Its authorship has given rise to some controversy, and it seems not unlikely that the materials supplied by Raffaele were thrown into shape by his friend Castiglione.
It would be interesting as well as easy to adduce from contemporary pens proofs of the general admiration for his talents, and popularity of his manners. But we close this notice, too brief for the subject, though already exceeding our due limits, with the testimony of his earliest biographer, and of one of his most recent critics. Vasari thus commences his life of Sanzio: "The great bounty which Providence occasionally displays, in heaping upon a single individual an unlimited measure of favours, and all the rare gifts and graces which generally are distributed over a long interval and many characters, may well be seen in Raffaele Sanzio of Urbino. Equally worthy and engaging, he was endowed with a modesty and goodness sometimes united in those who, adding to a certain noble refinement of disposition the attraction of amiable manners, are gracious and pleasing at all times and with all persons. Nature presented him to the world when, already vanquished in art by the hand of Michael Angelo, she wished to be outdone by Raffaele, alike in art and in courtesy. In him she luminously displayed the most singular excellences, conjoined with such diligence, discretion, grace, comeliness, and good breeding, as might have concealed even the greatest blemish, or the most hideous vice. Hence it may safely be asserted, that those who possess such rare qualities as were united in Raffaele of Urbino are not mere human creatures, but rather, if such language be allowable, mortal divinities." Still more eloquent is the passage lamenting his untimely death: "Oh, happy and blessed spirit, every one delights to talk of you, to dwell upon your actions, and to admire every design which you have left. Well might the art of painting die when this her noble child was called away; for when his eyes were closed she was left all but blind. To us, his survivors, it now remains to follow the example of his excellent manner, cherishing in our memory, and testifying by our words, the remembrance due to his worth and our own gratitude. For in truth we have colouring, invention, indeed the whole art brought by him to a perfection hardly to have been looked for; nor need any genius ever think to surpass him." In the words of a writer upon whom we have already drawn:—"Cut down in the flower of his age, and,—like a favoured tree of his own most favoured land, while laden with golden fruit, bearing in still unopened blossoms the promise of a yet brighter future,—he was mourned widely as he was admired, deeply and truly as he had been loved. Young as he was in years, and modest in his bearing, there is a feeling of reverence blended in the fond regret with which even strangers dwell upon his memory, recount his virtues, and seek to read their impress and reflection in his works."[190]
A critical examination of the peculiar merits of Raffaele's pencil, and of the benefits which he brought to art, would lead us further than this sketch will permit: yet there are certain points so apparent even to superficial observers, some qualities so unanimously dwelt upon by his eulogists, that it would be incomplete without a passing notice of them. To him the perception of beauty was a sixth sense, ever in exercise, and applied to the creations of his genius, as well as to his studies from nature. To its test were submitted those traditional forms of devotional art which influenced his early training; it imparted life and movement to Perugino's so-called monotonous poverty; it modified the dramatic action of the Florentine manner; it caught the full tones of Fra Bartolomeo, and gave dignity to the simper of Leonardo; it showed that anatomical accuracy required no muscular contortions; it realised the grand without verging upon the monstrous; it separated grace from grimace. This was an innate and personal gift, that could neither be taught nor imitated. The elevated character, harmonious composition, correct design, and just colouring which Raffaele stamped upon his school, were manifested in various degrees by his pupils, but the spirit of their master was a boon from nature, which none of them could seize or inherit. There are impetuous and daring minds who delight more in the energy of Michael Angelo's terrible forms; others luxuriate with greater fondness on the mellowed depth of Titian's magic tints; whilst to some the artificial contrasts of Correggio's brilliant lights, and Leonardo's unfathomable chiaroscuri have irresistible charm. These eminent qualities are, however, the separate endowments of four individual minds; but Raffaele, deficient in none of them, possessed, in no less perfection, other more important requisites which we have noticed. It was this happy union that rendered him the unquestioned prince of painters, while the ready obedience of his unerring hand enabled him to realise the pure conceptions of his refined mind with a delicacy and truth which seem to defy imitation.
Yet his sterling merit was undeviating propriety in the conception and execution of his works. Nothing ever emanated from his pencil offensive to religion, morals, or refinement; all that bears his name would honour the most fastidious reputation. To him accordingly there was granted a purity of taste, in none other united to equal genius. It was this that maintained the elevation of his style amid the conflicting difficulties and temptations of that "new manner" which it was his mission to perfect. Thus, although it is in the productions of his second period that we find the beau-ideal most perfectly realised, yet, even his later works, which descend to a closer imitation of nature, seldom fail to invest her with a dignity rare in the external world. In proportion, therefore, as he discovered or adopted the more elaborate resources and processes of his art, his ripening mind supplied him with themes and conceptions worthy of them, and of immortality. The various series of subjects which he invented for the Stanze, the Tapestries, and the Loggie, indicate a grasp of intelligence, a variety of acquirement, never before or since brought into the service of art, and establish beyond question that the intellect of Raffaele fully equalled his taste.[*191]
[CHAPTER XXX]
Timoteo Viti—Bramante—Andrea Mantegna—Gian Bellini—Justus of Ghent—Medals of Urbino.
HAVING thus traced the advance of painting in the duchy of Urbino, from Oderigi da Gubbio, the friend of Dante, to Raffaele Sanzio, its facile princeps, it might be well to pause, and leave its rapid descent under a new dynasty of dukes to be followed in a future portion of our work. Yet there are still some native names, belonging to the better period both by date and by merit. Of these the principal was Timoteo Viti, who was born of reputable parentage in Urbino about 1470, and whose mother Calliope was daughter of Antonio Alberti of Ferrara, by whom the Giottesque manner had been brought to that city. Timoteo was sent to Bologna to profit by the instructions of Francesco Francia, and remained there from 1490 to 1495. The Christian painters of that city had chosen for their Madonnas a peculiar type, which, after being transmitted through several artists, attained its perfection from Francia's pencil. It may be distinctly traced in the best remaining specimen of Lippo Dalmasio, of whom we have already spoken,[192] a lunette in fresco, representing the Madonna and Child between two saints, which is over the door of S. Procul at Bologna. There we find a pensive cast of head gently bent on one side in dreamy contemplation,—the sweetly naïve features, with less indeed of a divine or seraphic expression than we see in those imagined by the Florentine and Sienese masters, but whose look seems to indicate that, though of earth, their owner was not earthy,—though a child of fallen humanity, she had not tasted of actual guilt. Those who know the Madonnas of Francia need not be told that they resemble sinless women more than beautiful beings. Somewhat of the same sentiment may be traced in the earlier productions of Timoteo Viti. Thus his Magdalen, which, though now in the Pinacoteca of Bologna, was painted for Urbino, is a grand figure in red drapery largely cast, standing in front of a wide cavern. Her girlish countenance appears too pure and gentle to have felt carnal passion, too placid to have wept over human sin; her reverential attitude aspires heavenward, without, like most of her class, appearing to loathe the earth. The mild character of Timoteo, as well as his promising talents, established him in the friendship of his master, whose diary touchingly records the affection with which he bade god-speed to his pupil, on quitting his studio.[193]