Already in 1530 negotiations were pending for the repurchase of a piece of tapestry stolen during the sack of the city. In an inventory of 1544, seven hangings are enumerated among the contents of the Papal palace. Under Julius III two more pieces were restored which had been carried away from Venice to Constantinople. Henceforward they were used not only in the decoration of the Sixtine Chapel, but also of the Piazza of St. Peter's on Corpus Christ! Day. Goethe, who saw them, with admiration, on the latter occasion, in 1787, thought that they were the only works of Raphael which did not appear insignificant after looking at the frescoes of Michael Angelo in the Sixtine Chapel. During the storm of the French Revolution the tapestries were once more removed from Rome. In the beginning of 1798 they were, along with the furniture of the Pope, put up to auction and bought by French dealers in old furniture. The latter conveyed them to Genoa and then to Paris, where for a considerable time they were exposed to view in the courts of the Louvre. Their purchase by the French Government fell through on financial ground. At length Pius VII, just before his journey into France, secured the restoration of these treasures to his palace. In 1814 they were placed, by order of the Pope, in the so-called chamber of Pius V ; hence they were transferred by Gregory XVI. to the corridor adjoining the Galleria dei Candelabri, which since then has been called the Galleria degli Arazzi.

It is owing to these mischances that the tapestries today show only a faint reflection of their former splendour. The bright and delicate colours, especially in the flesh tints, have become faded ; many places have been coarsely restored ; from one tapestry the under half has been taken away, to others the wrong borders have been attached. In spite of this it is impossible not to recognize, still under lying all, one of the ripest creations of the great master. The full impression of Raphael’s genius can indeed only be given back to us by the cartoons which were left behind at Brussels and were not reclaimed by the successors of Leo X. Seven of these original drawings, which Rubens discovered simultaneously in 1630, belong to the art collection of the English Crown, and form today one of the most noteworthy objects in the South Kensington Museum, London.

According to Vasari, Penni gave his master great assistance in painting the cartoons for the tapestries in the Papal Chapel. On the strength of this information and from personal observation the older biographers of Raphael assume that only in the Miraculous Draught of Fishes is the principal work to be attributed to his own hand, and that in all the remaining London cartoons only the drawing and certain single portions, especially the heads, belong to him. More recently even this latter claim has been gainsaid. An experienced art student has maintained, with great acuteness and learning, but without having seen the originals in London, the hypothesis that the composition as it stands is the work of Penni, and that Raphael had only thrown off the first and often very hasty sketches. This view is, however, an untenable one. Art critics of eminence, before and since, hold fast, with perfect justice, to the opinion that Raphael’s participation in the cartoons taken from scenes from the history of the Apostles, cannot be narrowed down to this extent. Certainly an authentic drawing of the master’s exists only for the one cartoon of the Call of St. Peter, but, for the others also, sketches, corresponding more or less, from Raphael’s own hand, must have been forthcoming. “The perfection of the individual figures in form, dress, gesture, and expression is so thoroughly impressed with the stamp of the master’s own hand, that it seems impossible to substitute for it the hand of a disciple”. If not in all the seven, yet certainly in four of the London cartoons, all the essential traits can be assigned to Raphael and to him only. The figures, in their organic structure and in the convincing force of their expression, reveal the great and immediate influence of the presiding genius which not only threw out the general design of the composition, but, almost down to the least detail, controlled its arrangement. This does not exclude the certainty that Penni had a more or less extensive share in the colouring of the cartoons, but against the assumption that the pupil had worked in almost entire independence of his master, strong grounds can be adduced in addition to those already brought forward on internal evidence. Even if too much weight is not attached to the circumstance that, in the accounts, as well as in the estimation of all his contemporaries, the cartoons were adjudged to be the work of Raphael, there is yet another consideration which has a most important bearing on the balance of evidence, namely, that Penni, at the time of their execution, had only just entered on his twentieth year. This fact gives substantial support to the supposition that his workmanship in its entirety was under the direction and guidance of a superior hand. It is, at any rate, in the highest degree unlikely that so young a man should have produced, almost unaided, so great a work. On the other hand, Penni's contribution to the colouring of the cartoons was certainly an important one. It is very difficult to assign with certainty the extent of Raphael’s co-operation in details. But that his influence here is also unmistakable must be admitted by anyone who has had an opportunity of studying the originals in London ; the effect of the colours is so remarkable, especially in forming a judgment on the whole, that not even the best photograph can give a true reproduction of the pictures.

How great Raphael's influence must have been on the seven London cartoons is best shown by comparing them, as regards composition and execution, with the three remaining tapestries of the first series, of which the drawings have been lost. The want of spontaneity, the pettiness, the exaggeration, which in the latter strike the beholder, show that, in these pictures (the Stoning of St. Stephen, the Conversion of St. Paul and the imprisonment of the latter) the pupils were left to themselves.

Still less successful is the second series of tapestries, representing scenes in the life of Christ, set on foot by Leo X, but only finished under Clement VII. The drawings for a third series of wrought tapestries, which Leo X, in his love of sumptuous adornment, had ordered Peter van Aelst to prepare in Brussels, contained a sketch by Tommaso Vincidor, that of the Children at Play (Giuochi di Putti). This last-named pupil of Raphael, who had been sent by the Pope to Brussels for the special purpose of superintending the work, informs his master, in a letter of the 20th of July, 1521, that he had completed the cartoon of the Giuochi di Putti, the most beautiful and the most costly hanging that had ever yet been seen.

The tapestries of the first series are of such high importance that they are entitled to something more than a cursory notice in this work. They depict with incomparable skill and great dramatic effect the infancy of the Church ; one half represents events from the history of St. Peter, the other, those from that of St. Paul. Their arrangement in the Sixtine Chapel was probably determined with regard to the circumstance that to the right and left of the entrance, galleries had been erected from which ladies could witness the ceremonies on greater festivals, a permission which had never been granted in the case of the Sixtine Chapel previous to Leo X. Where the galleries ended the tapestries began, two on each side of the space allotted to the laity and three on each side of the sanctuary. On the left, or Gospel side of the wall the Call of St. Peter hung below the Destruction of Core and his Company ; under the Giving of the Law on Sinai, the Healing of the Lame Man ; under the Passage of the Red Sea, the Death of Ananias ; under the Infancy of Moses, the Stoning of St. Stephen ; under the Circumcision of Moses, the Miraculous Draught of Fishes. On the right, or Epistle side, under the Baptism of Christ was hung the Conversion of the Apostle St. Paul ; under the Purification Offerings of the Lepers, the Blinding of Elymas; under the Call of the first Disciples, the Sacrifice at Lystra; under the Sermon on the Mount, the Deliverance of St. Paul from Prison ; under the Committal of the Keys, the Preaching of St. Paul at Athens. This arrangement clearly shows the skill and care with which the choice of subjects for the tapestries had been made. They cover the walls of the Chapel as far as the galleries, and narrate in close chronological order the deeds of the Apostles, simply continuing the series set forth in the wall paintings. The only deviation from the chronological sequence is in the introduction of St. Peter's Miraculous Draught of Fishes between the Papal throne and the altar wall —an arrangement which is accounted for by the Pope's wish to decorate the beginning and end of the wall, against which his throne was placed, with subjects illustrative of the Papal primacy.

