unjust to Raphael, but to Leonardo da Vinci and Fra Bartolomeo also. Even if it may be said that Raphael had the opportunity of acquiring a new view of art from the cartoon of Pisa, the same may be said with regard to the cartoon of Leonardo da Vinci, who certainly did not take his style from Michelangelo. Other artists also besides Raphael had the same opportunities, and they appear to have made a very different use of them.

Whatever benefit, however, Raphael derived from the Cartoon of Pisa, must have been shown in the works which he executed immediately afterwards, as the famous "Entombment," in the Borghese Gallery. His aggrandizement of manner in the Stanza della Segnatura, more particularly in the School of Athens, in which the characteristics of his third style are at least essentially, if not completely developed, proceeded most certainly from some other causes than the mere acquaintance with this Cartoon of Pisa; from his own additional experience, and also from the study of the excellent works of ancient sculpture, the best of which were then already displayed at Rome, and to which, in common with Michelangelo, he was doubtless much indebted.

The first frescoes executed in the Stanza della Segnatura appear to have been the eight pictures of the ceiling, representing personifications and illustrations of the subjects painted on the walls beneath. The personifications are Theology, Poetry, Philosophy, and Justice. The Fall of Man is given as the illustration of Theology; the defeat of Marsyas, as that of Poetry; a female figure contemplating the globe with some allegorical accessories is the illustration of Philosophy; and the Judgment of Solomon illustrates Justice. They are all painted on gold grounds, and are in Raphael's second manner. The first executed of the great wall pictures, which are semicircular at the top, in consequence of the vaulted ceiling, was the THEOLOGY, or, as it is sometimes erroneously called, the Dispute on the Sacrament. It measures about fifteen feet in height by twenty-five in width, being of the same size as the other larger frescoes of the three rooms which were painted during Raphael's lifetime. This great picture is in two principal parts: the lower portion represents a council or assembly of the dignitaries of the church on earth; and above in the clouds

heavenly synod of saints and angels with the three persons of the Trinity, according to the Roman church, in the centre. God the Father is represented above with his right hand in the attitude of benediction, and holding in his left the world; Christ is immediately beneath, bearing the marks of his passion, and surrounded by a glory of angels; below him the Holy Ghost appears in the form of a dove. This picture also is in Raphael's second manner, but it contains some of the finest and most expressive heads in

modern art, and many of the draperies are cast with much grandeur of effect; the drawing also in the majority of the figures is unobjectionable: the composition is formal and strictly symmetrical, and contains many conventionalisms of the previous age of art.

The second great work of this chamber was the POETRY, which is an assembly of the great Greek, Roman, and Italian poets of all ages up to that time, on Mount Parnassus, with Apollo and the Muses in the centre. This picture is also symmetrically arranged, but the individual figures are treated with more freedom than those of the Theology; and Raphael has in all possible cases adhered to the portraits, traditional or authentic, of the respective poets.'

The third great work of this chamber was the PHILOSOPHY, or the School of Athens; it is on the wall opposite the picture of Theology. The background of this picture, which is a rich architectural scene, is supposed to be from a design by Bramante.

The disposition of the numerous groups is also in this piece symmetrical in the general composition of the masses; but in the arrangement of the individual figures, Raphael has left the conventionalities and formalities of his contemporaries completely behind him, and in his proportions and the style of design he has displayed a perfect familiarity with the works of ancient art. There is no obvious cause, beyond Raphael's enlarged experience and the example of the works of ancient art, to account for his aggrandizement of style in this great work. The two principal figures in the centre of the composition are Plato and Aristotle, supposed to be disputing on the merits of their respective systems. Plato, a majestic and venerable figure, is represented with his arm raised and pointing upwards, an attitude significative of his own spiritual doctrine Aristotle, on the other hand, in the vigour of age, is pointing to the earth, thereby implying that all true philosophy must be derived from investigation and experience.

The fourth wall in this apartment is devoted to the representation of JURISPRUDENCE, which is illustrated (on account of the window which occupies the middle of the wall) in three distinct compositions. In the centre above are three female figures, personifications of Prudence, Fortitude, and Temperance. At the sides are two representations of Ecclesiastical and Civil Law-Gregory XI. delivering the Decretals to a consistorial advocate, and the Emperor Justinian delivering the Pandects to Tribonianus. The figures of these compositions are eminently natural and powerful representations.*

While Raphael was engaged on the frescoes of the second

1 Apollo is in this picture represented, with doubtless questionable propriety, playing the fiddle, and this instrument is said to have been chosen out of compli ment to Giacomo Sansecondo, a very distinguished violinist of that day. 2 See the prints of these frescoes by Volpato.

chamber painted by him, the Stanza dell' Eliodoro, the Sistine Chapel, with the wonderful creations of Michelangelo, was thrown open to the public gaze and admiration; and as it is one of the objects of this chapter to give a chronological view of the respective labours of these two great masters in the Vatican, the frescoes of the chapel may be here briefly described before proceeding with the account of the remaining works of Raphael.

The Cappella Sistina forms part of the same pile of building which contains the Stanze of Raphael, and was built by Baccio Pintelli, for Sixtus IV., in 1473, whence its name of Sistine. It is of an oblong shape, and is covered by a vaulted roof; it measures about 133 feet in length, 43 in width, and is 58 feet high.1 The Sistine Chapel is reserved for the especial use of the Popes: the church ceremonies of the first Sunday in Advent and of the Holy Week are performed in it. The scrutiny also of the votes for the Popedom takes place in this chapel, when the Conclave is held in the Vatican. The Popes, however, now reside the greater part of their time in the Palazzo Quirinale on Monte Cavallo.

It is not known when Michelangelo commenced his cartoons for the ceiling of this chapel; but if the work is to be dated from the contract, the time is definitely fixed; for the Buonarrotti family at Florence is in possession of an autograph document by Michelangelo, dated May 10, 1508, in which he acknowledges the receipt of five hundred ducats earnest money3 from Julius II., and undertakes to commence the work from that day. Michelangelo had then only shortly returned to Rome: from this date, therefore, every preliminary labour had to be gone through,-the erection of scaffoldings, the destruction of the old decorations, the preparation of the vault for the frescoes, and, lastly, the preparation of the cartoons, to enable his Florentine assistants to carry out the actual frescoes, for whom he sent, after the completion of the cartoons. Among these assistants were Francesco Granacci, Giuliano Bugiardini, Jacopo di Sandro (Botticelli), Jacopo L' Indaco, Angelo di Donnino, and Aristotile di San Gallo; all practical fresco-painters. The work, however, performed by these painters was so dissatisfactory to Michelangelo that he destroyed the whole of it, and sent them back to Florence.

To whatever time the above preliminary operations required, we

1 There are a ground-plan and sections of this Chapel, in the Appendix No. 14 to the Third Report of the Commisioners on the Fine Arts.

2 Published by Gualandi, "Memorie di Belle Arti," ii. 176; in the "Kunstblatt," Dec. 31, 1844; and in Vasari, Ed. Le Monnier, vol. xii. p. 349, 1856.

3 The entire contract, says Vasari, was for 15,000 ducats; so enormous and unprecedented a sum for that time that one cannot help suspecting an error for 1500. "Vite," Ed. Le Monnier, vol. xii. p. 189. See Note p. 210.