About 1515-16 Raphael delighted to paint the _Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione_ (No. 1505, Plate VIII.), who was his lifelong friend and adviser as well as the author of _Il Cortegiano_. This picture, which is eloquent testimony to Raphael’s skill as a portrait painter, was originally on wood, but it was long ago transferred to canvas, which has unfortunately abraded, the paint having peeled off the hands. After the death of Castiglione in Spain, this picture which he had taken with him passed into the possession of the Duke of Mantua, and thence into the collection of Charles I., where it seems to have been copied by Rubens. It subsequently became the property of a Dutch amateur named Van Asselen, and was copied by Rembrandt. Later, it was sold for 3500 florins to Don Alfonso Lopez, a collector at Amsterdam, and after figuring in the collection of Mazarin was acquired by Louis XIV. The _Holy Family of Francis I._ (No. 1498) was commissioned by Lorenzo de’ Medici and presented to the Queen of François I. by Pope Leo X. It was originally painted on wood, and was forwarded to Lyons on April 19, 1518. During the reign of Louis XIV. it hung in the _grand appartement_ at Versailles, and having been placed near a fireplace had to be relined. It then had wings, but they were destroyed at the time of the Revolution. Although it is very ostentatiously signed RAPHAEL VRBINAS PINGEBAT MDXVIII on the edge of the robe of the kneeling Madonna, there can be no question that it was only designed by Raphael, the execution being wholly or in great part carried out by the master’s best pupil, Giulio Romano. In the _Sistine Madonna_ and such works as Raphael painted at this period entirely with his own hand we see that his technique had become masterly and his powers of composition had developed to the utmost. Compared with _La Belle Jardinière_ of a decade earlier, a greater knowledge of craftsmanship has been accompanied by a loss of purity and simplicity. [Illustration: PLATE VII.—RAPHAEL (1483-1520) UMBRIAN SCHOOL No. 1496.—LA BELLE JARDINIÈRE (_La Vierge_ dite _La Belle Jardinière_) The Virgin is seated in a flowery meadow. She wears a red tunic edged with black, yellow sleeves and a blue mantle; a book is on her knees; her fair hair is confined under a transparent veil. She looks down to the left at the Infant Jesus, who leans tenderly against her knee and draws her attention to the little St. John the Baptist who kneels to the right, his reed cross in his right hand. The background shows a landscape containing a small town with its church, and a lake surrounded by mountains. Painted in oil on panel. The signature seems to be:—“VRB. RAPHAELLO MDVII.” 3 ft. 8 in. × 2 ft. 7½ in. (1·22 × 0·80.)]