The large compositions in the central panels of the tapestries were surrounded by broad, ornamental borders, all of which have certainly not been preserved. The perpendicular borders, corresponding to the pillars of the Chapel, display grotesque patterns in colour on a white or gold ground ; allegorical figures of great beauty are grouped together at intervals, between vases and branch work. This treatment of the borders was also partly intended to form a contrast to the main subjects portrayed, and thus to throw the latter into strong relief. Thus it is not a mere accident that the Fates and the Hours form the framework for the appointment of St. Peter to the office of Chief Shepherd, for here the contrast implied is that between the power of time and fate over the bodies of men, and the power of the keys of Christ’s Vicar over their souls. The transverse strips contain small pictures in a gold-bronze colour arranged in a sort of frieze. Under the subjects taken from the life of St. Paul, these miniature designs have reference to the leading picture above them, and develop the narrative which it illustrates ; but under those taken from the life of St. Peter, certainly at the special wish of the Pope, incidents from the career of the latter, previous to his election, appear, among them being some even of the less glorious, such as his flight from Florence in disguise and his capture at the battle of Ravenna. “To this child of fortune, everything that befell him in the course of his experience appeared not only worthy of note, but fit subject for memorial.” By the side of this prentice work the chief pictures stand out all the more impressively; and yet it is only the cartoons which can impart their full impression, for not even the most perfect textile skill was capable of reproducing the original purity of the designs.

The series of cartoons in preservation, on which time has certainly left traces of its passage, begins with the Miraculous Draught of Fishes. The artist has closely followed the narrative in the fifth chapter of St. Luke’s gospel. In the early morning Jesus had preached to the multitudes from the ship on the lake of Genesareth, and had then put out with Peter : the latter, at his Lord's bidding, had once more let down his nets. Peter had obeyed the Master's word, although he had toiled all the night and had caught nothing. And lo ! his obedience is wondrously rewarded ; the nets cannot contain the fishes, they begin to break ; a second boat, in which are John and James, is signalled to bring help ; but so great is the load of fishes that both the boats are in danger of sinking. All are overpowered with amazement at the mighty wonder ; but Peter flings himself at Jesus’ feet under a deep sense of unworthiness. “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man”. The Lord answers gently, “Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men”

It is this incident which the artist has portrayed. In front are two boats sunk deep in the water through the overdraught of fishes, and purposely depicted of so small a size that the figures of those they carry stand out in commanding proportions. In one of the two little vessels are John and James, rough, downright fishermen, busily engaged in securing the overabundant haul, while beside them the steersman does all he can to keep the balance of the too heavily freighted craft. At the prow of the other boat, in majestic calm, sits our Lord, wearing a bright blue garment with a white mantle, and seemingly alight with a sheen of glory ; His hand is uplifted, and He has just spoken the momentous words to Peter. On the face of the chief Apostle, who entreats his Master with folded hands, is displayed, with inimitable art, the humblest faith, the utmost devotion, and the deepest happiness. Behind Peter, who is clad in blue, stands a second disciple in green, probably Andrew, with bent breast and out stretched arms. This picture of unbounded devotion to Christ emphasizes in the most skilful way the impression made by the figure of Peter. A still more striking instance of Raphael's artistic mastery is disclosed in the way in which he brings the group of figures in the boats into one line, which, starting from that of the steersman, culminates in Andrew, sinks again to a lower level in Peter, and once more finds its point of elevation in Christ. “To Him all leads ; the action of the picture finds its centre in Him, and although small in size and placed at the utmost edge of the composition, the figure of Jesus dominates all”.

The mysterious charm which rests over the whole scene is heightened by the highly poetical character of the landscape : it is the fresh early morning, a light breeze stirs the garments and hair of the fishermen, the waters of the lake sparkle bright and clear, reflecting the figures. In the near distance appears the city of Capharnaum, with the crowds still excited by the teaching of the Lord ; while in the foreground on the shore are shells, crab-fish, and a group of herons, with gaping bills, eager to be fed.

The next picture has the closest connection with the miraculous draught of fishes, the symbol of Peter's apostolic mission. Before the Lord appoints him as His vicar on earth, He again blesses his draught of fishes ; but this time the nets do not break. After the threefold avowal of his love, the Saviour, with the thrice repeated words, “Feed my lambs, feed my sheep”, ordained him to the chief Pastorate over all the redeemed on earth, nor excluding the Apostles themselves. The scene of this event, as described by St. John (xxi. 11-17) was also the lake of Genesareth, which the artist has introduced in the back ground. The principal personage, next to the supreme figure of the Saviour, is the kneeling chief of the Apostles.

In the foreground appears the glorified form of the risen Jesus, with the marks of the wounds in His hands and feet. He is covered with a white garment sown with golden stars, which leaves the breast and one arm free. As though He were passing them by He is half turned towards His disciples with an expression of unspeakable love and sublimity; for the words, “Feed my lambs, feed my sheep”, have been spoken already. Pointing with one hand to Peter and with the other to the lambs, He gives by this double gesture the most emphatic expression to His command. In sharpest contrast to the supernatural calm on the countenance of the risen Lord is the excited demeanour of the disciples. Peter, who is clothed in orange-coloured vesture, overpowered by the task com mitted to him, has sunk upon his knees in ardent supplication, and gazes upwards on his Master with a look of overflowing gratitude. No power on earth shall wrest from him the keys committed to him, and he presses the symbols of his new authority eagerly against his beating heart. The rest of the disciples have drawn close together in deep agitation. Some, like John, may wear a look of joyous entreaty, but on the faces of the others is stamped amazement at the sudden appearance of their Master among them. The whole composition is again set amidst harmonious landscape scenery.

The subject illustrated in these first two pictures is the most momentous event in the Church’s history, the institution of the Primacy. While Raphael here follows the Gospels, in the succeeding cartoons he takes the Acts of the Apostles as his guide and adheres to them with great fidelity. It was with deliberate intention that the painter or his theological adviser discarded any attempt to portray the numerous instances in which the history of St. Peter came in touch with that of the Eternal City and which had been so often depicted already. The “Book of Books” was the only source from which he drew his inspiration ; herein with deep insight he made his choice of incidents, at once dramatic and symbolical, whereby to convey unique and striking illustrations of the Church's power to heal and bless, to judge and punish, and to be the apostolic teacher of mankind.

How the Church blesses and heals is set forth in the miracle wrought by Peter on the beggar who was lame from his birth. In accordance with the book of the Acts (chap, iii), the scene of the miracle is the “Beautiful Gate of the Temple” at Jerusalem. Three twisted columns, entwined with clusters of grapes, like those which stood in the old Church of St. Peter and were said to have come from Solomon’s Temple, divide the picture into three clearly-marked groups. In the centre the miracle takes place ; Peter, with an expression of great dignity and penetrated by faith in the power of the Divine Word, raises the lame man, who is represented with wonderful fidelity to nature, “in the name of Jesus of Nazareth”, and bids him walk, while John, full of love and compassion, points to the victim of misfortune ; on both sides are men and women whose countenances reflect the most varied expressions of sympathy, joy, curiosity, and fear. Another misshapen creature, leaning on a crutch, is already dragging himself forward, filled with hope. Children run to and fro heed less of all that is going on, lovely figures which efface the revolting impression made by the cripple's deformity.

