1 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/bookofraphaelsma00walk_0 OF BY JAMES P. WALKER. NEW YORK: LEAVITT AND ALLEN. 1 860. Entered, according to Aft of Congrefs, in the Year of our Lord i860, by LEAVITT & ALLEN, in the Clerk’s Office of the Diflrift Court of the United States for the Southern Dillrift of New York. John F. Trow, Printer nnd Stereotyper, 379 Broadway, Now York. Contents SUBJECT. AUTHOR PAGE. PREFACE, vii RAPHAEL, ......... Washington Allston, 9 OUTLINE OF RAPHAEL’S LIFE AND GENIUS, .... 11 HYMN TO THE VIRGIN, Edgar A. Poe, . 22 VIERGE AU BERCEAU, 23 INVOCATION TO THE VIRGIN, .... Chaucer, . . 25 LA MADONNA DELL PESCE, 27 OH, VIRGIN MOTHER ! Dante,. . . 31 LA VIERGE AU VOILE, 33 THE WORSHIP OF THE MADONNA, . . . Mrs. Jameson, . 35 HOLY FAMILY, Goethe, . . 38 MADONNA DELLA SEGGIOLA, 39 MARY !......... Shelley, . . 43 LA VIERGE AUX PALMIERS, 45 RAPHAEL AND FORNARINA, .... L. E. Landon, . 47 LA VIERGE A L’OISEAU, 51 SONNET ON RAPHAEL’S PORTRAIT, . . Zappi, . . 54 RAPHAEL’S GENIUS, 55 SAINTE FAMILLE DITE LA PERLE, 57 IV CONTENTS. SUBJECT. AUTHOK. PAGE STUDIES OF RAPHAEL, H. W. Beecher, . 60 HYMN TO THE VIRGIN, F. S. Osgood, . 61 MADONNA DI FOLIGNO, 63 STANZAS, ........ Bernard Barton, 68 LA VIERGE AUX CANDELABRES, 71 THE LEGEND OF SANTAREM, .... Caroline Southey, 72 LA BELLE JARDINIERE, 79 THE OLD MASTERS, W. S. Landor, . 81 LA VIERGE A LA REDEMPTION, 83 LETTER FROM RAPHAEL, 84 FROM “THE PALACE OF ART,” .... Tennyson, . . 88 LA SAINTE FAMILLE, 9 ! PAINTING, . . . . . . . . P. M. Wetmore, . 93 TO THE VIRGIN, Novalis, . . 96 MADONNA DI SAN SISTO, 97 TO THE GENIUS OF ART, . E. A. Lewis, . 102 MARRIAGE OF JOSEPH AND MARY, . i°3 fllustratira PHOTOGRAPHED BY E. HUFNAGEL. ENGRAVED BY PAGE MADONNA DELL PESCE, • . P. Pelee, . Frontifpiece. VIERGE AU BERCEAU, . Desnoyers, . 23 VIERGE AU VOILE, .... . . Metzmacher, . 33 MADONNA DELLA SEGGIOLA, . . P. Pelee, 39 VIERGE AUX PALMIERS, . . Ach. Martinet, 43 VIERGE A L’OISEAU, .... • Raphael Morghen, 5» LA PERLE, . Narcisse Lecomte, . 57 MADONNA DI FOLIGNO, . • I. M. St. Eve, 63 VIERGE AUX CANDELABRES, . . Gus. Levy, 71 LA BELLE JARDINIERE, . Gus. Levy, . 79 VIERGE A LA REDEMPTION, . . Ach. Martinet, 00 LA BENEDICTION, .... • Richamme and Dieu, . 9 1 MADONNA DI SAN SISTO, . . Muller, . 97 PREFACE. lHtjCU the idea of preparing a photographically illuttrated book of Raphael’s Madonnas firft fuggefted itfelf, it was accompanied by the natural defire to make the collection complete ; i. e., to include photographs of all the “ Holy Families,” “ Virgins,” and “ Madonnas,” of this great matter ; that his matchlefs performances in this department might be made as familiar and eafily comprehendible, as they have been made in others, through the publication of the “ Book of Raphael’s Cartoons,” etc. But this end, defirable as it is, was manifeftly impoffible, from the circumftance that but a limited number of the original pictures have ever been reproduced by the engraver ; and of thofe at any time engraved, — amounting in all to about thirty, — feveral are fo rare as not to be obtainable in this country, or only very inferior copies of them. In view of thefe circumftances, it was deemed wifeft to make a feleCtion of the choiceft and moft univerfally-efteemed of thefe productions ; with the purpofe of iffuing, at fome future period, a Second Series, if the firtt volume meet the approbation of the public. In feleCting the engravings for photographing, care has been exercifed to fecure as true copies of the original pictures as could be found ; a confideration which will be appreciated by thofe who are familiar with the liberty which competent engravers are accuftomed to exercile, and the careleflnefs of the incompetent, in reproducing the work of any artift, efpecially one of the early matters. It would be eafy to point to engravings of Raphael’s Madonnas, well executed mechanically, but in which the defign of the Painter has been fo altered by the engraver, as to raife a queftion in the mind of the beholder, which of the originals had been followed ; the refult being a fort of fancy fketch “ founded on fad,” and occupying, in Art, the anomalous pofi- tion of “ Hiftorical Novels ” in literature. The illuftrative Iketches which accompany the photographs have been compiled from a PREFACE. viii great variety of fources, and it is hoped will be found to enhance the intered of the colle&ion. The authorities principally depended upon, are : — Quatremere De Quincey’s Life of Raphael, Vasari’s Lives of the Painters, etc., Kugler’s Hand-Book of Painting, Mrs. Jameson’s Legends of the Madonna, Mrs. Jameson’s Sketches of Art, though a great number of other works have been incidentally confulted ; while the poetical literature of England and America has been gleaned to furnilh appropriate and agreeable accompaniments to the defcriptive fketches. That the volume, notwithdanding its faults of execution, will not prove wholly unaccepta- ble, we feel affured, from the fubjeft which it drives to illudrate ; “ a fubjeft,” in the words of a modern authorefs, bed qualified to difcourfe thereon, “ fo confecrated by its antiquity, fo hallowed by its profound fignificance, fo endeared by its aflociations with the fofted and deeped of our human fympathies, that the mind has never wearied of its repetition, nor the eye become fatiated with its beauty. Thofe who refufe to give it the honor due to a religious reprefentation, yet regard it with a tender, half-willing homage ; and when the glorified type of what is pured, lofticd, holied in womanhood, dands before us, arrayed in all the majedj. and beauty that accomplilhed Art, infpired by faith and love, could lend her, and bearing hei divine Son, rather enthroned than fudained on her maternal bofom, ‘we look, and the heart is in heaven !’ — and it is difficult, very difficult, to refrain from an Ora pro Nobis.” With thcfe words of explanation, we commend the volume, which has afforded us many hours of delightful, if laborious occupation, in the preparation, to the cultivated and the tadeful. J. P. W. Boston, July, 1859. Hapljacl. Washington Allston. Y Heaven imprefled with genius’ feal, An eye to fee, and heart to feel, His foul through boundlefs nature roved, And feeing felt, and feeling loved. But weak the power of mind at will To give the hand the painter’s ikill ; For mortal works, maturing flow, From patient care and labor flow : And, hence reftrained, his youthful hand Obeyed a mafter’s dull command ; But foon with health his flckly ftyle From Leonardo learned to fmile ; And now from Buonarotti caught A nobler form ; and now it fought 2 io RAPHAEL. Of color fair the magic fpell, And traced her to the Friar’s * cell. No foolifh pride, no narrow rule, Enflaved his foul ; from every fchool, Whatever fair, whatever grand, His pencil like a potent wand, Transfuiing, bade his canvas grace. Progreffive thus, with giant pace, And energy no toil could tame, He climbed the rugged mount of Fame : And foon had reached the fummit bold, When Death, who there delights to hold His fatal watch, with envious blow Quick hurled him to the fhades below. * Fra Bartolomeo. (Datlinc of Hapljacfs Cifc anil (Banins. “ In Raphael’s hands, art performs its higheft, and, indeed, its only legitimate fun&ion, it makes us better men.” — Hillard. ITH no intention of preparing an elaborate Bio- graphical Sketch of the diftinguifhed matter, whofe wonderful compofitions form the fubjedt of this volume, it is fitting that the following /ketches and feledtions fhould be preceded by a brief narrative of the principal events of that fhort but bril- liant career; and fuch tributes to his furpafiing genius from thofe qualified to pronounce them, as