Great Artists, Vol 1. | Page 5

and present. In these rooms some
of his best work is done. Every year thousands of people go to see these
pictures and come away more than ever enraptured with Raphael and
his work.
In the loggia are the paintings known collectively as Raphael's Bible.
Of the fifty-two pictures in the thirteen arcades of this corridor all but
four represent Old Testament scenes. The others are taken from the
New Testament. Although Raphael's pupils assisted largely in these
frescoes they are very beautiful and will always rank high among the
art works of the time.
Raphael's works seem almost perfect even from the beginning, yet he
was always studying to get the great points in the work of others and to
perfect his own. Perhaps this is the best lesson we may learn from his
intellectual life--the lesson of unending study and assimilation. He was
greatly interested in the ruins of Rome and we know that he studied
them deeply and carefully. This is very evident in the Madonnas of his
Roman period. They have a strength and a power to make one think
great thoughts that is not so marked in the pictures of his Florentine
period.
[Illustration: THE ARCHANGEL. Detail from Madonna of the Fish.
Raphael.]
The "Madonna of the Fish" is one of the most beautiful of this time. It
was painted originally for a chapel in Naples where the blind prayed for
sight, and where, legend relates, they were often miraculously
answered. The divine Mother, a little older than Raphael's virgins of
earlier years, is seated on a throne with the ever beautiful child in her

arms. The babe gives his attention to the surpassingly lovely angel,
Raphael, who brings the young Tobias with his fish into the presence of
the Virgin, of whom he would beg the healing of his father who is blind.
On the other side he points to a passage in the book held by the
venerable St. Jerome. This is doubtless the book of Tobit wherein the
story of Tobias is related, and which Tobias translated. Whatever the
real purpose of the artist was in introducing St. Jerome, a very beautiful
result was attained in contrasting youth and age. Like a human being of
note, this picture has had an eventful history. It was stolen from Naples
and carried to Madrid and then, in the French wars, it was taken to
Paris. It has since been restored to the Prado of Madrid, and there
to-day we may feast our eyes on its almost unearthly loveliness. In it
the divine painter showed that he knew the heart of a mother and the
love of a son; that he appreciated the majesty of age and the heavenly
beauty of the angels.
Hardly less beautiful is the "Madonna Foligno," so named from the
distant view of the town of Foligno seen under a rainbow in the central
part of the picture. In the upper portion, surrounded by angel heads, is
the Madonna holding out her child to us. Below is the scene already
referred to, the portrait of the donor of the picture, some saints, and a
beautiful boy angel. The latter is holding a tablet which is to be
inscribed, for this is one of that large class of pictures in Italian Art
called votive--that is, given to the church by an individual in return for
some great deliverance. In this case the donor had escaped, as by a
miracle, from a stroke of lightning.
In this short sketch there is time to mention only a few of Raphael's
great pictures, but I trust you will be so interested that you will look up
about others that are passed over here. There are many very interesting
books about Raphael in which you can find descriptions of all of his
pictures.
Among other paintings, Raphael made many fine portraits. An
excellent likeness of Julius was so well done that, skillfully placed and
lighted, it deceived some of the Pope's friends into thinking it the living
Julius.

The painting of portraits was not the only departure of our artist from
his favorite Madonna or historic subjects. We find him also interested
in mythology. Out of this interest grew his "Galatea," which he painted
for a wealthy nobleman of his acquaintance. In this picture Galatea
sails over the sea in her shell-boat drawn by dolphins. She gazes into
heaven and seems unconscious of the nymphs sporting about her.
[Illustration: GALATEA. Raphael.]
Speaking of Raphael's use of mythological subjects, though not quite in
the order of time, we may here mention his frescos illustrating the story
of Cupid and Psyche, painted on the walls and ceiling of the same
nobleman's palace, the Chigi palace. The drawings for these pictures
were made by Raphael, but most of the painting was