It is the task of the Church, however, not only to heal and bless, but to judge and punish. This truth is the subject of the fourth cartoon ; on a platform, in the centre, stands the assembly of the Apostles, earnest and solemn figures; on one side the faithful are bringing their gifts, which, on the other, are being distributed to the needy. In the foreground, Ananias, to the consternation of those around him, has sunk dying on the ground, for at that very moment Peter, stepping forth from the ranks of his colleagues, has pronounced with power, as the organ of the Holy Spirit, the doom on the deceiver, which has straightway been carried out. “Ananias, why hath Satan tempted thy heart, that thou shouldst lie to the Holy Ghost, and by fraud keep part of the price of the land? Thou hast not lied to men, but to God”. At Peter’s side stands another majestic Apostle with his hand lifted up to heaven, from whence the judgment proceeds ; he glances towards Sapphira, as she draws near on the right hand. Her look is cunning, and while she holds the money in one hand, she withdraws some of the coins with the other, unconscious of the vengeance which has swiftly overtaken her husband and is now to overtake her.

Only three cartoons are preserved from the series celebrating the life of St. Paul. The first, the Blinding of the sorcerer Elymas, is a worthy counterpart to the Punishment of Ananias. The Apostle of the Gentiles and the impostor who was bent on thwarting the Proconsul Sergius Paulus in his search for the true faith, are con fronted face to face. Paul, full of lofty calm, in which the power of faith reveals itself, only stretches out one hand to punish. Filled with the Holy Ghost, he speaks the words, “Thou shalt be blind”, and, at the same moment, Elymas is stricken. “There fell a mist and darkness upon him” as the Scripture says, “and going about, he sought someone to lead him by the hand” (Acts XIII, 1 1). Raphael has brought this out admirably. The wretched Elymas is the picture of misery. He is distorted with terror at the sudden loss of sight, and with half-opened mouth, and his head with its sightless eyes bent forward, as if in quest of something, with uncertain steps he gropes forward, stretching out the finger-tips of both hands. Raphael has here produced “an insurpassable picture of the state of blindness”. The terrified Proconsul, who is enthroned in the centre, and his companions, dumbfounded with astonishment, are less successful. The opinion is justified that Raphael had withdrawn his attention from this portion of the picture.

To him, however, the two next cartoons must certainly be attributed. The sixth depicts the excitement of the people of Lystra at the miracle worked by St. Paul, their readiness to offer sacrifice to him and Barnabas as gods, and the strenuous efforts of the latter to prevent them ; Paul rends his garments in grief at the infatuation of these heathen people (Acts XIV). The painter, with wise dis crimination, has transferred the figures of the Apostles to an elevated standpoint apart from the other figures. The incident of the sacrifice, freely adapted from an ancient bas-relief, is treated in an extremely noble manner. Magnificent also are the bold architectural details in the background, where the figure of the ancient deity by the side of Paul is suggestively conspicuous. The figure of the Apostle, under the influence of the most varying emotions, the priests busily intent on the rites of sacrifice, and the uncouth features of the healed cripple, beaming with thankfulness, are all represented with incomparable skill.

In the seventh cartoon, St. Paul Preaching at Athens, the genius of Raphael reveals itself in a quite inimitable manner. Hardly ever has a grander or nobler representation been given of the fiery-hearted man who, at the call of God, devoted the whole force of his mighty intellect and soul to the world-embracing task of Christianizing the Graeco-Roman civilization. Raphael has applied all the resources of his art to depict the “chosen vessel” as the spiritual centre of his picture. High above all stands the great teacher in his green robe and red mantle, almost in the very forefront of the picture, like a pillar of the faith, on the Hill of Mars, which is indicated by the temple building and the statue of Ares. Fully possessed by his apostolic calling, he proclaims “Jesus and the Resurrection” (Acts XVII. 18 seqq.). The Apostle, whose attitude and garb show clear traces of the Paul of Masaccio in the Brancacci Chapel, holds both arms up to heaven and has advanced to the very edge of the steps above which he stands. This powerful figure, full of a splendid apostolic majesty, when once seen can never again be forgotten ; the deep earnestness and weighty eloquence of this incomparable preacher radiate from him through the circle of his hearers. Paul dominates all the rest, not merely because he stands on a higher level, but also because his hearers are, without exception, drawn on a smaller scale. Finally, the most thorough examination only increases still further the impression produced by this lofty figure. Like some unearthly apparition he holds fast his auditory, who cannot shake off the spell of his inspiring words. On the faces of his hearers are reflected manifold emotions : reluctant attention, quick interchange of opinion, critical reflection, silent doubt. Two persons only are fully convinced of the truth of the new doctrines, a man and a woman, who come quickly forward on the left hand of the steps ; especially in the burning glance and outstretched hands of the former do we see the signs of ecstatic self-surrender to the God who, from henceforth, shall be no more “unknown”, and a blessed rejoicing in the promise of immortal life. Here Raphael follows with exactitude the narrative of the Scripture, which states that only a few persons adhered to the Apostle and believed, among whom were Dionysius and a woman named Damaris. In the Preaching of St. Paul the whole history of the Church is summed up, as if in a few words—the apostolic message of the truth, its rejection by a great portion of mankind, and its faithful acceptance by the elect.

The cartoons of Raphael are, it has been said, the counterpart in modern art of the classic sculptures of the Parthenon. Higher praise can hardly be given, and in presence of the Draught of Fishes and of the St. Paul at Athens, such an encomium is intelligible. But even if less than this is conceded, it must be admitted that these compositions are worthy of a place beneath the ceiling of Michael Angelo; they are penetrated by a spirit of genuine faith, and are a noble offspring of the Renaissance, unsurpassed in the startling fidelity with which they portray the grand and simple narratives of Holy Scripture. f They mark, in the evolution of Raphael's powers, the beginning of the period in which his creative processes reached their highest point, when, out of the depths of his ripened experience and under the influence of antiquity and of Michael Angelo, he achieved “works of unapproachable grandeur, in which all the elements of a grand style, space, proportion, light, and expression form an imposing whole in harmonious combination”.  In many respects the tapestries show Raphael at his best; taken as a whole, the boldness, freedom, and grandeur of their traits show how closely the master had assimilated the spirit of Eternal Rome.

The influence of the tapestries on later art cannot be estimated ; it has been still greater than that of the Stanze. “They were the treasure chambers from which were taken the types of expression of human emotion, and Raphael’s reputation as a draughtsman rests mainly on these works. Western art has had no other pattern for the expressions of wonder and fear, of anguish and dignity, on the human countenance”. The sublimity of the subjects, than which none more befitting the private chapel of the Pope could have been chosen, corresponded to that of their artistic treatment. Michael Angelo had painted on the ceiling the creation and primaeval history of mankind up to the Flood, along with Prophets and Sibyls as heralds of the New Covenant. The masters of the “Quattrocento” had displayed on the intermediate walls the period of the Law as represented in the life of Moses, and the kingdom of grace as represented in that of Christ. This kingdom was to endure to the end of the ages. Raphael, therefore, determined to continue in his tapestries the history of our salvation, which began with the creation of the world, by portraying the institution of the Primacy and the life of the early church as illustrated by the Acts of the Apostles. The spectator is thus expressly reminded that he is standing in the central spot in Christendom, in the private sanctuary of the Church's head. The wondrous deeds of the Princes of the Apostles, who hallowed Rome by their martyrdoms, the call of the one to be chief ruler, of the other to worldwide apostolic labours—this is the theme of his immortal work. Under Leo X, in the Papal Chapel, the Roman Church, as the way of salvation, in the persons of her two most prominent representatives, St. Peter the Prince of the Apostle and the first Pope, and St. Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles, has been glorified in the golden letters of consummate art.