may ferve to illuftrate and enforce his claim to precedence among the throng, whofe productions crowd the galleries of the paft, conftituting at once their patent of nobility, and their crown of immortality. Raphael de Sanzio (or Raffaello, as Vafari and the 12 OUTLINE OF RAPHAEL’S LIFE AND GENIUS. modern Italians write it) was born in the fmall town of Urbino, in the Papal States, on Good Friday, March 24th, 1483. He received his firft inftru&ion in art from his father, Giovanni Santi, a painter of little reputation ; and, in 1494, was placed under the tuition of Pietro Perugino, a matter not unworthy his illus- trious pupil. Here he remained for three years, when Perugino, being fummoned by buttnefs to Florence, Raphael ettayed trials of his powers, and made feveral excurttons in the environs of Perugia. In 1504, he removed to Florence, where he re- mained, with the exception of occattonal vittts to Peru- gia and Bologna, till 1508. In that year he was called to Rome by Pope Julius II., to attift in the adornment of the Vatican, a labor which occupied him, with nu- merous intermittions, feveral years. His houfe, built by himfelf, near the Piazza Vaticano, is ftill pointed out to vitttors in the “Eternal City.” Between 1512 and 1520, the majority of his matchlefs Madonnas, Holy Families, Portraits, etc., were executed : the Cartoons at Hampton Court were executed 1515-16; the fres- coes of the Farnettna, 1518. Bettdes his labors in this department, he was employed, from 1515, in building the new Bafilica of St. Peter, having that year been appointed by the Pope architect of that ttrudture. OUTLINE OF RAPHAEL’S LIFE AND GENIUS. 13 His death, which was fudden as it was untimely, is faid to have been caufed by a fever, induced by a fevere cold, contracted during a converfation with the Pope about the progrefs of St. Peter’s ; which took place in one of the vaft halls of the palace, whither Raphael, on receiving a fummons, had proceeded in fuch hafte as to arrive in a profufe perfpiration. He expired on Good Friday, April 6th, 1520, at the age of 37. After laying in ftate, at his own houfe, in the apart- ment where hung his laft work, the Transfiguration, his remains were conveyed, amidft the lamentations of the whole city, to the ancient Pantheon — the Church of Santa Maria de la Rotunda, and depofited, in accord- ance with his laft requeft, at the foot of the chapel he had endowed, where his fepulchre now is. For more than a century the Academy of St. Luke, at Rome, exhibited, in a glafs cafe, a fkull, which it was pretended was that of Raphael ; and the author of u Rome in the Nineteenth Century,” alludes, in terms of becoming difguft, to the exhibition. In 1833, to filence the queries which had arifen upon the fubjecft, the tomb of Raphael was opened with great care, and in the prefence of many of the higheft dignitaries of the Church and State ; and, after its repofe of more than 14 OUTLINE OF RAPHAEL’S LIFE AND GENIUS. three centuries, the fkeleton of the great matter was found entire. A mould was taken of the fkull ; and the fecond inhumation took place on the evening of the 1 8 th of October, with great pomp, the interior of the Rotunda being funereally illuminated on the occafion. All his biographers unite in afcribing to Raphael great beauty of perfon, and yet greater beauty of char- after. Of agreeable manners, modeft, thoughtful of others, obliging, he difarmed the jealoufy which his ex- traordinary and verfatile genius and rapid advancement were calculated to infpire. Indeed, Vafari attures us, “ that he was never feen to go to Court but furrounded and accompanied, as he left his houfe, by fome fifty painters, all men of ability and diftinftion, who at- tended him thus to give evidence of the honor in which they held him.” His mental acquirements were confiderable and refpeftable. That he did not lack for timely and fatirical wit, and boldnefs withal, the following anec- dote will indicate : — It is faid that while engaged in painting his cele- brated frefcoes, he was vifited by two cardinals, who began to criticife his work, and found fault without underftanding it. “ The apoftle Paul has too red a face,” faid one. OUTLINE OF RAPHAEL’S LIFE AND GENIUS. 15 “ He blufhes even in heaven to fee what hands the Church has fallen into,” replied the indignant painter. It is little to fa y, coldly, that for invention, com- pofition, exprefiion, and grace, Raphael far excelled all his predecelfors and contemporaries ; while the univer- fal teifimony of thofe familiar with his paintings, is, that they are pervaded by a namelefs charm, perceptible by all perfons of tafte, and diftinguifhing them from all other works of art, but rather to be felt, than analyzed and defcribed in fet terms. Richardfon, in his ElTays, as quoted by Hazlitt, after a rapid furvey of the peculiar excellences of the moft celebrated artifts, concludes thus: — “But ah ! the pleafure, when a connoifieur and lover of art has be- fore him a picture or drawing, of which he can fay, this is the hand, thefe are the thoughts of him (Ra- phael) who was one of the politefl, befl-natured gen- tlemen that ever was j beloved and aflifled by the greatefl wits and the greatelf men then in Rome : of him who lived in great fame, honor, and magnificence, and died extremely lamented ; mified a cardinal’s hat only by dying a few months too foon ; but was par- ticularly efteemed and favored by two Popes, the only ones who filled the chair of St. Peter in his time, and l6 OUTLINE OF RAPHAEL’S LIFE AND GENIUS. as great men as ever fat there fince that apoftle, if, at leaft, he ever did ; one, in fhort, who could have been a Leonardo, a Michael Angelo, a Titian, a Correggio, a Parruegiano, an Annibal, a Rubens, or any other whom he pleafed, but none of them could ever have been a Raphael.” He is allowed, writes Pilkinton, “ to have diffufed throughout all his works, more grace, truth, and fublim- ity than any other painter, who has appeared before or fince.” “ It was one of the remarkable properties of Ra- phael’s genius,” fays De Ouincey, “ that in the execu- tion of his works he always expreffed, in a prominent manner, the greateft and moll elevated feature of his fubjedt, without, in any degree, fcorning the minuteft details. Lanzi has obferved, on this point, that the finifh he has given to his heads is fuch, that you can almofi: count every particular hair.” “ Michael Angelo,” remarks Hazlitt, (“ Criticifms on Art,”) “ was painter, fculptor, architect. Raphael was only a painter, but in that one art he feemed to pour out all the treafures and various excellences of na- ture, grandeur and fcope of defign, exquifite finifhing, force, grace, delicacy, the {Length of man, the foftnefs of woman, the playfulnefs of infancy, thought, feeling, OUTLINE OF RAPHAEL’S LIFE AND GENIUS. 17 invention, imitation, labor, eafe, and every quality that can difiinguifii a pi&ure, except color.” The grace and naturalnefs of the pictures of this mailer are everywhere borne witnefs to. “ All great actions are Ample,” fays Emerfon, “and all great pictures are. The Transfiguration/' by Raphael, is an eminent example of this peculiar merit. A calm, benignant beauty fhines all over this picture, and goes direCtly to the heart. It feems almoft to call you by name. The fweet and fublime face of Jefus is beyond praife, yet how it difappoints all florid expecta- tion. This familiar, Ample, home-fpeaking counte- nance is as if one fhould meet a friend.” It would be eafy to heap up teflimony of a fimilar character, to any extent, but the talk is unneceflary. Mrs. Bray, the accomplifhed biographer of Stothard, the artift — well known by his numerous drawings, efpecially the inimitable “Pilgrimage to Canterbury,” and “ Flitch of Bacon,” fays of her fubjeCt : — “There can be no doubt that Stothard’s youthful ftudy of Ra- * This wonderful pifture has been reproduced in Rome, in mofaics, at a coft of 12,000 crowns, and the labor of nine years ; ten men working at it. The fmalts, of which thefe mofaic pictures are formed, are a fpecies of opaque vitrified glafs, partaking of the mixed nature of (lone and glafs. Of thefe, no lefs than feventeen hundred different fhades are in ufe ; they are manufaftured in Rome, in the form of long (lender rods, like wires, of different degrees of thicknefs. 