The small scenes which formed the predella have been dispersed;[263] for the rest, the picture thus described by Vasari is before us. Vasari dates the work 1505, but it is now commonly ascribed to the years 1507-8, after Raphael had experienced the influence of Fra Bartolommeo; it would thus be a little later than the Ansidei Madonna.
The history of the picture is long and eventful. In 1677 the nuns obtained permission to sell it, "to pay their debts and because the surface was in some parts flaking away." The central panel and the lunette (forming the picture as it now is) were bought by Antonio Bigazzini, a nobleman of Perugia, for a sum of about £500. Shortly afterwards, the picture passed into the hands of the great Colonna family at Rome, and it is often called "The Colonna Raphael." The fortunes of the picture now became part of those of modern Italian history. In the last century, the picture had been bought by Francis II., King of Naples. It was a great favourite of his, and was always kept in his bedroom in the Royal Palace. When the revolution of 1860 came, and the king was driven out of Naples, the Raphael accompanied him on his wanderings, and the king succeeded in conveying it in safety to the fortress of Gaeta. When Gaeta fell in 1861, and the king went into exile, he again took the picture with him, and it was safely transported to Spain. The king was accompanied in his flight by the financier and factotum, formerly Spanish Minister at Naples, upon whom he had conferred the title of Duke of Ripalda. To him the king in some way pledged the picture, and for a time it became known as the Ripalda Raphael. Its history next becomes connected with the secular jealousies of England and France. In 1867 Sir J. C. Robinson saw the picture at Madrid, and received a hint that it might possibly be for sale. Sir William Boxall, the Director of our Gallery, went to inspect the picture, which was then in fine condition; and Disraeli authorised the trustees to buy it. Negotiations were commenced on the basis of £20,000; but the Duke of Ripalda was a friend of the Empress Eugénie, and the knowledge that England was in the market inspired a counter-bid of £40,000 from France. The outbreak of the Prussian War caused a hitch in the negotiations; and the picture, which had been sent to Paris, underwent rigorous "restoration." The Colonna Raphael, wrote Sir William Gregory (May 1870), "was, a few months ago, one of the most perfect and important pictures of that master. In an evil moment it had been submitted to the cleaner, and a piteous spectacle it now is in the eyes of gods and men. It is said that on the old frame being removed, the picture fell to the ground in three pieces. This is confirmed by the extraordinary winking appearance of the eye of one of the female saints, through which unfortunately one of the cracks runs, and which therefore had to be repainted by a modern hand." Ruskin, perhaps unaware of these repaintings or believing that they could be removed, strongly urged the acquisition of the picture for the nation (Works, xxii. 140, xxxiv. 512). But the authorities would not entertain the idea, and the picture, refused both by the Louvre and by the National Gallery, returned, unpurchased and unhonoured, into the hands of the Duke. In 1886 it was lent to the South Kensington Museum and there it remained for several years, until Mr. Martin Colnaghi bought it from the representatives of the late King of Naples. The Parisian repaintings were removed, and the picture was restored to much of its pristine beauty. Ultimately it passed into the possession of Mr. Pierpont Morgan (at the price, it is said, of £100,000), and by him it is for the present lent to the National Gallery.
THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI.
Unknown (Spanish: end of 15th century).
Signed "Lo Fil de Mestre Rodrigo." Lent by the Victoria and Albert Museum.
FOOTNOTES:
[263] In addition to the "three scenes" mentioned by Vasari there were two single figures, of St. Francis and St. Anthony of Padua respectively: these are in the Dulwich Gallery.