Great Artists, Vol 1. | Page 7

the best known of the series. All are bold
and strong in drawing, and several are very beautiful, as "Paul and
John at the Beautiful Gate." One critic, in speaking of the cartoons,
says they mark the climax of Raphael's art.
We must not forget that all these years, while Raphael was making
these wonderful cartoons and pictures, the work on the rooms of the
Vatican was going steadily forward. He certainly was a busy man!
Probably the best known of Raphael's Madonnas is "The Madonna
della Sedia," so called because the mother sits in a chair. A delightful
story is told of the painting of this picture. It runs something like this:
Many years ago there lived in a quiet valley in Italy a hermit who was
greatly loved by all the people round about, for he taught them and he
helped them in sickness and in trouble. His hut was near a giant oak
tree that sheltered him from the sun of summer and the biting winds of
winter. In the constant waving of its branches, too, it seemed to
converse with him, and so he said he had two intimate friends, one that

could talk, and one that was mute. By the one that could talk he meant
the vine-dresser's daughter who lived near by and who was very kind to
him. By the mute one he meant this sheltering oak.
Now, one winter a great storm arose, and when the hermit saw that his
hut was unsafe, his mute friend seemed to beckon him to come up
among the branches. Gathering a few crusts, he went up into the tree
where, with hundreds of bird companions, his life was saved, though
his hut was destroyed. Just as he thought he should die of hunger, Mary,
the vine-dresser's daughter, came to see her old friend and took him to
her home. Then the pious hermit, Benardo, prayed that his two friends
might be glorified together in some way.
[Illustration: MADONNA DELLA SEDIA. Raphael.]
Time wore on. The hermit died, the oak tree was cut down and
converted into wine casks, and the lovely Mary married and was the
mother of two boys. One day as she sat with her children, a young man
passed by. His eyes were restless, and one might have known him for a
poet or a painter in whose mind a celestial vision was floating.
Suddenly he saw the young mother and her two children. The painter,
for it was Raphael, now beheld his vision made flesh and blood. But he
had only a pencil. On what could he draw the beautiful group? He
seized the clean cover of a wine cask near by and drew upon it the lines
to guide him in his painting. He went home and filled out his sketch in
loveliest color, and ever since the world has been his debtor for giving
it his heavenly vision. So the hermit's prayer was answered. His two
friends were glorified together.
Other honors, besides those coming from his paintings, were showered
upon Raphael at this time. He was now rich, and the Cardinal Bibbiena
offered him his niece Maria in marriage. It was considered a great thing
in those times to be allied by marriage to a church dignitary, but
Raphael had higher honors, and so, while he accepted the offer rather
than offend the cardinal, he put off the wedding until Maria died. His
heart was not in this contract because for years he had loved a humble
but beautiful girl, Margherita, who was probably the model of some of
his sweetest Madonnas.

Speaking of the honors thrust upon Raphael, we must not forget that
the Pope made him architect-in-chief of St. Peter's on the death of
Bramante. He was also appointed to make drawings of the ancient city
of Rome, in order that the digging for buried remains might be carried
on more intelligently.
In every Madonna we have described, we have had to use freely the
words lovely, great, beautiful, but one there remains which, more than
any other, merits all these titles and others in addition. It is the "Sistine
Madonna" in the Dresden Gallery. It was the last picture painted
wholly by Raphael's hand. It was painted originally as a banner for the
monks of St. Sixtus at Piacenza, but it was used as an altar-piece. In
1754, the Elector of Saxony bought it for $40,000 and it was brought to
Dresden with great pomp. People who know about pictures generally
agree that this is the greatest picture in the world.
[Illustration: ST. PAUL. Detail from St. Cecilia. Raphael.]
Let us see some of the things which it contains--no one can ever tell
you all, for as the years increase and your lives are enlarged by joy