3 l8 OUTLINE OF RAPHAEL’S LIFE AND GENIUS. phael helped, not merely to form his tafte, but to de- velope his own remarkable powers, and to make him what he was. He had imbibed that grace and myflery of painting which is fo tranfcendently beautiful in the pi&ures of the Italian matters. The Holy Families of the Englifh painters are human beings ; with the Ital- ians they are only human forms, having, however, in- fufed into them fomething of a fuperhuman fpirit.” It is known, fays De Quincey, that Raphael had a fpecial devotion for the Virgin ; this is attefted, in a meafure, by his founding, in her honor, a chapel in the church of Santa Maria della Rotunda, where, as we have fhown, his afhes now repofe. But nothing, con- tinues De Ouincey, fo clearly manifefts in him the various feelings of a piety, fometimes fimple and affec- tionate, fometimes full of grandeur and elevation, than that diverfity of afpe&s under which his pencil, always noble, though the fubjedt of the compofition be fimple, always amiable and graceful though it be fublime, has delighted in fetting forth, according to the tattes or destination for which they were intended, the image of the Virgin — here, as the model! inhabitant of Bethle- hem — there, as the queen of the angels. “ His Madonnas,” remarks Vafari, “ difplay all that the highefl idea of beauty could imagine in the OUTLINE OF RAPHAEL’S LIFE AND GENIUS. 19 reprefentation of a youthful virgin : modefly in her eyes, on her forehead honor, in the line of the nofe grace, in the mouth virtue.” Hillard, in his criticifm upon the pictures in the Tribune, at Florence, bears witnefs to Raphael’s match- lefs fkill in imprefling upon his productions that unde- finable grace and majefty which diftinguifh his works from all others. “ Maternal love, purity of feeling, fweetnefs, refinement, and a certain foft ideal happinefs breathe from his canvas like odor from a flower. No painter addrefles fo wide a circle of lympathies as he ; no one fpeaks a language fo intelligible to the common apprehenfion.” The fecret of this wonderful fuccefs, fo far at leaf! as the fecrets of genius can be penetrated, would feem to be, that Raphael never copied, but painted always, as indeed he has himfelf declared, from an idea in his own mind : while the Madonnas of moft other artifls were portraits. Andrea del Sarto, Rubens, and Albano, painted their wives ; Allori and Vandyck their mis- trefles ; Domenichino his daughter. On this point, Kugler obferves : “ Like all other artifts, Raphael is always greatefl: when, undifturbed by foreign influence, he follows the free and original im- pulfe of his own mind. His peculiar element was 20 OUTLINE OF RAPHAEL’S LIFE AND GENIUS. grace and beauty of form, in as far as thefe are the ex- prefiion of high moral purity. Hence, notwithstanding the grand works in which he was employed by the Popes, his peculiar powers are mod: fully developed in the Madonnas and Holy Families, of which he has left fo great a number. In his youth, he feems to have been fondeft of this clafs of fubjeCts. They are con- ceived with a graceful freedom, fo delicately controlled, that it appears always guided by the fined: feeling for the laws of art. They place before us thofe deared relations of life which form the foundation of morality, the clofed ties of family love ; yet they feem to breathe a feeling dill higher and holier. Mary is not only the affectionate mother ; fhe appears, at the fame time, with an expreffion of almod virgin timidity, and yet as the bleded one of whom the Lord was born. The in- fant Chrid is not only the cheerful, innocent child, but a prophetic ferioufnefs reds on his features which tells of his future dediny. In any comparative edimate of Raphael’s powers or performances, the fhortnefs of his life mud not be over- looked. It is fomewhat remarkable that of feventy- feven artids of renown, from Cimabue, born in 1240, to Turner, who died in 1852, all but two — Paul Potter, who died at the age of 27, and Giorgione, who lived OUTLINE OF RAPHAEL’S LIFE AND GENIUS. 21 but 34. years — exceed Raphael in the length of their feveral careers. The average life of the feventy-feven was 68 years, 8 months. The eminent hiftorical painter, Opie, concludes a le&ure at the Royal Inflitution thus : — “ The hiftory of no man’s life affords a more encouraging and in- ftru&ive example than that of Raphael. The path by which he afcended to eminence is open, and the Reps vifible to all. He began with apparently no very un- common fund of ability, but, fenfible of his deficien- cies, he loft no opportunity of repairing them. He ftudied all the artifts of his own and former times, and penetrated all their myfteries, maftered their peculiari- ties, and grafted all their excellencies on his own flock.” $mnu to tljc btrgtti. Edgar A. Poe. T morn, at noon, at twilight dim, Maria, thou haft heard my hymn : In joy and woe, in good and ill, Mother of God, be with me ftill ! When the hours flew brightly by, And not a cloud obfcured the Iky, My foul, left it fhould truant be, Thy grace did guide to thine and thee. Now, when ftorms of fate o’ercaft Darkly my prefent and my paft, Let my future radiance fhine With fweet hopes of thee and thine. ftierge ail Cforceau. 'HIS charming conception was prefented by Ra- phael to Adrian Gouffier, Cardinal de Boifly, whom Leo X. fent legate into France. It is painted on copper ; is one foot three inches high, and eleven and one-half inches wide. After being preferved for a feries of years in the family of the recipient, it came into the cabinet of the Duke de Rouanez, and was purchafed by Louis XIV. of the Abbe de Brienne j and it now beautifies the walls of the Louvre. On the right, the infant Jefus, Banding, leaning on the Virgin, his feet refting on his cradle, takes in his hands the head of the young Saint John, whom Saint Elizabeth, kneeling, is prefenting to him. Behind the figures are trees and part of a wall in ruins. On the right and left, a beautiful landfcape. 