Along with the frescoes in the Stanze and the tapestries, ranks yet a third not less remarkable work, which Leo undertook for the adornment of the Vatican, namely, the Loggie. Each of the three stories of the Vatican opens on to a row of arcades. The middle one of these in the eastern wing has gained world-wide renown under the name of Raphael's Loggie. It rightly forms, along with the Sixtine Chapel and the Stanze, one of the greatest attractions for all travellers in Rome. The building of this beautiful apartment was begun by Bramante, and continued, after his death, by Raphael. The date, 1513, in the twelfth arcade of the Loggie, indicates the beginning of a work which, at the latest, was ended in 1518. More precise information about the history of the building is lacking. The Papal accounts for August and September, 1518, afford a certain amount of data as regards the laying of the floor. This consisted of costly slabs of majolica from the Florentine workshops of the Della Robbia, whose emblem was displayed upon them on a carpet pattern. The execution of the richly carved doors, ornamented with the arms of the Medici, was entrusted to Giovanni Barile of Siena.

We are sadly in want of detailed information about the origin of the decorations with which the walls, pillars, and ceilings of the Loggie are filled. When these works were begun is still a matter of uncertainty. One thing only is certain, that the completion of this noble piece of decoration was brought about all too soon. This, according to authentic sources, was in the summer of 1519. The account books mention, on the 11th of June of that year, a sum of twenty-five ducats paid to Raphael’s assistants who had painted in the Loggie. A few days later, on the 16th of June, 1519, Baldassare Castiglione wrote to the Marchioness Isabella d’Este: “The Pope takes more pleasure than ever in music and architectural works. He continues to erect new buildings in the Vatican; a Loggia has just been finished there, and painted and ornamented with stucco after antique designs ; it is a work of Raphael, and is as beautiful as anything can well be, and is perhaps a more perfect piece of work than anything that we can show at the present time.” In agreement with this account are various letters of the Venetian Marcantonio Michiel. On the 4th of May, 1519, he reports that Raphael has completed the painting of a very long Loggia, and is making preparations for the work on two others. On the 27th of December, Michiel returns to the subject again : “The undermost Loggia of the Vatican”, he says in a despatch which is as interesting as it is important, "has just been finished. It is adorned with stucco work, grotesques, and similar designs ; the work has not been carried out with great finish, for not much money has been spent upon it ; yet it is pleasing to the eye. The reason why this arcade has been sparingly treated is that it is open to all the inmates of the Palace ; even persons on horseback use it, although this Loggia is on the first story. The one above is very differently treated ; it is closed, and can only be opened by the Pope's permission. It contains pictures of high value and great charm, which have only just been finished, and for which Raphael drew the sketches. The Pope besides has brought hither a number of antique statues which were before kept in the private apartments, and were bought partly by himself and partly by Julius II. They are set up in niches between the windows, which face the columns of the gallery, immediately alongside of the Papal apartments and the Hall of the Consistory”.

As an approach to the Stanze, or state apartments of the Pope, the Loggia of the second story, with its thirteen bays, was adorned with all that the then existing art could supply. Not only on the small, dome-shaped ceilings, but on all other surfaces of the arcade, which originally were open and were permeated by the clearest light, was lavished a decoration in which sculpture and painting were combined in a way never since repeated. The spirit of the Leonine age is here conspicuously illustrated by the brightness and splendour of the whole, and by the free intermixture of Christian and pagan subjects. The Biblical pictures on the ceilings have a character well befitting the palace of the chief ruler of the Church ; the decorations on the walls recall the Pope who was hardly surpassed by any of his predecessors in his love for the study of antiquity.

The scheme of decoration comprised in the thirteen shallow domes of the roof is carried out on a strong and simple plan. The ceiling of the seventh dome, as the central point of the whole, is rendered conspicuous by rich adornments of stucco, in the centre of which is the large armorial blazon of Leo X. In the rest of the ceilings the key-stone is formed by the devices of the Medici placed alternately and in pairs—the diamond ring with the three coloured ostrich feathers, and the yoke, which are upheld by figures of winged genii.

Each dome is adorned with four small frescoes, those in the central arcade having frames of stucco, while the others have painted borders. Forty-eight of these are of subjects drawn from the Old Testament, while four are from the New ; they are well known under the name of Raphael’s Bible. There has been keen controversy as to his share in the entire work. Vasari states that “Raphael made the drawings for the stucco ornamentation, and for the pictures, which were to be painted in the Loggie; Giovanni da Udine he set over the stucco work and the grotesques, and Giulio Romano over the figures, although the latter did little thereto. Besides them, Giovanni Francesco Penni, Tommaso Vincidor of Bologna, Perino del Vaga, Pellegrino da Modena, Vicenzio da San Gimignano, Polidoro da Caravaggio, and many others painted these figures, pictures, and other objects”. Although the execution is here ascribed entirely to his pupils, Raphael's designs are pronounced by Vasari to be the basis of their compositions, and with this the testimony of Michiel, as well as that of the connoisseur Castiglione, is in agreement.

A critical examination of the sketches relating to the pictures in the Loggie certainly gives the result that of the great number of these drawings none are by Raphael, and, with the exception of the original sketch preserved in the Uffizi, of Penni’s “Joseph cast into the Well by his Brethren”, none belong to his pupils. They are evidently all copies made at a later date from the frescoes which had already become famous. The attempt to establish from the frescoes themselves the hand of the original artist meets with the greatest difficulties, many having been restored and others being in such bad preservation that only a close examination of the forms could lead to further results. The outcome of these investigations is that the paintings of the first nine domes are, with the exception of the landscapes and animal studies of Giovanni da Udine, to be attributed to Penni, those of the last four to other artists, especially Perino del Vaga. Raphael, according to this view, only contributed “the most general ideas for the compositions”, and his share in the entire decoration of the Loggie only amounted to this, that he laid before Giovanni da Udine the general plan, and gave his approval to the details as they were brought before him. Against such an hypothesis weighty objections have been urged. Among other questions it has been asked: “How, if Giovanni da Udine worked from his own plan and in entire independence, are we to explain Raphael's relation to the Pope, who had committed the undertaking to him? In a work begun in his own name, and for which he had received payment, he must at least have had some personal concern”. Nor are there wanting investigators at the present day who still uphold the old view that Raphael's participation, at least in the designs for the Loggie decorations, was very thorough. As regards the pictures on the ceilings in particular, they are convinced that certainly those in the first eight arcades are the genuine work of the master, but also that his share in the pictures of the remaining arcades, up to the tenth, was predominant even in matters of detail. That the execution of the frescoes was carried out by his pupils, admits of no doubt ; we must forget the harsh colouring, the brick-red flesh tints, the crude combination of colours, in order to enjoy the beauty of the original drawing.

