assisted by Sanzio, whence an abundance of copies of the designs and the works of this master have been given to the world. A fine taste was thus rapidly propagated throughout Europe, and the beautiful style of Raffaello began to be justly appreciated. In a short time it became the prevailing taste, and if his maxims had remained unaltered, Italian painting would probably have flourished for as long a period as Greek sculpture. In the midst of such a variety of occupations, Raffaello did not fail to gratify the wishes of many private individuals, who were desirous of having his designs for buildings, in which branch of art he was highly celebrated, and also of possessing his pictures. I need only to refer to the gallery of Agostini Chigi, which he ornamented with his own hand, with the well known fable of Galatea. He afterwards, with the assistance of his pupils, painted the Marriage of Psyche, at the banquet of which he assembled all the heathen deities, with such propriety of form, with their attendant symbols and genii, that in these fabulous subjects he almost rivalled the Greeks. These pictures, and those also of the chambers of the Vatican, were retouched by Maratta, with incredible care; and the method he adopted, as described by Bellori, may serve as a guide in similar cases. Raffaello also painted many altarpieces, with saints generally introduced; as that Delle Contesse at Foligno, where he introduced the Chamberlain of the Pope, alive, rather than drawn from the life: that for S. Giovanni in Monte, at Bologna, of S. Cecilia, who, charmed to rapture by a celestial melody, forgets her musical instrument, which falls neglected from her hands; that for Palermo, of Christ ascending Mount Calvary, called _dello Spasimo_, which, however much disparaged by Cumberland, for having been retouched, is a noble ornament of the royal collection at Madrid; and the others at Naples and at Piacenza, which are mentioned by his biographers. He also painted S. Michael for the King of France, and many other holy families[46] and devotional subjects, which neither Vasari nor his other biographers have fully enumerated.