24 VIERGE AU BERCEAU. De guincey remarks of this pi&ure, that in it “ there is great vigor of tone and mod careful han- dling. The genius of Raphael fhines forth from every figure. The infant Jefus is imbued with a grace and beauty truly divine. The landfcape is fmiling and brilliant.” Jnuocatton to lljc Virgin. Chaucer. MODERNIZED BY WORDSWORTH. MOTHER Maid ! O Maid and Mother free ! O bufh unburnt, burning in Mofes’ fight ! That down didft ravifh from the Deity, Through humblenefs, the Spirit that did alight Upon thy heart, whence, through that glory’s might, Conceived was the Father’s fapience, Help me to tell it in thy reverence ! Lady, thy goodnefs, thy magnificence, Thy virtue, and thy great humility, Surpafs all fcience and all utterance ; For, fometimes, Lady ! ere men pray to thee, Thou go’ft before in thy benignity, 4 26 INVOCATION TO THE VIRGIN. The light to us vouchsafing of thy prayer, To be our guide unto thy Son fo dear. My knowledge is fo weak, O blissful Queen, To tell abroad thy mighty worthinefs, That I the weight of it may not fuftain, But as a child of twelve months old, or lefs, That laboreth his language to exprefs, Even fo fare I ; and therefore, I thee pray, Guide thou my fong, which I of thee fhall fay. £a Jttatomna Dell fJcstx. (see frontispiece.) * HE Madonna of the Fifh was painted on panel, between 1513 and 1515, for the church of San Domenico, at Naples, and placed in that chapel wherein is the crucifix which fpoke to St. Thomas Aquinas. By the chances of events, the pic- ture was tranfported from Naples to Spain, from Spain to Paris, where it was transferred * from panel to canvas, * The transfer of a painting from panel to canvas feems fo impoffible an operation, and the procefs is fo ingenious and interefting, that it may not be amifs to record here the deferip- tion of it, given by the members of the National Inftitute, Paris, by whom it was performed upon another of Raphael’s pictures : — “ It was neceflary, as a previous ftep, to render the furface of the panel, on which the pifture was painted, perfe&ly plane. To this end, a gauze having been palled over the painting, the pifture was turned on its face. There was then formed in the fubltance of the wood a number of fmall channels, at certain dillances from each other, and extending from the upper extremity of the arch, to where the panel prefented a truer furface. He introduced into thefe channels fmall wooden wedges, and afterwards covered the whole furface with wet cloths, which he took care to renew from time to time. 28 LA MADONNA DELL PESCE. and again returned to Spain, where it now repofes in the Gallery of the Efcurial in Madrid. It reprefents the Madonna and child upon a throne ; on one fide, and kneeling on a ffep of the throne, is St. Jerome, “ The attion of thefe wedges, expanding by the humidity, obliged the panel to reaflume its original form, the two parts of the crack before mentioned were brought together ; and the artift, having introduced a ftrong glue to re-unite them, applied crofs bars of oak, for the purpofe of retaining the pifture, during its drying, in the form which it had taken. “The deficcation was performed very flowly; a fecond gauze was applied over the former, and upon that two fucceflive layers of fpongy paper. This preparation, which is called the cartonnage, being dry, the picture was again inverted upon a table, to which it was firmly fixed down, and they afterwards proceeded to the feparation of the wood on which the pidturc had been painted. “ The firft operation was performed by means of two faws, the one of which worked per- pendicularly, and the other horizontally. The work of the faws being finifhed, the wood was found to be reduced to one-tenth of an inch in thickncfs. The artift afterwards made ufe of a plane, of a convex form, in the direftion of its breadth : this was applied obliquely upon the wood, fo as to take off very fmall (havings, and to avoid raifing the grain of the wood, which was reduced by this means to ‘002 of an inch thick. “ He took afterwards a fiat-toothed plane, of which the effeft is nearly fimilar to that of a rafp, which takes off the wood in form of a duft or powder : it was reduced by this tool to a thicknefs not exceeding that of an ordinary fhect of paper. « In this ftatc, the wood having been repeatedly wetted with fair water, in fmall compart- ments, was carefully detached by the artift with the rounded point of a knife blade. The citizen Hacquin having then taken away the whole of the priming on which the pifture had been painted, and efpccially the varnifhes, which fome former reparations had made neceflary, laid open the very (ketch itlelf of RafFacllo. « In order to give fome degree of fupplcnefs to the painting, fo much hardened by time, it was rubbed with cotton dipped in oil, and wiped with old muflin ; after which, a coating of white lead, ground with oil, was fubftituted for the former priming, and laid on with a foft bru(h. “ After three months drying, a gauze was pafted on to the oil-priming, and over that a fine cloth. This being again dried, the pifturc was detached from the table, and again turned, for the purpofe of taking off the cartonnage by means of water ; which operation being finifhed, they proceeded to take away certain inequalities of the furfacc, which had arifen from its un- LA MADONNA DELL PESCE. 2 9 reading from a book. On the other fide, the young Tobit (Tobias), bearing a fifh in one hand, is prefented by the guardian angel Raphael. “ Tobias with his fifh,” says Mrs. Jamefon, “ was an early type of baptifm.” “The angel Raphael leading Tobias, always exprelfes protection, and efpecially pro- tection to the young.” Bonnemaifon, a learned com- mentator, has pretended that the objeCt of this picture was to fignify the acknowledged canonicalnefs of the Book of Tobit, and the verfion of it, made by St. Jerome ; the child Jefus, by the reception he feems to give to the young Tobit — exprefling the approbation of the book by the Church. This is pronounced by equal fhrinking during the former operations. To this end, the ardft applied fucceflively to thefe inequalities a thin parte of wheaten flour, over which a ftrong paper being laid, he parted over it a heated iron, which produced the defired effedt ; but it was not until the moft careful trial had been made of the due heat of the iron, that it was allowed to approach the pifture. “ We have thus feen, that having fixed the pidture, freed from every extraneous matter, upon an oil priming, and having given a true form to its furface, it yet remained to apply this chef-d’ceuvre of art firmly upon a new ground. To this end, it was neceflary to paper it afrefh, and to take away the gauze, which had been provifionally laid upon the priming, to add a new coat of white lead and oil, and to apply upon that a very foft gauze, over which was again laid a cloth, woven all of one piece, and impregnated on the exterior furface with a refinous mixture, which ferved to fix it upon a fimilar cloth ftretched upon the frame. This laft operation required the utmoft care, in applying to the prepared cloth the body of the paint- ing, freed again from its cartonnage, in avoiding the injuries which might arife from too great *t or unequal an extenfion, and, at the fame time, in obliging every part of its vaft extent to adhere equally to the cloth ftretched upon the frame. “Thus was this valuable pidture incorporated with a bafe more durable even than its former one, and guarded againft thofe accidents which had before produced its decay.” 3 ° LA MADONNA DELL PESCE. De Quincey, “ one of Raphael’s mofl pleating com- potitions — one of thofe which appear to have been moft completely the work of his own hand. Its tone is everywhere clear. It has all the purity, all the tim- plicity of the firti age ; and, at the fame time, all the tirmnefs, all the breadth of ftyle, the fruit of mature talent. Nothing can be more true than the head of Saint Jerome; nothing more expretiive than that of the angel Raphael ; nothing more timple than the potition, or more innocent than the countenance of the young Tobit ; and never did the painter conceive any thing more noble and more modeft, any thing grander and more graceful, than the figure of the Virgin.” Wilkie fays, “ the head and neck of the angel may may be considered to realize the beau-ideal of the fup- pofed art of the Greeks.” Kugler confiders the picture as uniting “ the Sub- lime and abfiradt charadfer of facred beings with the individuality of nature in the happieft manner ... all the figures are graceful and dignified, and all combine in beautiful harmony, and leave a refined impreffion on the feelings of the fpedlator.” (!DI), Virgin ittotljcr ! Translated from Dante, by