Great Men and Famous Women, Vol. 8: A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History
History
Great Men and Famous Women, Vol. 8: A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History
Biography
When morning came it found Raphael calm and composed; the lines of
grief and thought were deeply marked on his youthful face; but the
whirlwind and the storm had passed. He took leave of his friends, and
hastened to Perugino, who received him with the fondness of a parent.
Here he remained some time, and at length collected sufficient
resolution to return to Urbino, and once more enter the mansion of his
desolated home.
It was necessary for him to reside at his native place for a number of
months. During that time he painted several fine pictures. His heart,
however, yearned for Florence, and he returned to it once more with
the determination of making it his home. With far different sensations
did he a second time enter the city of beauty. The freshness of his
gayety was blighted; lessons of earthly disappointment were ever
present to his mind, and he returned to it with the resolute purpose
of devoting himself to serious occupation.
How well he fulfilled this resolution all Italy can bear witness. From
this time he adopted what has been called his _second manner_. He
painted for the Duke of Urbino the beautiful picture of the Saviour at
sunrise, with the morning light cast over a face resplendent with
divinity; the flowers glittering with dew, the two disciples beyond,
still buried in slumber, at the time when the Saviour turns his eyes
upon them with that tender and sorrowful exclamation, "Could ye not
watch one hour?"
Raphael enriched the city of Florence with his works. When asked what
had suggested some of the beautiful combinations of his paintings, he
said, "They came to me in my sleep." At other times he called them
"visions;" and then again said they were the result of "una certa idea
che mi viene alla mente." It was this power of drawing from the deep
wells of his own mind that gave such character, originality, and
freshness to his works. He found that power _within_ which so many
seek, and seek in vain, _without_.
At the age of twenty-five Raphael was summoned by the pope to paint
the chambers of the Vatican. The famous frescos of the Vatican need
neither enumeration nor description; the world is their judge and
their eulogist.
No artist ever consecrated his works more by his affections than
Raphael. The same hallowed influence of the heart gave inexpressible
charm to Correggio's, afterward. One of Raphael's friends said to him,
in looking upon particular figures in his groups, "You have
transmitted to posterity your own likeness."
"See you nothing beyond that?" replied the artist.
"I see," said the critic, "the deep-blue eye, and the long, fair hair
parted on the forehead."
"Observe," said Raphael, "the feminine softness of expression, the
beautiful harmony of thought and feeling. When I take my pencil for
high and noble purposes, the spirit of my mother hovers over me. It is
her countenance, not my own, of which you trace the resemblance."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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