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 — John Shaqi
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
This expression is always observable in his Madonnas. His portraits of
the _Fornarina_ are widely different. Raphael, in his last and most
excellent style, united what was graceful and exquisite in Leonardo
with the sublime and noble manner of Michael Angelo. It is the
privilege and glory of genius to appropriate to itself whatever is
noble and true. The region of thought is thus made a common ground for
all, and one master mind becomes a reservoir for the present and
future times.
When Raphael was invited to Rome by Pope Julius II., Michael Angelo
was at the height of his glory; his character tended to inspire awe
rather than affection; he delighted in the majestic and the terrible.
In boldness of conception and grandeur of design, he surpassed
Leonardo, but never could reach the sweetness and gentleness of his
figures. Even his children lose something of their infantine beauty,
and look mature; his women are commanding and lofty; his men of
gigantic proportions. His painting, like his sculpture, is remarkable
for anatomical exactness, and perfect expression of the muscles. For
this union of magnificence and sublimity, it was necessary to prepare
the mind; the first view was almost harsh, and it was by degrees that
his mighty works produced their designed effect. Raphael, while he
felt all the greatness of the Florentine, conceived that there might
be something more like nature--something that should be harmonious,
sweet, and flowing--that should convey the idea of intellectual rather
than of external majesty. Without yielding any of the correctness of
science, he avoided harshness, and imitated antiquity in uniting grace
and elegance with a strict observation of science and of the rules of
art.
It was with surprise that Michael Angelo beheld in the youthful
Raphael a rival artist; nor did he receive this truth meekly; he
treated him with coldness and distance. In the meantime Raphael went
on with his works; he completed the frescos of the Vatican, and
designed the cartoons. He also produced those exquisite paintings in
oil which seem the perfection of human art.
[Illustration: Leo X. at Raphael's Bier.]
Human affection is necessary to awaken the sympathy of human beings;
and Raphael, in learning how to portray it, had found the way to the
heart. In mere grandeur of invention he was surpassed by Michael
Angelo. Titian excelled him in coloring, and Correggio in the
beautiful gradation of tone; but Raphael knew how to paint the soul;
in this he stood alone. This was the great secret of a power which
seemed to operate like magic. In his paintings there is something
which makes music on the chords of every heart; for they are the
expression of a mind attuned to nature, and find answering sympathies
in the universal soul.
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