Cary. H, Virgin-Mother, daughter of thy Son ! Created beings all in lowlinefs Surpafling, as in height above them all ; Term by the eternal counfel preordained ; Ennobler of thy nature, fo advanced In thee, that its great Maker did not fcorn To make himfelf his own creation ; For in thy womb, rekindling fhone the love Revealed, whofe genial influence makes now This flower to germin in eternal peace : Here thou, to us, of charity and love Art as the noonday torch, and art beneath, To mortal men, of hope a living fpring. So mighty art thou, Lady, and fo great, That he who grace deflreth, and comes not 3 2 OH, VIRGIN MOTHER! To thee for aidance, fain would have defire Fly without wings. Not only him who afks, Thy bounty fuccors ; but doth freely oft Forerun the alking. Whatfoe’er may be Of excellence in creature, pity mild, Relenting mercy, large munificence, Are all combined in thee ! £a lltcrge an Ibilc. iEVERAL copies of this pleafing picture, or more properly, repetitions of the fame idea — the Sleep- ing Saviour, from whom the Holy Mother gently removes the covering — exift in the galleries of Europe. The one here reprefented is from the original in the Louvre, and is known alfo, as “ La Vierge au Diademe,” from the diadem with which the Virgin is crowned. In the eftimation of the editors of the great work, the “ Mufee Francais,” “ this painting merits peculiar diflindlion among the many Raphael executed on the fame fubjedl, from the beautiful fentiment it expreiTes, and by the charm of the compohtion. He has depicted the fweet fenfation of a tender mother when fhe contemplates her child funk in a deep and tranquil deep. He has placed the Virgin crouched be- lide her infant, in the Eaftern manner, raifing foftly the veil that covers him, that he may be feen by St. 5 34 LA VIERGE AU VOILE. John. The background of the picture reprefents the ruins of a temple in the neighborhood of the town of Saccheti, near St. Peter. The pi&ure belonged formerly to M. de la Vrilliere, and afterwards pafled into the cabinet of the Prince de Cavignan, and at his death was purchafed by Louis XIV.” The original is two feet two and three-fourths inches, by one foot feven and one-half inches, and, according to Kugler, has been much injured, like fo many others at the Louvre. Mrs. Jamefon confiders the pidure replete with grace and expreffion. Can we better conclude, than by an extrad from Mrs. Browning’s Addrefs of the Virgin Mary to the Child Jefus? — “ Sleep, deep, mine Holy One” — “ Perchance this deep that fhutteth out the dreary Earth founds and motions, opens on thy foul High dreams on fire with God ; High fongs that make the pathways where they roll More bright than liars do theirs ; and vifions new Of thine eternal nature’s old abode. Suffer this mother’s kifs, Bed thing that earthly is. To glide the mufic and the glory through, To narrow in thy dream the broad upliftings Of any feraph’s wing. Thus, noifelefs, thus ! Sleep, fleep, my dreaming One.” @l)c lllorsljij) of tljc madonna. Mrs. Jameson. F the pictures in our galleries, public or private — of the architectural adornments of thofe majeflic edifices which fprung up in the middle ages (where they have not been defpoiled or defe- crated by a zeal as fervent as that which reared them), the largeft and mod: beautiful portion have reference to the Madonna — her character, her perfon, her hiflory. It was a theme which never tired her votaries — whether, as in the hands of the great and fincere artifts, it became one of the noblefl: and lovelieft, or, as in the hands of the fuperficial, unbelieving, time- ferving artiffs, one of the mod degraded. * * * It is not my intention to enter here on that difputed point, the origin of the worfhip of the Madonna. * * * That 3 6 THE WORSHIP OF THE MADONNA. the veneration paid to Mary in the early Church was a very natural feeling in thofe who advocated the divinity of her Son, would be granted, I fuppofe, by all but the mod bigoted reformers ; that it led to unwife and wild extremes, confounding the creature with the Creator, would be admitted, I fuppofe, by all but the moft bigoted Roman Catholics. How it extended from the Eaft over the nations of the Weft, how it grew and fpread, may be read in ecclefiaftical hiftories. Everywhere it feems to have found in the human heart fome deep fympathy — deeper far than mere theological doctrine could reach — ready to accept it ; and in every land the ground prepared for it in fome already dominant idea of a Mother-Goddefs, chafte, beautiful, and benign. * * * It is curious to obferve, as the worfhip of the Virgin- Mother expanded and gathered to itfelf the relics of many an ancient faith, how the new and the old ele- ments, fome of them apparently the mod: heterogene- ous, became amalgamated, and were combined into the early forms of art ; — how the Madonna, when fhe affumed the charadteridics of the great Diana of Ephe- fus, at once the type of Fertility, and the Goddefs of Chaftity, became, as the imperfonation of motherhood, all beauty, bounty, and gracioufnefs ; and at the fame THE WORSHIP OF THE MADONNA. 37 time, by virtue of her perpetual virginity, the patronefs of fingle and afcetic life — the example and the excufe for many of the wildeft of the early monkifii theories. * * The firfi: hiftorical mention of a diredl worfhip paid to the Virgin Mary, occurs in a pafiage in the works of St Epiphanius, who died in 403. The very firfi: inftance which occurs in written hifirory of an in- vocation to Mary, is in the life of St. Juflina, as related by Gregory Nazianzen. To the fame period — the fourth century — we refer the moft ancient reprefenta- tions of the Virgin in art. The earlieft figures extant are thofe on the Chriftian farcophagi ; but neither in the early fculpture, nor in the mofaics of S. Maria Maggiore, do we find any figure of the Virgin Handing alone ; fhe forms a part of the group of the Nativity or the Adoration of the Magi. There is no attempt at individuality or portraiture. St. Augufiine fays ex- prefily, that there exifted, in his time, no authentic portrait of the Virgin. Cjoln JFamil}). From the German of Goethe. CHILD of beauty rare — O mother chade and fair — How happy feem they both, fo far beyond compare ! She, in her infant bled, And he in confcious red:, Nedling within the foft warm cradle of her bread: ! What joy that dght might bear To him who fees them there, If with a pure and guilt untroubled eye, He looked upon the twain, like Jofeph (landing by. ittaironna Della Scggiola. >HIS celebrated picture — entitled alfo, C£ La Vierge a la Chaife ” — is, without exception, the befl: known of Raphael’s Madonnas, and that from which the greateft number of copies have been taken. It is, therefore, incontelfably the favorite with the public, if not with artifts and amateurs. This has been varioufly accounted for. A modern writer on Art, remarks of the Virgin-Mother (whofe fitting pofition, it may be obferved, gives the pidure its diftindive appellation), “ Her form, her features, an indefcribable fweetnefs of expreffion, the maternal tendernefs beaming from her foft hazel eye, the modeft and pious confcioufnefs of being the mother of a God, the pofition of the child’s cheek to her own, expreffive at once of both dignity and fondnefs of affedion, the 40 MADONNA DELLA SEGGIOLA. propriety of coftume, the coloring, the finifh — all, all are divine.” The Editors of the famous “ Mufee Francais ” difcourfe thus : — “ All thefe pictures of Raphael are conceived with judgment, compofed with grace, drawn with precision, and painted with the utmoft perfection of art. Whence comes it, then, that this, more than any other, poffelTes an inconceivable charm, but from the countenance of the Virgin, whofe features are more uniformly fine, whofe eyes have greater vivacity, whofe whole exprefiion is more ftriking and gracious, than diftinguifh any other compofition on the fame fubjeCt, which are more generally remarked for fim- plicity of character. “ The contouring, likewife, exhibits extraordinary purity, correCtnefs, and beauty. It is remarked that the paint itfelf is fuperior to that employed by Raphael in any other production.” De Quincey confiders this, in “ coloring and grace of attitude and arrangement, one of Raphael’s moil agreeable productions. The manner in which the child and mother are grouped, and in which the head of the latter is turned back, the elegance and grace of the enfemble, have fingularly captivated the tafie of thofe who are lefs fenfible to the religious keeping of MADONNA DELLA SEGGIOLA. 