Raphael

by Paul G. Konody

But we must return to Raphael's work in the last decade of his life. He could now no longer devote himself entirely to the art of his choice, and found it utterly impossible to cope with the multitude of commissions that were showered upon him by the mighty of this earth, even though a swarm of assistants were constantly kept at work. The vain appeals of Isabella d'Este for a small painting from his hand prove the difficulty of obtaining such a favour. For Raphael was now the Pope's architect and superintendent of ceremonies, and in 1515 he was appointed inspector of antiquities in succession to Fra Giocondo of Verona. He had to paint scenery and to design medals and plans; and on one occasion he was actually called upon to paint a life-size elephant on the walls of the Vatican!

PLATE VIII.—PORTRAIT OF RAPHAEL

(In the Uffizi Gallery, Florence)

Though much "restored" and over-painted—and not by the most competent hands—the portrait of Raphael in the Sala dei Pittori at the Uffizi, the Walhalla of pictorial fame, is undoubtedly painted by the master himself, at the age of about twenty-three, when his features had lost none of the almost girlish charm and delicacy of which we are told by contemporary writers. In time the portrait stands midway between Timoteo Viti's charming drawing of his "apprentice," the boy Raphael, at the Oxford University Galleries, and Sebastiano del Piombo's portrait of the "Prince of Painters" at the Buda-Pesth Museum.

Yet, with all these absorbing occupations he found time to model several reliefs for the Chigi tomb in the Chigi Chapel of St. Maria del Popolo, notably a panel of classic design representing "Christ and the Woman of Samaria," which was cast in bronze by Lorenzotto, who also executed in marble a statue of Jonah from a model by Raphael. He furnished the architectural designs of the Villa Madama for Giulio dei Medici (afterwards Clement VII.) and several other palaces in Rome, and also for the dainty Palazzo Pandolfini in Florence, where the alternating arched and triangular pediments are for the first time introduced in secular Renaissance architecture. He furnished the engraver Marcantonio Raimondi of Bologna with designs like the famous "Judgment of Paris." He planned and began an elaborate Cosmography of Rome; and yet in the midst of all his varied labours he found leisure to scribble some ardent love sonnets on his sheets of drawings. An example of his poetic effusions is preserved at the British Museum, and its ardent tone lends colour to Vasari's assertion that Raphael was extremely susceptible to the charms of the fair sex. The palace in which he lived in princely state was built by Bramante and bought by Raphael on October 7, 1517. In very much altered form it still stands in the Piazza di Scossacavalli at the corner of the Via di Borgo Nuovo. Since the present building has been identified as Raphael's palace, his studio has been discovered, cut into two apartments, but with a beautiful wooden ceiling by Bramante left intact.

In this studio he must have painted the greatest and most deservedly popular of his altar-pieces, the "Madonna di San Sisto," and the "Transfiguration," now at the Vatican Gallery, which was on his easel when death stayed his hand. Here, too, he probably painted that masterly portrait of "Baldassare Castiglione," which is one of the priceless treasures of the Louvre, and perhaps the magnificent group of "Leo X. with Cardinals Giulio dei Medici and L. dei Rossi," now at the Pitti Palace. All the most notable men who were in Rome at that period passed through Raphael's studio, but of the portraits which he is known to have painted in Rome, comparatively few have come down to us. That of the humanist Tommaso Inghirami was until recently at the Inghirami Palace in Volterra, but has now gone across the Atlantic; one of Cardinal Bibbiena is in Madrid; and one of the Venetian humanists Navagero and Beazzano in the Doria Palace in Rome. Among the lost portraits are those of Pietro Bembo, of Giuliano dei Medici, Duke of Nemours, of Federigo Gonzaga, and of Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino.

Meanwhile Raphael's pupils had been busy with the decoration of the remaining two Stanze of the Vatican after Raphael's designs. In the Stanza dell'Incendio del Borgo, which was decorated for Leo. X. between 1514–1517, Giulio Romano had painted the "Battle of Ostia" and most of the "Incendio del Borgo," though parts of the latter, which illustrates the staying of the great conflagration by Leo IV.'s prayer, are unquestionably Raphael's own. The last room, called the Hall of Constantine, was almost entirely painted after the master's death by his pupils, who also had the chief share in the execution of the fifty-two scriptural subjects in the Loggia of the Vatican, which are known as "The Bible of Raphael." Most of this work was done by Perino del Vaga, while Giovanni da Udine added the arabesques and grotesques round the panels. But all this has suffered much from exposure to the elements, and has been entirely repainted.

For Agostino Chigi's Villa Farnesina, Raphael painted the beautiful "Galatea" fresco, which may be considered the supreme expression of the spirit of the Renaissance. This merchant prince gave the master another opportunity for displaying his decorative skill, when he employed him in adorning the Chigi Chapel in St. Maria della Pace. The Sibyls and Angels of these frescoes afford the most striking instance of Michelangelo's influence upon Raphael; and it is a curious coincidence that it was just in reference to this work that Michelangelo was called upon to express his opinion as to the fairness of Raphael's charge of 500 ducats. That small jealousy was not one of Buonarroti's faults appears from the generous valuation of 900 ducats he put upon his rival's work.

In 1515–1516 Raphael designed the cartoons for the tapestries which were to complete the decoration of the Sistine Chapel. The cartoons were translated into the material by the looms of Flanders at a cost of 34,000 scudi; and these tapestries are now, after many wanderings, and after having suffered much dilapidation, housed on the upper floor of the Vatican. Seven of the cartoons, cut into strips for the exigencies of the loom, were discovered in Flanders by Rubens, and purchased on his advice by Charles I. in 1630. On the breaking up of the ill-fated king's collection, they were saved from transportation by Oliver Cromwell and are now at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The execution of these cartoons is almost entirely due to Gian Francesco Penni, and the borders of the tapestries were designed by Giovanni da Usline. About 1516 Raphael also decorated Cardinal Bibbiena's bathroom with the "Triumphs of Venus and Cupid," in Pompeian style. The frescoes are still in existence, but are not accessible to the public.