The bright little pictures in the cupolas of the Loggie are in an essentially different style from the colossal and solemn illustrations of holy writ with which Michael Angelo has adorned the roof of the Sixtine Chapel. At the same time many of the former show Michael Angelo's influence. No one could escape the spell of this Titan of the Renaissance. The picture of the Creation in the first, and that of the Flood in the third arcade are borrowed directly from Michael Angelo. The Banishment from Paradise in the second arcade is simply a replica of Masaccio's unequalled rendering of that subject. The lovely landscape in the Jacob and Rachel at the Well is a copy from a copper-plate of Dürer, and the Adam of the Fall of an antique figure. At the same time the Loggie display very many representations of the highest originality. The lives of the Patriarchs, Abraham prostrate before the Three Angels, Jacob and Rachel at the Well, the Finding of Moses, Joseph interpreting his Dreams are compositions which stand alone in their attractive beauty and deep poetry. They are thoroughly human and yet highly idealized. It is matter for ever-renewed wonder that, by means of a few figures, the narrative should be here portrayed with such entire simplicity and at the same time with such fidelity to life. Raphael must certainly have greatly influenced these remarkable com positions. On the other hand, the touch of Giovanni da Udine is perceptible throughout the landscape backgrounds with their sunlight charm ; they enhance to no small degree the idyllic tone of these pictures ; this is in harmony both with the character of the biblical stories and with the aim of the compositions which are intended to form only one part of the scheme of decoration.

The first eight arcades have a distinctly different character from the others. In the ninth, certainly, we still find the magnificent Delivery of the Tables of the Law by Moses. But, on the whole, the importance of the pictures begins, at this point, to diminish. The hitherto idyllic character gives place to one that is more dramatic and in keeping with the subjects ; the colouring is also brighter and more vivid. The least successful pictures are in the last or thirteenth arcade, on which the pupils were left to work by themselves. Here the New Testament subjects begin, which were interrupted on the death of Leo X.

In the decorative treatment of the Loggie Raphael took no great part. Even if glimpses of his genius often break out in this costly series of decorations, yet the inspiring mind, on the whole, must have been that of Giovanni da Udine, who had a band of assistants. Gifted with a rare sense of beauty and inexhaustible fancy, this artist has achieved, in the decoration of the Loggie, a work which is unsurpassed of its kind. Walls, pillars, and archways, and every inch of surface contain, with a classical economy of space, a decoration of gold relieved by colour or a fine white stucco composed by Giovanni da Udine of a mixture of marble and ground chalk. Perhaps the chief charm of these decorations, their magical play of iridescent colours, varied but harmonious, is now gone beyond recall, since the whole has suffered grievous damage from weather and from the rough hands of many a visitor.

The groundwork of the scheme was undoubtedly the antique. In this respect the often-quoted statement of Vasari is incorrect, that the first Roman wall-decorations to be discovered were those in the so-called Baths of Titus, and that Giovanni da Udine was the first to copy them. Already, since the last quarter of the 15th century, the artists of the Renaissance knew and made use of the graceful designs in painting and stucco to be seen on the ceilings of the underground ancient buildings in Rome, which at the present day are pointed out as “grottoes”, from whence the term grotesque has been derived. It is to the credit of Giovanni da Udine that he gave a thoroughly original turn to this kind of decoration and brought it to a pitch of classical perfection. Taken as a whole, he has achieved his task in an entirely new and independent style. “The essential feature, the ascending series of decorations on the pillars, is wanting in the earlier antique examples.” A detailed description of this splendid outcome of the taste and sense of beauty of the Leonine age would be beyond the power of even the most skilful pen. The whole is like a book of fairy tales in colours and pictures, a dreamland of inimitable poesy—on all sides the most graceful figures and ornaments are lavished on the walls and pillars, yet without superfluity. Painting and stucco work follow each other in unending variety. Everywhere the eye falls on attractive and graceful pictures which are deftly and without effort adapted to the architectural or decorative scheme of the building.

Although the artist had an absolutely free hand in the construction of the Loggie, he yet avoided everything trifling or capricious. The appearance of chance and irregularity in his work is illusory; as a matter of fact, everything is in harmony and proportion. The decoration of each beam has been carried out with the closest regard to symmetrical correspondence with its architectural surroundings. Even if the ground-plan is constructed on a consistent principle, yet in the selection of details there is ample freedom. The way in which Giovanni da Udine has here drawn upon nature, as well as antique art, is marvellous ; one feature surpasses another in beauty ; the beholder is puzzled where first to turn his eyes. No sooner does he seem to have exhausted his survey than some new detail comes to view which once more rivets his attention on this magical fairyland. The tender execution, the naturalistic feeling, the graceful facility, the inexhaustible wealth of artistic imagination and the extraordinary variety of subjects —a variety which is not satisfied with a few illustrations, but borrows from the whole compass of life's prolific resources—all this forms a wondrous combination. Plants in the greatest variety, fruits and animals alternate with imitations of antique sculpture, small landscapes with pleasing fancy figures, allegories with representations of actual life, such as the famous stucco medallions in the window-frame of the first arcade, in which the master is figured sitting and drawing while his pupils carry out his sketches. On the window­ arch of the third arcade the head of Leo X is also to be seen, while his name appears in many places in the same arcade and on all the windows of the back wall in a way that almost amounts to ostentation. The effect of the exceedingly beautiful garlands of flowers and fruits, which are repeated on the windows between the pillars of the back wall on a sky-blue ground with realistic accuracy, is brilliant.

The decorations contain many allusions to the favourite pursuits of Leo X. Music is symbolized by many representations of instruments ; fishes, birds, and other animals recall the Pope’s passion for the chase; even the elephant is twice depicted. In between these are everywhere lovely designs in spirals, scrolls, and garlands. Humorous pieces, such as winged infants in swaddling bands, cupids teaching a bear to dance, are to be found, no less than reminiscences of contemporary works of art, such as Raphael’s Jonas. Nor are Christian emblems wanting in this motley scene, although they almost disappear amid the copious array of imagery drawn directly from ancient sources or conceived in their spirit. The greater portion of classical antiquity here awakes again to life : we see the Victory of Trajan's Column, the Apollo Belvedere, the Venus Victrix, Jupiter, Bacchus and Ariadne, Apollo and Marsyas, Diana of Ephesus, Medaea on her Dragon Car, Aegistheus and Orestes, sphinxes, centaurs, satyrs, the Three Graces, dancing girls, minstrel maidens beating tambourines, nymphs, heroes, harpies, cupids at play, Tritons joining battle with sea­monsters, sacrificial rites, augurs taking auspices, ruins and temples half gone to decay, the Appian Way, the Tomb of Cecilia Metella, the Walls of Rome.