4 l the fubjedt, than to the general impreflion of a graceful effedt upon the fenfes.” The accomplished author of the “ Six Months in Italy” regards it as a work of great fweetnefs, purity, and tendernefs, but not reprefenting all the power of the artifl’s genius. “Its chief charm, and the fecret of its world-wide popularity, is its happy blending of the divine and the human elements. Some painters treat this fubjedt in fuch a way that the fpedfator fees only a mortal mother carefling her child ; while, by others, the only ideas awakened are thofe of the Virgin and the Redeemer. But heaven and earth meet on Ra- phael’s canvas : the purity of heaven and the tendernefs of earth. The round, infantile forms, the fond, clafp- ing arms, the fweetnefs and the grace belong to the world that is around us ; but the faces — efpecially that of the infant Saviour, in whofe eyes there is a myfterious depth of expreflion, which no engraving has ever fully caught — are touched with light from heaven, and fug- ged fomething to worfhip as well as to love.” Mrs. Jamefon, in her “ Diary of an Ennuyee,” records of this Madonna : — “ The prevailing expreflion is a ferious and penfive tendernefs ; her eyes are turned from her infant, but fhe clafps him to her bofom, as if it were not neceffary to fee him, to feel him in her heart.” 6 42 MADONNA DELLA SEGGIOLA. And laftly, Kugler defcribes her as “ a beautiful and blooming woman, looking out of the picture in the tranquil enjoyment of maternal love ; the Child is full and flrong in form, has a ferious, ingenuous and grand expreflion. The coloring is uncommonly warm and beautiful.” The original is circular in form, two feet four inches in diameter. It was painted about 1516, and formed part of the Florentine Gallery from 1539 till a later period, when it was transferred to the Pitti Palace. It has been valued at 150,000 francs. Mary ! Shelley. ERAPH of Heaven ! too gentle to be human, Veiling beneath that radiant form of woman All that is infupportable in thee Of light, and love, and immortality ! Sweet benediction in the eternal curfe ! Veiled Glory of this lamplefs univerfe ! Thou Moon beyond the clouds ! Thou living Form Among the Dead ! Thou Star above the ftorm ! Thou Wonder, and thou Beauty, and thou Terror! Thou Harmony of Nature’s art ! Thou Mirror In whom, as in the fplendor of the Sun, All fhap es look glorious which thou gazeft on ! 44 MARY! See where fhe {lands ! a mortal fhape endued With love, and life, and light, and deity ; The motion which may change but cannot die ; An image of fome bright eternity ; A fhadow of fome golden dream ; a fplendor Leaving the third fphere pilotlefs. Co bicnje cmx |)almicrs. -N the firft vifit of Raphael to Florence, he was welcomed with warm hofpitality by Zaddeo Taddei, a great admirer of genius. Raphael, that he might not be furpalfed in generolity and courtefy, painted, probably between 1506 and 1508, two pictures for his kind entertainer, wherein there are traces of his firft manner, derived from Pietro, and alfo of that much better one which he acquired by fludy. Thefe were both pi&ures of the Madonna, and after the deceafe of Zaddeo’s immediate heirs, were difperfed, and only traced within a few years. One is in the Gallery of the Belvidere at Vienna j the other, reprefenting the entire Holy Family repoling under a palm tree, is in the Bridgewater Gallery, in the poffeflion of the Earl of Ellefmere, London. It was formerly in the Orleans Collection, having been purchafed for 1,000 pounds. 46 LA VIERGE AUX PALMIERS. It is circular in form, three feet nine inches in diameter ; was originally painted on panel, but fince transferred to canvas. Not wholly inappropriate, in this conne&ion, are Mrs. Hemans’ fine lines on the “ Repofe of the Holy Family, during the Flight into Egypt — “ Under a palm tree, by the green old Nile, Lulled on his mother’s breaft, the fair child lies, With dove-like breathings, and a tender fmile Brooding above the dumber of His eyes ; While, through the ftillnefs of the burning Ikies, Lo ! the dread works of Egypt’s buried kings, Temple and pyramid, beyond Him rife, Regal and ftill as everlafting things. Vain pomps ! from Him, with that pure flowery cheek, Soft fhadowed by His mother’s drooping head, A new born fpirit, mighty and yet meek. O’er the whole world like vernal air fliall fpread. And bid all earthly grandeurs call the crown, Before the differing and the lowly down.” Hapljacl ani> iFornarhia. By L. E. Landon. [Raphael was eflentially the painter of beauty. Of the devotion with which he fought its infpiration, in its prefence, a remarkable inftanee is recorded. He either could not, or would not, paint without the p*efence of his lovely miftrefs. La Fornarina.] H! not for him the dull and meafured eye, Which colors nothing in the common Iky, Which fees but night upon the ftarry cope, And animates with no myflerious hope. Which looks upon a quiet face, nor dreams If it be ever tranquil as it feems ; Which reads no hiftories in a parting look, Nor on the cheek, which is the heart’s own book, Whereon it writes in rofy characters Whate’er emotion in its lilence flirs. 4 8 RAPHAEL AND FORNARINA. Such are the common people of the foul, Of whom the Aars write not in their bright fcroll. Thefe, when the funfhine on the noontide makes Golden confufion in the forefi brakes, See no fweet fhadows gliding o’er the grafs, Which feem to fill with wild flowers as they pafs ; Thefe, from the twilight mufic of the fount Afk not its fecret and its fweet account; Thefe never feek to read the chronicle Which hides within the hyacinth’s dimlit bell : They know not of the poetry which lies Upon the fummer rofe’s languid eyes ; They have not fpiritual vifitings elyfian, They dream no dreamings, and they fee no vifion. The young Italian was not of the clay, That doth to dufi one long allegiance pay. No ; he was tempered with that finer flame, Which ancient fables fay from heaven came ; The funfhine of the foul, which fills the earth With beauty borrowed from its place of birth. Hence has his lute its fong, the fcroll its line ; Hence ftands the fiatue glorious in its fhrine ; Hence the fair pidture, kings are fain to win, The mind’s creations from the world within. * * -X- -X- * * RAPHAEL AND FORNARINA. 49 Not without me ! — alone, thy hand Forgot its art awhile ; Thy pencil loft its high command, Uncherifhed by my fmile. It was too dull a talk for thee To paint remembered rays ; Thou, who were wont to gaze on me, And color from that gaze. I know that I am very fair, I would I were divine, To realize the fhapes that fhare Thofe midnight hours of thine. Thou fometimes telleft me, how in deep What lovely phantoms feem ; I hear thee name them, and I weep Too jealous of a dream. But thou did’ft pine for me, my love, Afide thy colors thrown ; ’Twas fad to raife thine eyes above, Unanfwered by mine own ; Thou who art wont to lift thofe eyes, And gather from my face The warmth of life’s impaffioned dyes, Its color and its grace. 