THE ROMAN SCHOOL.

ANCIENT Rome, rich with the works brought from Greece, or finished in its own bosom/by Grecian artists, handed down in its ruins the remains of that glory to which it had been elevated. It was by the study of these remains that the modern artists were formed: they derived from them the knowledge of design, the beauty of exquisite form, greatness of style, and justness of expression, carried to that length only which did not affect the beauty of the figure. From them also they derived the principles of the art of drapery; and they followed these principles even while they made the drapery of modern paintings more large and flowing than what was practised by the ancient sculptors. The Roman school was altogether devoted to the principal parts of the art-to those which require genius and vast conceptions; and was no farther occupied with colours than what was necessary to establish a difference between painting and sculpture, or rather between painting varied with colours and in chiaro-scuro. At the head of this school is placed

RAFFAELLE, OR RAPHAEL, SANZIO DA URBINO

(The third and last of the great triumvirate.)

He was born at Urbino in 1483, and died in 1520, aged 37. He was the son of Giovanni Sanzio, a painter of no extraordinary eminence, who, observing the early inclination of his son to the art of painting, instructed him in the rudiments of it while he was extremely young; and Raffaelle showed such a wonderful capacity and genius, that in a few years he was enabled to assist his father in some of those works in which he was employed at Urbino. But Giovanni, desirous to give his son the best opportunity of improving his talents, placed him as a disciple under Pietro Perugino, who was then in his highest reputation. The genius of Raffaelle soon displayed itself under that artist, and in a short time he imitated the style of his master in so exact a manner, that the work of the one could hardly be distinguished from that of the other; and, as a proof of this, a picture of the Crucifixion is cited, which by all the ablest judges and artists would have been accounted the performance of Perugino, if it had not been inscribed with the name of Raffaelle. However, he soon perceived

that by adhering to the manner of his master he should never attain that perfection to which he aspired; and therefore he devoted himself to the study of the antiques, and made himself thoroughly acquainted with all their beauties, in order to diffuse them through his own compositions. The more he studied them, the more he was enamoured of their excellencies; and not content with the persual of those wonderful sculptures of the ancient artists to which he had access, he employed at his own expense several good painters to design every object that was curious at Puteoli, Baiæ, and the different cities of Greece, either in statuary or architecture, of which he made a charming and judicious use in his subsequent compositions. As the works of Leonardo da Vinci and Michel Angelo, at Florence, were at that time universally admired, he went thither, and having obtained the style of each of those famous painters with the utmost accuracy, he saw sufficient merit in both to improve his own taste and design, and altered that manner which he had acquired in the school of Perugino. He also considerably advanced his knowledge of colouring, by observing the manner of Masaccio at Florence; and gained additional skill in perspective, as well as in the management of an union of colours, by his intimacy with Bartolomeo Baccio. Every accomplishment and qualification necessary to form an illustrious painter was combined in Raffaelle, a sublimity of thought, a fruitful invention, remarkable correctness in drawing and design, and a wonderful disposition and expression. His attitudes are noble, natural, and graceful, and contrasted without the smallest appearance of affection or constraint, and to the elegance and grandeur of the antique he added the simplicity of nature; for, though he admired the antique statues as highly as he ought, yet he studied nature with equal assiduity; from which combined attention to both resulted that amazing variety and elegance in the forms, actions, and attitudes of his figures, and those delicate and graceful airs of the heads, which distinguish his compositions from all others, and in which he surpassed the greatest masters who have flourished since the revival of the art of painting. It has been objected to Raffaelle that, by too nice a regard to the purity and correctness of his outline, his outline often became hard; but what