The partiality of Leo X for ancient art has been made matter of heavy censure ; even the paintings of “Raphael's Bible” have been described as an insincere performance, the subjects represented having long lost their religious significance. Such a verdict is unjust both to the character of the Renaissance and to the personal views of Leo X. If we consider the purpose which the Loggie were intended to serve, there is nothing incongruous in the introduction of subjects drawn from the ancient world. The robust Julius II. found his recreation in the gardens of the Belvedere, adorned with the masterpieces of antiquity; Leo X, infirm and ailing, sought enjoyment in the contemplation of his collections in the sheltered enclosure of the Loggie. That Christian and heathen art should meet on peaceable terms, such as the Loggie bear witness to, caused not the slightest affront to anyone in that flowering time of humanism. Such an alliance had for long been a matter of daily occurrence in painting and sculpture as well as in poetry. If the opinion of a later age was less lenient, it must still be recalled to mind that the early Christians themselves, in the decorations of the Catacombs, took pleasure in works handed down to them from a yet older world. As a matter of fact, any unseemly representations in the decorations of the Loggie are quite isolated and unobtrusive. Even an uncompromising critic has justly remarked, in this connection, that the more closely the churches were shut against the lighter efforts of pagan imagination, the more widely might the doors of palaces be thrown open to receive them.

Although the pagan type preponderates in the decorations of the Loggie, religious subjects are yet to be found there. On the pillars between the second and third arcade the expulsion from Paradise is represented on one relief, and on another the Pope bestowing his benediction. Along with the biblical pictures on the ceilings, the decorations, which in each arcade are carried out in duplicates of the same designs and patterns, several religious subjects are treated in harmony with the frescoes. Thus angels praying surround the pictures of the Creation and the Incarnation in the first and last arcade. Some­times even the mythological designs contain thoughtful suggestions of the biblical pictures to which they are thus made subordinate. The bronze-tinted pictures on the brackets, executed by Perino del Vaga, are all taken from biblical subjects relating to the pictures on the cupolas. It is impossible therefore to assert that the decorations of the Loggie have not the slightest con­nection, -in spirit, with the scriptural paintings in the cupolas. On the contrary, we must suppose that, in accordance with the spirit of the age and with that of Raphael himself, there was a definite correspondence between the two. In the frescoes in the Stanze, the apartments of the head of Christendom, the painter has emphasized in an incomparable way the supremacy of the Church over the heathen world In the adjoining Loggie, destined to exhibit the noteworthy relics of antiquity, the same idea has been expressed with a lighter and more delicate touch ; above the beauties of ancient statuary with which the walls and pillars harmonize in their adornment, hover the scenes of higher import described in the sacred Scriptures.

A similar work of decoration to that in the Loggie was carried out by Raphael's pupils, Perino del Vaga and Giovanni da Udine, on the ceiling of the great Papal Hall in the Borgia apartments. At the present day the visitor can still see in their radiant brightness the paintings and stucco work of both these artists. The former has here portrayed the starry firmament with allegorical features, while Giovanni da Udine executed the charming frame work consisting of white and gold stucco ornaments on a sky-blue background. The name and the armorial bearings of Leo X. appear everywhere ; in between, one reads with interest a series of inscriptions relating to the history of the Popes from Urban II to Martin V ; they are apparently all that remain to remind one of paintings that had a place here at some earlier date.

The paintings of Raphael for the Hall of the Palefrenieri and the corridor leading to the Belvedere have perished. The former was entirely painted over by Taddeo Zucchero ; the corridor was destroyed under Clement VII.

How Raphael was able, concurrently with all these tasks, to find time for the commissions of Cardinal Bibbiena, of Agostino Chigi, and for a long series of panel pictures, portraits, and religious subjects, remains a wonder ; it is certain that he made large demands on the assistance of his pupils. In the famous picture of Leo X itself, the head and hands only can be set down to the master. It is undeniable that his pupils took a large share not only in the execution but in the sketch of the two great pictures, the Holy Family and the Archangel St. Michael, which Lorenzo de' Medici presented in 1518 to the French royal family. On the other hand, he produced single-handed the great altar-piece of the Sixtine Madonna, and the sketch of the Transfiguration, in which he has celebrated, with wondrous art, mysteries of the Christian faith. Both these immortal works, which rank among the most beautiful pictures on earth, reveal the touch of a visionary. Already in the Madonna di Foligno, in the Ezekiel, and the St. Cecilia this note had been struck, but here it reaches the highest pitch.

The Sixtine Madonna, intended for the Benedictine Church of San Sisto in Piacenza, was probably con temporaneous with the tapestry cartoons. Wonder is there glorified, and, like a marvellous apparition, the Queen of Heaven soars above the clouds, unapproachable in her majesty, holding her Divine Child in her arms, amid the splendour of an aureole formed of thousands of angel­ heads ; on either side kneel St. Barbara and the aged Pope Sixtus, while below, rounding off the composition, is the famous group of angels. Few indeed are the works of art from the hand of man in which there dwells such sublimity and unearthly consecration ; among all the pictures of Mary, none is so widely known, be it in palace or in cottage. Painters of the first rank have attempted to reproduce the beauties of this incomparable creation. This one picture has given rise to a copious literature, so inexhaustible are the points of view which it presents. It is one of the few sacred pictures which bring home to the beholder at once, as if by some miraculous power, the conviction of supernatural truths surpassing human understanding. As he looks he is drawn towards another and a higher world, and he is forced to acknowledge, with humility, the reality of eternal things. The attitude of Pope Sixtus and of St. Barbara expresses this in the most forcible way. The Pope has laid aside his triple crown, and bends the knee in worship to the Queen of Heaven, while he commends to her the company of the faithful on earth. St. Barbara in her lowliness durst not raise her eyes. In her blessedness she reverences the Mother of God, who, despite her exceeding glory, appears only as the guardian of the Eternal Child, who came in poverty and nakedness into the world.

On this canvas Raphael has surpassed himself; the mother of our Lord, encompassed by light and descending from the heights of heaven, seems indeed to manifest to mankind the great mystery of the Eternal Word made flesh. The supernatural impression which permeates the whole picture is produced above all by the movement of the principal figure, who seems to be descending from heaven to earth, and by the expression which beams from her radiant eyes, and from those of her Son, and cannot be adequately conveyed by any verbal description. The gaze of Mary passes far beyond the spectator into a world of deep contemplation and wonder ; before her, one by one, the secrets of the coming ages seem to be unrolled. “Pondering all these things in her heart”, she broods over the prediction of the aged Simeon, that her Son would be the “light of the Gentiles, the glory of his own people, set for the fall and resurrection of many ; a sign that should be contradicted” (Luke II. 19, 32-35). Simeon’s prophecy that the heart of the Mother of God should be burdened with heavy sorrows —"and a sword shall pierce thine heart also”—has been indicated by Raphael in the unmistakable expression of sorrow imprinted on the countenance of Mary. The countenance of the Child also is one of deep thought, but not of wonder. In all the consciousness of His Godhead, the divine Babe, whose form and features, especially the eyes, surpass mortal proportions, gazes fixedly and peacefully into infinite depths. He does not sit, He is enthroned in His mother’s arms, who displays to the world, with reverence and awe, the great gift committed to her charge; and yet the vision is not for long, for at any moment this picture “from the heights of heaven” may vanish thither again.