7 5 ° RAPHAEL AND FORNARINA. Ah ! let me linger at thy fide, And ling Tome Tweet old Tong, That tells of hearts as true and tried, As to ourfelves belong. The love whofe light thy colors give, Is kindled at the heart ; And who fhall bid its influence live, My Raphael, if we part ? £a biergc a r©iscau. KNOWN ALSO AS THE MADONNA DEL CARDELLINO. HILE Raphael was in Florence, for the firft time, he formed a clofe friendfhip with Lorenzo Nafi, and the latter having taken a wife at that time, Raphael, fays Vafari, painted a picture for him, wherein he reprefented Our Lady with the Infant Chrift, to whom St. John, alfo a child, is joyoully offering a bird, which is caufing infinite delight and gladnefs to both children. In the attitude of each there is a child- like fimplicity of the utmofl lovelinefs ; they are, be- fides, fo admirably colored, and finifhed with fo much care, that they feem more like living beings than paint- ings. Equally good is the figure of the Madonna : it has an air of fingular grace and even divinity, while all S 2 LA VIERGE A L’OISEAU. the reft of the work — the foreground, the furrounding landfcape, and every other particular, are extremely beautiful. This picture was held in the higheft eftima- tion by Lorenzo Naft fo long as he lived, not only be- caufe it was a memorial of Raphael, who had been fo much his friend, but on account of the dignity and excellence of the whole compofttion ; but on the 9th of Auguft, 154.8, the work was nearly deftroyed by the linking down of the hill of San Giorgio, when the manfton of Lorenzo was overwhelmed by the fallen mafles. The fragments of the picture were found among the ruins of the houfe, and put together in the beft manner that he could contrive by Batifta, a fon of Lorenzo, who was a great lover of art ! The picture now adorns the Tribune of the Florentine Gallery, though this has been regarded by fome as a duplicate, or perhaps a copy, of the original work prefented to Naft. Hillard, in that charming record of his “ Six Months in Italy,” alluding to this picture in connection with a “ St. John in the Defert,” alfo by Raphael — remarks, “ Thefe two pictures are not penetrated with that maturity and vigor which Raphael’s genius fubfe- quently attained, but they are full of thofe winning and engaging qualities which belonged to it in every ftage of its development.” LA VIERGE A L’OISEAU. 53 Mrs. Jamefon regards this work as perhaps the moil perfect example of the clafs of Madonnas to which it belongs — the group of three — which could be cited from the whole range of art : and Kugler fays, “ The form and countenance of the Madonna are of the pureft beauty ; her whole foul feems to breathe holinefs and peace. John alfo is extremely fweet ; but the figure of the infant Chrifi: does not fulfil the artifl’s intention, which appears to have been to reprefent the ferioufnefs and dignity of a Divine being in a childlike form.” Enppi’s Sonnet ON THE PORTRAIT OF RAPHAEL BY HIMSELF. TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN, BY Geo. W. Bethune. ND this is Raffaelle ! There in that one face, So fadly fweet, fought nature to portray His own high dreams of noblenefs and grace, Hq The all of genius that fhe could convey In features vihble. He alone could trace The great Idea ; nor could he effay Up on the eternal canvas thus to place, Secure in beauty far beyond decay, Another form fo glorious as his own. E’en eager Death held in fufpenfe his dart : “ How fhall the painter from his work be known ? : He afks, “ that I may ftrike him to the heart ? ” “ Fruitlefs thy rage,” the great foul gives reply, “ Nor image, nor its author, e’er fhall die ! ” Hapljacl’s (drains. From “Guesses at Truth.” ILTON has been compared to Raphael. He is much more like Michael Angelo. Michael Angelo is the painter of the Old Teftament, Raphael of the New. Now Milton, as Words- worth has faid of him, was a Hebrew in foul. He was grand, fevere, auftere. He loved to deal with the primeval, elementary forms, both of inanimate nature and of human, before the manifold, ever-multi- plying combinations of thought and feeling had fhaped themfelves into the multifarious complexities of human In * * * * character. Where to find a parallel for Raphael in the modern world, I know not. Sophocles, among poets, mofl: refembles him. In knowledge of the diverfities of human character, he comes nearer than any other 56 RAPHAEL’S GENIUS. painter to him, who is unapproached and unapproach- able, Shakfpeare ; and yet two worlds, that of Humor, and that of Paffion, feparate them. In exquifitenefs of art, Goethe might be compared to him. But neither he nor Shakfpeare has Raphael’s deep Chriftian feeling. And then there is fuch a peculiar glow and blufh of beauty in his works : whitherfoever he comes, he fheds beauty from his wings. Why did he die fo early ? Becaufe morning cannot laft till noon, nor fpring through fummer. Early, too, as it was, he had lived through two flages of his art, and had carried both to their higheB perfection. This rapid progreffivenefs of mind he alfo had in common with Shakfpeare and Goethe, and with few others. Senate jfamillc bite £a |Jevlc. FTER the death of Charles I. of England, a fale was ordered of his collection of Works of Art, valued at £4.9,903 2s. 6d. The difperfion NB took place in 1650 and 1653, attracting vaft numbers of agents from foreign princes, and amateurs fale, including the embroideries, jewels, etc., was £118,080 10s. 2d.; the feven Cartoons being pur- chafed for the Britifh nation for £300. The purchafes of the Spanifh ambaflador, Don Alonzo de Cardenas, were fo great, that eighteen mules were required to convey them from Corunna to Madrid. Among them was the large Holy Family by Raphael, from the Mantua Collection, for which he gave £2,000. Philip IV. is faid to have exclaimed on feeing it, “ This is my Pearl ; ” hence the picture has from all parts of Europe. The total proceeds of the 8 1 5 of 0antavcm. By Caroline Southey. liffen to a monkifh tale of old, Right Catholic, but puerile fome may deem, Who all unworthy their high notice hold Aught but grave truth, or lofty learned theme Too wife for fimple fancies, fmiles and tears, Dreams of our earlielf, pureft, happieh: years. Come — liften to my legend ; for of them Surely thou art not : and to thee I’ll tell How on a time in holieft Santarem Strange accident miraculous befell Two little ones; who to the facred fhrine Came daily to be fchooled in things divine. THE LEGEND OF SANTAREM. 