New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-12-18

until our own time that Plus In, IN 1904, WIN
an excess of religious scruple," says Mr. Muhtz,
:" had this work removed from the cathedral
itself on the ground that it was OF pagan character
20 the Academy of Fine Arts" 1t has since been
brought back somewhat to its original place,
and now stands in the small museum that has been
formed In the chapterhOuse OF the cathedrh'
| Raphael was so much attracted 10 this me group
that he made a drawing of it with all the skill nc
| had at the time, which is now in the Academy oI
Fine Arts at Venice and later on be reproducedl''
with variations in the lovely little picture OF lhe
Three Graces now in the possession OF Lord Duuicy'
Putting aside, however these questions Oh detai "
is evident that in Urbino influences OF the most t.
| fning sort were brought TO bear upon the young
| Raphael and that nowhere else III Italy al InaI
time could he have found a. spot so suited TO tle
| kindly nurture of his peculiar genius. lie always
loved the place and again and again returned TO IL
| as TO refuge from the noisy world without
DIXIE FEDERICO had been dead only six months
| when Raphael was born. but all the TRADITIONS OF
his ilustrlous reign continued through that OF
his equally noble but less fortunate son Guido
| baldo and during the sixteen years that Raphael
| remained at Urbino. before launching out INTO
active life in Perugia, nothing disturbed inc
serenity of the life in the little city perched on us
! eyrie among the Apennines, and sparkling rom
| distance like grain of salt" Here Raphael was
=
ON the 9th of April according to others-a dispute
| that can never be settled, because either state
ment is true according the reckoning is mace
| from Vosari's declaration as to the day OF
his birth or from the declaration OF the
| eDitaph as to the day of his death. MI
| Muntz decides for the earlier date, March -,
being content to folow the very clear statement o!
Vasari. who says that Raphael was born in l4s3
on Good Friday at 9 O'Clock in the night that Is
saws Mr. Munz, according to our reckoning, al
quarter to 10 in the evening; and VaSarI ADDS that
che died on the same day that he was born, name
lv Good Friday. at the age Of thirty-seyen.'
Against this is set the assertion of the epitaph
given by Vasari and said to have been written by
Cardinal Bembo in which we are told that Raphael
lived exactly thirty-seven years, 'aud ceased to be-
| an the very dav on which he was born, the eighth
day before the Ides of April, 1920 Now, the eighth
day before the Ides of April was the 9Th OF the
month and was Good Friday, so that it Will be seen
the authorities for this very unlmportant point are
decidedly at war Probably Mr. Muntz IS right
when he says "At this period, when astrology and
the horoscopes of individuals were thought 50 much
Of people paid good deal more attention to any
| remarkable event which occurred at the time OF a
birth than TO the actual date SO that what struck
| contemporary writer's the most was that Raphael
| was born and died n Good Friday"
| The first direction was given to Raphaels talent
nv his father and though Giovanni SAINT died when
his son was only eleven years old, there can he no
doubt that the early work Of Raphael Is continued
expression in the direction of the feeling with
which his fathers work is infused and the choice OF
Perugino as a master for the boy made by ms rea-
tives after his fathers death did not chlngc the dI
| rection already given. Perugino wOr%ed always III
the spirit of the Umbran traditions, and for long
| time we trace in the current of Raphaeis art the
4 H. do
lucid beauty of the influences That shaped MS carry
| life.
Mr.. Muntz agrees with Mr.. Perkins in accepting
| Sprnper's discovery that Raphael must have
| relcbed his sixteenth year when he entered
Pcruginos studio at Perugia, an event which Spring
or nIaces about the wear 1900 instead of 1875, the
! hitherto accented date Mr. Muntz gives us an in
teresting account OF Pcrugia describing the PIE
turesque city with a few vivid touches and giving
us more than a glimpse Of the intellectual and social
condition of the inhabitants and OF the resources for
culture that awaited the young artist an hi arrival
amid these new scenes. The contrast between the
two cities Urbno and PerngIa, was out of all pro-
portion to their size and if it will not excite smile,
we will say that the difference between them
was much of the same kind, so far as
it affected Raphael. as would be found
to-day by a young artist coming from Boston to
| New York In Urbino were quiet order, and pop
ulaton elevated to n certain unity of cultivation,
the leading class gwen TO letters and philosophy
and life, on the whole. of pleasant, but rather
| hum-drnm-sort Perug,a was an active, busy city,
with no love Of letters though it had university of
! some reputation. rough burghcr population given
| TO trade, and with piety that did not prevent
them from induging on frequent occasions in the
bloodiest of street brawls As forgoyenment,t there
was none the population being ruled by " a few
mobiles who kept the town in a state of alarm by
| A., Io,r was here M
his love of books. his delight in philosophical dis
| cussions his devoted care for his people,
| Perugia had her family of the Basonl, to
| whom cutting Threats was more conSenial
| enployment than founding libraries and the piety
and intellect of the people never asked for more in
art than could be given them by Vdnnucci, the
painter who is known Perugino from his having
| lived and worked so long at Perugia.'
Mr. Muntz does full justice TO Perugino and we do
| not know where t. look for better account Of a
man whose memory between the bigoted detrac-
ton of Vasari and the absurd overestlmate of Rus
kin has suffered to such an extent that it is difficult
! TO know him as he really was. His best recommen-
daton is that he loved and appreciated Raphael.
and the love he bestowed generously returned
As we have already remarked, the influence Of the
rmbrian school of which PeruginO was at the
| head can be clearly traced through the
whole series OF Raphacps work But more
than this it is evident that the pecull ar personal
ty shown in Peruginos pictures is reflected in all of
| Raphaels early work, and in much of what he did
| at all times. His manner is more than Umbrian, it
is Perugnesque. The influence of Leonardo and of
Micheangeo especially that of the latter was very
great upon Raphael, but that Of neither contn-
uous That of Perugno may be said with general
truth to have been constant one. Wherever we
find Raphael most himself, working most clearly
within the limits Of his genius, there we find
him truest to the early teachings of his master
But Raphael was saved from too great a depend
| ence and from servile copying by the presence IN
Perugia and in the studio Of Perugno Of many good