The representation of an actual vision was Raphael's last creation. This was the picture of Christ's Trans figuration on Mount Tabor, ordered by Cardinal Medici for his cathedral church at Narbonne. On the mountain top the Saviour hovers in a blaze of divine glory, sur rounded by a white and dazzling brightness like an apparition of light : “his face did shine like the sun, and his garments became white as snow” (Matt. XVII. 2). Seldom has the difficulty of depicting the spontaneous upward flight of a human body been solved so beautifully and naturally as here. On this figure of Christ Raphael has concentrated the whole force of his manifold powers ; every chord of his artist's soul vibrates in one full harmony. Unspeakable gentleness and majesty, such as the glorified Mediator between God and man alone could possess, are written on the countenance, which is slightly turned to one side. The eyes and arms are uplifted to heaven as if expressing the unappeasable longing for that return to the Father's house which He can only earn as the reward of His Passion. On a somewhat lower level but beside Him hover, in attitudes of deepest awe, Moses the Lawgiver, clasping the two Tables to his breast, and Elias, the most glorious of the Prophets, holding the book of his prophecies ; drawn to the Saviour as by a magnet, circling like planets round their sun, they yet approach only to the edge of the radiance which encompasses the transfigured One. The Lord is the source of light as of power. He alone, as the light-giver, is clad in raiment of snowy whiteness ; the garments of the Lawgiver and the Prophet are suffused with hues of yellow and violet. The glory of Moses and Elias is borrowed from the divine light. The chosen disciples, Peter, James, and John, have, on the other hand, sunk down dazed and terror-stricken on the level of the mountain summit ; on the left kneel two martyr deacons, figures of smaller stature than the disciples ; these again are less than Moses and Elias. While exalted above space and time, the Redeemer, as He rises towards heaven looms in yet vaster proportions.

At the foot of the mountain is enacted the episode of the lunatic boy whom the disciples were unable to heal, a scene which St. Matthew (XVII. 14 seq.) connects with the Transfiguration. The contrast is the strongest conceiv­able, and is all the more sharply felt as this part of the picture was executed by Giulio Romano, not to the advantage of the whole. Round the wretched boy in his convulsions have gathered his relations and the disciples; many of these figures directly recall Leonardo da Vinci. Their expressions and gestures reflect compassion, astonish­ment, distraction, helplessness, doubt; but amid the general confusion some of the disciples are pointing up to the mountain whither He has betaken Himself who alone can bring help. In accordance with the painter’s intention, these see the transfigured Jesus just as little as the rest of the crowd below. He is only visible to the beholder of the picture, and thus the spiritual unity is restored. Below are the miseries and sorrows of the helpless children of earth ; above, the undisturbed blessedness of the trans­figured Lord, the Almighty Power which alone can heal and succour.

Such a reference to Christ as the deliverer from every, even the greatest necessity, was, at the time when this mystic creation of Raphael was finished, eminently appropriate to existing circumstances. The reports of the encroachments of the infidels had not for long been so alarming, so that in the autumn of 1517 the Turkish question stood in the forefront of public interest at Rome. “The Pope”, wrote Cardinal Medici, who had commissioned the Transfiguration, at the end of October to the Nuncio in Venice, “is occupied with Eastern affairs at the present moment more than with any other matters”. Soon after this Leo addressed a detailed memorial to the chief princes of Christendom, who were to communicate to him their views on the war with the Turks. The deliberations which ensued were followed in the spring of 1518 by the proclamation of a general armistice throughout Christendom, and the decision to despatch Legates to arrange for a Crusade. At the same time a great procession with prayers took place in Rome, the Pope in person taking part in it. Raphael was a witness of this great religious demonstration, during which his friend Sadoleto delivered an oration which was greatly admired.

The picture of the Transfiguration had a close connection with these efforts of the Roman See to promote the Crusade. Calixtus III, on the occasion of the great victory over the Turks at Belgrade, in 1456, had expressly commanded that the festival of the Transfiguration should henceforward be kept annually on the 6th of August throughout Christendom, in thanksgiving for this signal success. “The liturgical Feast of the Transfiguration was thus turned into the anniversary of the victory of Western Christendom over the Crescent, and the glory of Christ on Mount Tabor became a triumphal mystery as well as a token of the downfall of the Church’s hereditary foe”. This accounts for the intro duction of the two martyr deacons, by whom Felicissimus and Agapitus only can be meant—saints whose commemoration at the altar stands in close relationship to the Feast of the Transfiguration. This connection was in Raphael's days a matter of present recollection, so that no one at the Court of Leo X. could feel any doubt as to the real meaning of the painter ; it would inspire confidence and give believers the assurance that even amid the existing dangers the all-powerful aid of Christ would not fail them against the enemies of the Christian name. It was given to Raphael to finish only the upper half of the picture ; in the last week of March, 1520, he fell ill of one of the dangerous Roman fevers, and this rapidly consumed the forces which had been already weakened by labours beyond the common strength of man. On Good Friday (April 6) his soul passed to that other world of which he had por trayed transcendant glimpses in his pictures. At the head of his bier was placed his unfinished masterpiece, the Transfiguration.

The impression caused by the almost sudden demise of one who had only reached his thirty-seventh year, and stood in the midway of his famous career, was intense ; he had just bought a site, in the Via Giulia, near the Church of S. Giovanni dei Fiorentini, for the construction of a new palace. The irreparable loss was associated in men's minds with the coincidence of an earthquake and the giving way of a part of the Loggie. “The grief at the Papal Court”, wrote Pandolfo Pico della Mirandola, “is all the deeper, since still greater works had been expected from the master ; nothing else is spoken about throughout Rome than the death of this remarkable man ; what is mortal of him has passed away, but his renown can never perish ; in his works, and in the admiration of those who survey them, he will live for ever. As a matter of fact, the most distinguished poets, Bembo, Ariosto, Tebaldeo, and above all the faithful Castiglione, soon became rivals in the celebration of his fame. The opinion was widespread that, had his life been spared longer, he would have reached the greatness of Michael Angelo. For his resting-place Raphael had chosen the Pantheon, and had entrusted his friend Lorenzetto with the execution of a statue of Our Lady, which to this day adorns the chapel, to surmount his tomb. The painter who, in his most remarkable creations, had done more than any other to adjust the difficult relations of antique and Christian art, and had in the Sixtine Madonna depicted the most lovely representation of Mary, could have chosen no more fitting grave than the ancient rotunda which Pope Boniface IV had transformed into the Church of S. Maria ad Martyres. The burial took place with every circumstance of honour. That the Pope took part in person is a later fable ; ceremonially such a mark of distinction was impossible. How greatly Leo sorrowed over the loss of his incomparable friend is clear from the testimony of Marcantonio Michiel, who relates how the Pope sent daily to inquire after Raphael, bestowed upon him many marks of his esteem, and defrayed all the expenses of the funeral.

The extraordinary partiality evinced by Leo X. for Raphael and his school had the effect of retarding all other artistic tendencies. Many as were the painters, marked out for distinction, who came to Rome during this Pontificate, not one could secure a footing by the side of Raphael. The most regrettable instance in this respect is that of the painter who, in his Last Supper, had initiated in its most ideal form the age of the high Renaissance. As a young man of six-and-twenty, Leonardo da Vinci, with some of his pupils, had come to Rome in the train of Giuliano de' Medici in the autumn of 1513. The Pope had conferred on him the marked distinction of placing at his disposal an apartment in the Belvedere ; but with the exception of two pictures ordered by Baldassare Turini, Leonardo has left no trace of his art in Rome. Until 1515 he remained in the service of Giuliano de' Medici, who allowed him the handsome salary of thirty-three gold ducats a month ; but at the end of 1 5 1 5 he passed into the service of Francis I. What prevented his being attached permanently to Leo X, for whom he wrote a treatise on coinage, has not yet been explained. Vasari's account is nothing more than an anecdote of the studios. According to this narrative, Leonardo had once received an order to execute for the Pope, but instead of beginning the work, he had spent his time on technical experiments which led to nothing. Thereupon the Pope had remarked that Leonardo would never complete anything, as he busied himself with the end before he took thought for the beginning. It is much more probable that Leonardo, who had also found no employment under Julius II, left Rome on account of unwillingness to be in the same city with Michael Angelo.

