[36] In compliance with the wishes of Leo X. he made drawings of the buildings of Ancient Rome, and accompanied them with descriptions, employing the compass to ascertain their admeasurement. We owe this information to Sig. Abate Francesconi, who has restored to Sanzio a letter, formerly attributed to Castiglione. It is a sort of dedication of the work to Leo X.; but the work itself and the drawings are lost; and many of the edifices measured by Raffaello were destroyed in the following Pontificates. The Abate Morelli has made public a high eulogium on this work, by a contemporary pen, in the notes to the Notizia, page 210. It is written by one Marcantonio Michiel, who asserts, that Raffaello had drawn the ancient buildings of Rome in such a manner, and shewn their proportions, forms, and ornaments so correctly, that whoever had inspected them might be said to have seen Ancient Rome.
[37] In a brief of Leo X. 1514, mentioned by Sig. Piacenza, tom. ii. p. 321.
Cæsaris in nomen ducuntur carmina: Cæsar Dum canitur, quæso, Jupiter ipse vaces. Prop. lib. iv. Eleg. vi.
[39] Vol. ii. p. 323 et seq.
[40] See the first letter of Crespi, Lettere Pittoriche, tom. ii. p. 338.
[41] Mengs has observed, that Raffaello diligently studied the bassirelievi of the arches of Titus and Constantine, which were on the arch of Trajan, and adopted from them his manner of marking the articulations of the joints, and a more simple and an easier mode of expressing the contour of the fleshy parts. Riflessioni sopra i tre gran Pittori, &c. cap. 1.
[42] Riflessioni su la bellezza e sul gusto della Pittura, parte iii. cap. 1, and see the Osservazioni of the Cav. Azara on that tract, §. xii.
[43] A doubt has arisen on the exact time in which he painted the Prophet and the Sybils, and from the grandeur of their style doubts have been thrown on Vasari's account, that they were painted anterior to 1511. But a painter who is the master of his art, elevates or lowers his style according to his subject. The Sybils are in Raffaello's grandest style; and that they are amongst his earliest works, is proved from his having had Timoteo della Vite, as his assistant in them.
[44] Lett. Pittor. tom. v. p. 131.