ever small imperfections may be imputed to that inimitable artist, he is allowed to have diffused more grace through all his works—— more truth, nature, and sublimity, than any painter that has yet appeared. Correggio alone could enter even into a competition with him for grace; but he was unequal to Raffaelle in every other branch of his art. At different periods of his life Raffaelle had very different manners. His first was derived from the school of Perugino, which he retained for a long time; and it is the opinion of some writers, that he never entirely abandoned it. But as soon as he had contemplated the cartoons of Michel Angelo, and Leonardo da Vinci, he, in a great measure, divested himself of the dryness of his first master, and, blending the boldness of Michel Angelo with his own graceful ideas, he formed a style of design more perfect than his model; and at last struck out a manner peculiar to himself, and superior to all others, full of grace, dignity, ease, and elegance, which he retained as long as he lived. Every new composition added to his fame, and his latest work of the Transfiguration is accounted his best. He excelled in portrait as well as in history, and by his pencil immortalised Pope Julius II. and Leo. X. with many of the cardinals of his time, representing them with such life and nature, such dignity of character, and such expression, as surpasses the power of description. He finished his pictures, especially his easel pictures, exquisitely, and took all possible care to give them the utmost perfection; and yet it is said he was expeditious in his manner of working. From the time he shook off the dry taste of Perugino, his draperies were cast in a most noble style, disposed with an excellent mixture of simplicity and grandeur, and always so placed, that the finer parts of the naked, particularly about the joints, were discernible in every figure. It is remarkable, that the most capital fresco paintings of Raffaelle, in the Vatican, do not strike one with the surprise which undoubtedly is expected from the fame of that illustrious master; and a story is related, that a person of acknowledged taste and judgment, who also was an idoliser of Raffaelle, visited the Vatican, with an eager desire to study his works, passed by those very compositions with indifference which were the objects of his inquiry and curiosity,

till he was recalled by his conductor, who told him he had overlooked what he sought for. That effect is supposed by De Piles to be occasioned by the want of strength of colouring proper for each object, that colouring not being sufficiently supported by a powerful chiaro-scuro. But another fine writer accounts for it in a different manner. He observes, that the works of Raffaelle strike little at first sight, because he imitates nature so well, that the spectator is no more surprised than when he sees the object itself, which would excite no surprise at all; but that an uncommon expression, strong colouring, or odd and singular attitudes of an inferior painter strikes us at first sight, because we have not been accustomed to see them elsewhere. And to illustrate this point, he compares Raffaelle to Virgil, sublime, easy, natural, and majestic; and the Venetian painters, with their constrained attitudes, he compares to Lucan. Virgil, more natural, strikes us at first less, to strike us afterwards more sensibly; Lucan strikes immediately, but strikes us abundantly less after; and certainly there cannot be a stronger test of the excellency of any performance, either in painting or poetry, than to find the surprise we at first feel to be not very powerful, and yet to find, by more frequently conversing with it, that it not only supports itself, but increases in our esteem, and at last leads us to admiration.

The prodigious number of works in which Raffaelle was engaged loaded him with riches and honour, and constrained him to procure young artists to assist him in the execution of his designs; and by that means many eminent painters were formed under his direction. But he was so particularly careful, that he corrected with his own hand whatever he found imperfectly executed by his disciples, and gave those finishing touches to the whole which have rendered those works the admiration of the world. Though, in several of his paintings, the colouring may not seem to equal the perfection of the other parts, yet most of his portraits, and many of his easel pictures, for their high finishing, and exquisite colouring, are not surpassed by the pencil of the greatest painter, not even by Titian. His portraits of Pope Julius, Leo X., and Alexander Farnese, who was afterwards Paul III., as also the St. Michael, and the Holy Family, which

are in the royal collection in France, and the St. John in the Desert, are incontestible evidences. To enumerate the various and extensive works of this astonishing genius would require a volume; and to describe them justly, in proportion to their merit, would demand an understanding as large as his own. But as they are now universally known to all the lovers of the art, by the multitude of prints published after his designs; and as the works of Raffaelle have been examined by the curious of all nations, who have travelled through the different parts of Europe, a particular description or recital seems to be less necessary; though we cannot omit the mentioning of a few.

In the royal collection of King George the Third are those celebrated cartoons, which have been for so many years the glory of England, and the envy of all other polite nations. And his Majesty, who was so eminently distinguished as an encourager of the fine arts, must merit the applause of posterity, as well as o. the present age, for expressing such a judicious attention to those precious treasures, as to order them to be removed from Hampton Court, where they were evidently in danger of perishing, to place them under his own royal care and inspection. In France are the pictures of St. Margaret and St. George; the latter of which (according to Sandrart), was formerly in the possession of King Charles I.; as also the remarkable and lovely pictures of St. John in the Desert, and that Holy Family mentioned by Sandrart, in which an Angel is represented shedding flowers round the Virgin. In the treasury of Loretto is one of Raffaelle's pictures, amazingly fine, representing the Virgin with Christ on her lap; which cannot be looked on without feeling a veneration and awe, as well as admiration; the grandeur of the object excluding all idea of the painter, for it appears more of a reality. than a picture. There appears in the face of the Virgin somewhat that looks more than mortal; and the Infant, though in the innocent posture of throwing up the legs and arms, though all the air of infancy is in the face, has yet something that is divine in every part. The look is sweeter than that of a human face, and yet, with all the grace that is diffused through it, there is an air