In the year 1514 Fra Bartolommeo came to Rome, attracted by the fame of the works of Raphael and Michael Angelo. Fra Mariano received him hospitably. At the request of the latter he began the pictures of St. Peter and St. Paul, but after a few months returned to Florence. In the same year also Soddoma appeared in Rome, where he executed for Agostino Chigi, on the first story of the Farnesina, the Wedding of Alexander and Roxana and the Family of Darius before Alexander. Chigi recommended the painter to the Pope ; to the latter he presented the Death of Lucretia, a picture which some modern investigators have claimed to have rediscovered in the Museum in Turin, and others in that of Hanover. Leo X bestowed on him in return the honour of knight hood, but Soddoma found as little occupation in the Papal service as Signorelli, who was then in Rome seeking his fortune without success. J Andrea del Sarto, Franciabigio, and Pontormo were engaged, according to the accounts of Giovio, in decorating the principal hall in the Villa Poggio at Cajano, near Florence, with historical allegorical subjects from Roman history, which still exist.

Even Sebastiano del Piombo, the enthusiastic admirer of Michael Angelo, did not succeed in securing the patronage of Leo X. Although, in his consuming envy, he left no effort untried to belittle Raphael, his sphere of work never extended beyond private circles ; the Pope, to whom the petty dissensions between the partisans of Michael Angelo and those of Raphael were in the highest degree displeasing, remained loyal to the latter. The first-rate paintings which Sebastiano executed in S. Pietro in Montorio were certainly the reason why no less a personage than Cardinal Giulio de' Medici entrusted him with an honourable task. Raphael was invited to paint the Transfiguration at the same time that Piombino was set to work on the Raising of Lazarus. It is easy to imagine with what eagerness the latter seized the opportunity of measuring himself against his hated rival. “My work”, he wrote to Michael Angelo on the 2nd of July, 1518, “has been delayed in order that Raphael may not see it until his own is ready”. At the end of 1519 Sebastiano sent his painting, which once adorned Cardinal Giulio’s archiepiscopal cathedral at Narbonne, and is now one of the ornaments of the National Gallery in London, to the Vatican. “It has at once given satisfaction instead of dissatisfaction to everyone, with the exception of the wiseacres who do not as yet know what they ought to say”, wrote Sebastiano at that time to Michael Angelo. “I am satisfied, since Cardinal Medici has told me that he has been delighted beyond expectation, and I believe that my picture is better drawn than this tapestry stuff which has come from Flanders”. Leonardo Sallajo believed himself justified in writing to Michael Angelo : “Sebastiano has had such a success with his work that those who know anything about the matter here place him far above Raphael. The ceiling in Agostino Chigi's house is now uncovered ; it is a dis grace to a great master, and much worse than the last Stanze in the Vatican. Sebastiano is now relieved from further fear.”

Since Raphael’s death took place while the Transfigura­tion was yet unfinished, Sebastiano’s hopes rose still higher. Now, he believed, the opportunity had come to secure the position of first painter at the Papal Court. His chief ambition was to be entrusted with the decoration of the Hall of Constantine, on which Giulio Romano and Penni had by that time already begun their work; Michael Angelo used all his influence, to this end, with Cardinal Bibbiena. In his letter of introduction, written in June, 1520, he says: “I beg your highness, not as a friend or servant, since neither my friendship nor my service are worthy of you, but as a good-for-nothing crazy wretch, that you will exert yourself to procure for the Venetian painter Sebastiano, now that Raphael is dead, some share in the works at the Vatican. And even if your highness feels ashamed at conferring an obligation on a man of my stamp, yet I think that a kindness done even to a good-for-nothing can give a certain amount of pleasure, just as the palate which has been accustomed to capons can yet relish the taste of onions.”  The result of this singular recommendation was that Sebastiano was given the work of painting the “ lower hall ” in the Appartamento Borgia, where Perino del Vaga and Giovanni da Udine were at work. Such, however, was the infatuation of his artistic conceit, that he declined to paint a “cellar” while Raphael’s pupils were permitted to adorn the “treasure chambers.” Nevertheless he persisted in his endeavours, and at last Leo X granted him an audience. Of this he has given a description in a letter written on the 15th of October, 1520, to Michael Angelo, which from more than one point of view is exceedingly interesting. It gives us a better idea than any other document could do, of the way in which Leo used to treat his artists.

“His Holiness”, he says here, “was very much pleased that I should be ready, along with you, to undertake any kind of service which he wished ; I asked him about the subjects and the measurements and all the rest. His Holiness answered me as follows: Bastiano, Juan del Aquila has told me that in the lower hall no good work can be done except on the ceiling, which you have finished, since where the cornice juts out there are certain lunettes which reach almost to the middle of the surface wall on which the pictures are intended to go. And then there are also the doors giving access to the rooms of Monsignor de' Medici. So that it is impossible to have a picture on each wall as there ought to be. There might, however, be a picture in each lunette, since the latter are 18 or 20 palms wide, and they could have the required height given to them. For all that, in such a huge chamber these pictures would look too small.' And further, His Holiness said to me that this hall was too open to the public. Afterwards he remarked : Bastiano, on my conscience, I am not pleased with the work these men are now engaged on, and no one who has seen it has expressed approval. In four or five days I will make a personal inspection, and if I find that they have not gone on better than they have begun, I will see to it that their work is discontinued. I will find something else for them to do, remove what they have already done, and then hand over the whole place to you, as it is my intention to make a fine work of it, or I will leave it to them to paint it over with damask patterns.' I replied that, with your assistance, I was confident we could work wonders there. Whereupon he rejoined : I have no doubt about that ; for all of you have learned everything from him. And, upon my word of honour and between ourselves, His Holiness went on to say: Look at Raphael’s paintings. As soon as he saw Michael Angelo’s work he suddenly dropped the style of Perugino, and followed Michael Angelo as closely as he could ; but the latter is an alarming man, as you yourself see, and there is no getting on with him.' Upon which I told His Holiness that your alarming ways did no man any harm, and that it was only your devotion to the great work to which you had given yourself that made you seem terrible to others”.

Whether this conversation was really as flattering to Sebastiano as he makes out, must remain undecided. As a matter of fact the whole plan fell through, an issue to which a refusal to collaborate on the part of the ill-conditioned Michael Angelo contributed in no small degree. The Hall of Constantine remained in the hands of Raphael’s pupils. By this arrangement the Vatican was perhaps deprived of a fine work of art, yet the Pope’s loyal attachment to the pupils of the departed master leaves a very agreeable impression.

 

CHAPTER XVI.

LEO X. AND MICHAEL ANGELO. —PROMOTION OF THE MINOR ARTS.—THE BUILDING OF NEW ST. PETER'S. —THE PRE SERVATION OF ROMAN ANTIQUITIES.