The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-05-10
The PRINCE OF PAINTERS.
THE GENIUS or RAPHAEL ADoRN-
Ed MANY CATHOLIC CHURCHES
WITH MASTERPIECES or ART.

@g WP%NB GfNt FTGGt@ GFt QFn@ETES
WITH MASTERPIECES OF ART.
Raffaelle Sanzio, the great painter,
who gave so many Of the creations of
his genius to the adornment of Cath
Ollie temples of worship, was born of a
family of artists, and first saw the day,
as his eyes closed to earth, on a Good
Friday, having been horn at the ducaI
city of Urbino, April 6, 1888, and died
at Rome, April 6, 1870, each of those
days falling on that sacred to Our
Savior's death. Among the various in
iuences which formed and fostered his
early love for art was the ducal palace
of Urhino, even now one of the most
magnificent palaces in Italy, which is
lavishly adorned with works of art of
every class -frescoes, panel pictures,
tapestries and sculpture, works execu-
ted by the chief Italian artists of the
fifteenth century, were familiar to
Raphael from his earliest years.
Though Raphael lost his father at
the early age of eleven years, yet to
him he certainly owed great part of
that early training which enabled him
to produce paintings of apparently ma
ture beauty when he was scarcely
twenty years of age. From his father,
too, Raphael learned much of the relig-
ious sentiment and grace of motive
which are specially conspicuous in his
earlier paintings. The altar piece
painted by Giovanni Sanzio for the
church of Gradara, and a fresco now
preserved in the Sanzio house at Ur-
bino, are clearly prototypes of some
of Raphael's most graceful paintings
of the Madonna and Child. Shortly
after leaving the study of Perugino he
produced the Marriage of the Vir-
gin" Agony in the Garden" and sew
eral others, all executed in what is
known as his first, or Peruginesque
manner.
In 1904 Raphael visited Florence,
and there saw the compositions of
Michael Angelo and Da Vinci, and to
their influence may be attributed the
new era which thenceforth commences
in Raphaeps development. After his
return from Florence, where he had
been kindly received, and, in spite of
his youth (being barely of age), was
welcomed as an equal by the majority
of those great artists who at that time
had raised Florence to a pitch of arts
tic celebrity far above all other cities
of the world, he visited Urbino, and
executed several paintings, principal
among which is his "Crucifixion." This
painting is a panel eight feet six
inches high by five feet five inches
wide, and contains noble figures of the
Virgin, st. John, ST. Jerome, and st.
Mary Magdalene.
In the latter part of 1904 Raphael
returned to Florence and remained for
four years, drinking in stores of arts
tic knowledge from Angelo and Sig.
norelli. He was taught the import
ance of precision of line and the neces.
sity of thorough knowledge of the
human form; from Da Vinci he learned
subtleties of modelling and soft beauty
of expression; from his uncle, priest
named Bartolomeo, nobility of com
position and skilful treatment of drap-
cry in dignified folds, and from Baccio
d'Agnoto much that was useful in his
practice as an architect. The transit
ton in Raphael's style from his first
or Perugian to his second or Floren.
tine manner is well shown in the large
picture of the Coronation of the Vir-
gin," now in the Vatican, one of the
most beautiful that he ever produced,
and especially remarkable for it's
strong religious sentiment.
The exquisite grace of the angel
musicians and the beauty of the faces
show signs of his visit to Florence,
while the general formality of the
composition, and certain details, such
as the fluttering ribbons of the angels,
recall peculiarities of Perugino. From
1904 to 1903 he painted about thirty
pictures. Pre-eminent among them
were those testifying his devotion for
the Virgin, to whom in after life he
dedicated a chapel in Rome. "The
mere collection of all the Virgins
painted, or even designed, by Raphael
(says an eminent critic), and the de-
tail of the variations which he intro
duced into his compositions, would
form an abridged history of his
genius" "The Madonna del Gran
Duca" (1506) represents the highest
perfection of which Perugino's type
was capable
Immediately succeeding this in date
were the Madonna of the Palm Tree"
and "The Ausideri Madonna" (1506),
which in 1884 was bought for the Brit
ish National Gallery from the Duke of
Marlborough for $350,OO0, more than
three times the highest price ever be-
fore given for picture. At that time
the love of the Pope for art had al
ready attracted to Rome the chief
artists of the world, and it was among
this brilliant assembly that Raphael,
almost at once, took leading posi-
ton. Here he painted his famous
"Stanze," a series of frescoes cover
ing the walls and ceilings of the cham
bers of the Vatican.
In 1919 Raphael painted his grand
est masterpiece, "The Transfigura-
tion," in the Vatican. He died of
fever caught in experimenting some
subterranean excavations, at the early
age Of thirty-seven years. His body
was laid in state in his studio, by