Great Artists, Vol 1. | Page 2

take up new things than the people in the coast cities where men live
by the exchange of goods and, incidentally, of customs. The inhabitants
led simple, religious lives. We must remember, too, that hardly fifty
miles away was the village of Assisi, where Saint Francis, the purest of
men, had lived and labored and where, after his death, a double church
had been built to his memory.
To this day there is a spirit of reverence that inspires the visitor to this
region. No wonder that, in Raphael's time when this spirit was fresh
and strong, it gave a character of piety and sweetness to the works of all
the painters of Umbria. From these two causes, the secluded position of
the region and the influence of Saint Francis, arose what is called the
Umbrian school of painting. All painters belonging to this school made
pictures very beautiful and full of fine religious feeling.
One April morning in 1483, to the home of Giovanni Santi, the painter,
and his wife Magia, a dear little boy came, as millions of boys and girls
have since come, to cheer and to bless. The father and mother were
very proud of their little son, and feeling perhaps that a more than
ordinary child had been given them, they gave him the name of
Raphael, as one of good omen.
If we were to visit, in Urbino, the house where Raphael was born, we
would be shown a faded fresco of a Madonna and Child painted by
Giovanni and said to be Magia and the child Raphael.
From the earliest years the child was carefully tended. When he was
only eight, the fond mother died and left the father to care for his boy
alone. In due time a step-mother was brought home. She was a kind

woman and loved and cared for the beautiful lad as if he were really her
own child. Later when the father died, leaving the boy Raphael and his
little half-sister, no one could have been more solicitous for the boy's
rights than his step-mother. She and his uncle together managed his
affairs most wisely.
We have no record that, like Titian, the boy Raphael used the juice of
flowers with which to paint pictures of his childish fancies, but we do
know that very early he became greatly interested in his father's studio
and went in regularly to assist. Now, it must be remembered that, at this
time, when a boy, wishing to learn to paint, went to the studio of a
master he did not at once begin to use colors, brushes, and canvas.
Instead, he usually served a long apprenticeship, sweeping out the
studio, cleaning the brushes, grinding colors, and performing other
common duties. Raphael's assistance to his father must have been
largely of this humble sort. We can imagine, however, that his fond
father did not make his hours long, and that there were pleasant
ramblings in the woods nearby, and that many a bunch of flowers was
gathered for the mother at home. There were happy hours, too, when
the father and his son read together great books of poetry in which tales
of love and knightly encounters were interesting parts. And then, I am
sure, there were other happy hours when, tuning their instruments
together, they filled the time with music's sweetest discourse.
[Illustration: RAPHAEL.]
This was indeed a happy childhood, a fit beginning for an ideal life.
Meanwhile the boy grew strong, and his beauty, too, increased. The
dark hair lay lightly upon his shoulders, and a certain dreaminess in his
eyes deepened,--he was about to feel a great sorrow, for the father, so
devoted, so exemplary, died when his boy was but eleven years old. We
cannot help wishing that he might have lived to see at least one great
picture painted by his son. We can easily imagine his smile of joy "at
the first stroke that surpassed what he could do."
Just what to do with the boy on the death of his father was an important
matter for the step-mother and uncle to decide. They showed wisdom
by their decision. Now, the greatest of all the Umbrian painters, before

Raphael, was a queer little miserly man named Perugino, who at that
time had a studio in Perugia, an Umbrian town not far distant from
Urbino. Although he was of mean appearance and ignoble character, he
had an unmistakable power in painting mild-eyed Madonnas and
spotless saints against delicate landscape back-grounds. People disliked
the man, but they could not help seeing the beauty of his art, and so his
studio was crowded. Hither was sent the boy Raphael and when
Perugino noted the lad and some of his work, he said, "Let him be my
pupil: he will soon