73 Twin lifters — orphan innocents were they : Moft pure, I ween, from all but the olden taint, Which only Jefu’s blood can wafh away: And holy as the life of holieft faint, Was his, that good Dominican’s, who fed His mafter’s lambs, with more than daily bread. The children’s cuftom, while that pious man Performed the various duties of his ftate Within the fpacious church, as facriftan, Was on the altar fteps to lit and wait, Neftling together (’twas a lovely light !) Like the young turtle-doves of Hebrew rite. A fmall rich chapel was their fandluary, While thus abiding ; — with adornment fair Of curious carved work, wrought cunningly, In all quaint patterns, and devices rare : And over them, above the altar, fmiled From Mary-Mother’s arms, the Holy Child. Smiled on his infant guefts, as there below, On the fair altar fteps, thefe young ones fpread (Nor aught irreverent in fuch ai San Ststo. « HIS favorite Madonna was painted, according to Vafari, as an altar-piece for the high altar of the church of the Black Friars of San Sifto in Pia- cenza. It has, however, been fuppofed that it was defigned for a proceflion picture, to which opinion feveral writers of good authority incline. Above, are the Virgin and the Infant Jefus upon clouds, in a brilliant glory of countlefs angel heads, and below, St. Sixtus, on one fide, and St. Barbara on the other. “ Of all the figures of the Virgin,” fays De guin- cey, “his genius created, none was conceived in a fuller, and, if we may ufe the term, a more pi&urefque ftyle.” “We mufi: further,” he adds, “ point out to admiration the two cherubim at the foot of the compofition — marvels of color, beauty, expreflion, and life, which 13 9 8 MADONNA D I SAN SISTO. abfolutely Teem coming out of the canvas, fuch falient relief has the painter given them.” Kugler declares this Madonna to be “ one of the moft wonderful creations of Raphael’s pencil ; fhe is at once the exalted and bleffed woman of whom the Saviour was born, and the tender earthly Virgin whofe pure and humble nature was efleemed worthy of fo great a delfiny.” * * * “This is a rare example of a picture of Raphael’s later time, executed entirely by his own hand. No dehgn, no ftudy of the fubject for the guidance of a fcholar, no old engraving after fuch a ftudy, has ever come to light. The execution itfelf evidently fhows that the picture was painted without any fuch preparation.” This marvellous picture now forms the gem of the Royal Gallery at Drefden, which holds the firfl rank among all the collections in Germany. It was com- menced by Auguftus II., King of Poland; and this painting was purchafed for the Gallery by Auguftus III., for 22,000 crowns. Mrs. Jamefon writes, u Six times have I vihted the city made glorious by the pofTetion of this treafure, and as often, when again at a diftance, with recollec- tion difturbed by feeble copies and prints, I have begun to think, ‘ Is it fo indeed ? is fhe indeed fo divine ? or MADONNA D I SAN SISTO. 99 does the imagination encircle her with a halo of re- ligion and poetry, and lend a grace which is not really there?’ and as often, when returned, I have flood before it and confeffed that there is more in that form and face than I had ever yet conceived. “In the fame Gallery is the lovely Madonna of the Meyer family ; inexpreflibly touching and perfect in its way, but conveying only one of the attributes of Mary, her benign pity, while the Madonna di San Siflo is an abftraCt of all.” A modern traveller in Europe, a fcholar and a man of cultivated tafte and refined fenfibilities, thus records the impreflion made upon him by this fublime compo- lition : — “ The fpeCtator feels, at firfl, a little curious and puzzled to account for its effects ; for this aflonifh- ing picture does not feem to have been elaborated with the patient pencil that has wrought fo unweariedly upon many other famous fubjeCts, but rather to have been thrown off, almoft as though it had been in water-colors, by an infpiration of divine genius, in a fudden jubilee of its folemn exercife, with a motion of the hand, at the laft height and acme of its attain- ment. * * * Never before by any like production had I been quite abafhed or overcome. I could except to, and fludy and compare, other pictures : this paffed 100 MADONNA D I SAN SISTO. my underftanding. Long did I infped:, and often did I go back to re-examine this myftery, which To foiled my criticifm, and conftrained my wonder, and con- vinced me, as nothing vilible befides had ever done, that if no picture is to be worfhipped, fomething is to be worfhipped ; that is to be worfhipped which fuch a pi£ture indicates or portrays. But the problem was too much for my folving. I can only fay, it mixed for me the tranfport of wonder, with the ecftafy of delight; it affe&ed me like the Bgn of a miracle ; it was the fupernatural put into color and form ; for certainly no one, who received the fuggeftion of thofe features, the fenfe of thofe meek, fubduing eyes, could doubt any longer, if he had ever once doubted, of there being a God, a heaven, and, both before and beyond the fepul- chre, an immortal life. No one who caught the fupernal expreflion of the whole countenance, could believe it was made of matter, born of mortality, had its firB: beginning in the cradle, or could be laid away in the grave, but rather was of a quite datelefs and everlafting tenure. I would be free even to declare, that, in the light which played between thofe lips and lids, was Chriftianity itfelf, — Chriftianity in miniature, for the fmallnefs of the fpace, I might incline to ex- prefs it, but that I fhould query in what larger prefent- t MADONNA D I SAN SISTO. 101 ment I had ever beheld Christianity fo great. Mont Blanc may fall out of the memory, and the Pafs of the Stelvis fade away; but the argument for religion, — argument I call it, — which was offered to my mind in the great Madonna of Raphael, cannot fade.”* We cannot more fitly clofe this fketch, than by the following invocation by Wordfworth: — “ Mother ! whofe virgin bofom was uncroft With the leaft (hade of thought to fin allied ! Woman! above all women glorified; Our tainted nature’s folitary boaft ; Purer than foam on central ocean toft ; Brighter than eaftern Ikies at day-break ftrewn With fancied rofes, than the unblemifhed moon Before her wane begins on heaven’s blue coaft, Thy Image falls to earth. Yet fome, I ween. Not unforgiven, the fuppliant knee might bend, As to a vifible Power, in which did blend All that was mixed and reconciled in thee, Of mother’s love with maiden purity. Of high with low, celeftial with terrene.” * Pi&ures of Europe. <£o tl)c ©emus of QUt. By Estelle Anna Lewis. HOU art a beam from God — the brighteft ray That heaven hath earthward fent to cheer the foul And animate it in its houfe of clay, With dreams of light, and life, and glory’s goal. Here, mutely worfhipping, I gaze on thee, Till nafcent haloes dawn around thy brow, And from the portals of eternity, The laurelled dead, returning, round thee bow. There, bent o’er Fornarina’s fainted face, Feeding his foul, eternal Raphael kneels, As if in its pale hues he Hill can trace Beauty, furpafling all that Heaven reveals ; Angelo — Titian — all the immortal great, Glide in, and at thy feet for infpiration wait. €I)C Marriage of Joscpl) att£> Mary. A LEGEND. 44 m HEN Mary was fourteen years old, the pried: Zacharius inquired of the Lord concerning her, what was right to be done j and an angel came to him and faid, ‘ Go forth and call together all the widowers among the people, and let each bring his rod (or wand) in his hand, and he to whom the Lord fhall fhow a ftgn, let him be the hus- band of Mary.’ And Zacharias did as the angel com- manded, and made proclamation accordingly. “ And Jofeph the carpenter, a righteous man, throwing down his axe, and taking his ftaff in his hand, ran out with the reft. When he appeared before the prieft, and prefented his rod, lo ! a dove iiTued out of it — a dove dazzling white as the fnow, — and after 104 THE MARRIAGE OF JOSEPH AND MARY. fettling on his head, flew towards heaven. Then the high priefl: faid to him, ‘ Thou art the perfon chofen to take the Virgin of the Lord, and to keep her for him.’ And Jofeph was at firft afraid, and drew back, but afterwards he took her home to his houfe, and faid to her, ‘ Behold, I have taken thee from the temple of the Lord, and now I leave thee in my houfe, for I muft go and follow my trade of building. I will re- turn to thee, and meanwhile the Lord be with thee and watch over thee.’ “ So Jofeph left her, and Mary remained in her houfe.” • J " M ' VI . 1 - MIHptHHHHBHMHMHMMfll jp 1 KK -SI — ,i ^ ■ 'SiSlAWr^ • & t ;3 f i -‘•T :(• '£ 1 1 A ?| L * #FV. vi, -x K •’ ,