The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-05-03

Il became the greatest religious
before the age of giants. His
"Crucifixion" makes that abused
topic new, and his "pieta" is as
noble as any ever made; every head
in it is a masterpiece and a classic
restraint governs the ineXpressiblc
tragedy of the scene, there are no
tears here, and no violent sorrows;
it is as if the mother understood
hoped consolingly that behind the
chaos tSood some loving order
1T is related" says Vasari again.
that FRANCISCO del Pugliese offered
to give the nuns three times as
much as they paid Pietro for the
picture, and to cause another exact
ly like it to be executed for them
by the same hand; but they would
not consent, because Pietro had told
them that he did not think he could
equal the one they possessed.
Nevertheless, the heart behind
the hand that made these ikOns
was utterly without belief.
"Piet'o had but very little religion,
and could never be made to believe
in the Immortality of the soul; nay,
most obstinateiy did he reject good
counsel, with words suited to the
stubbOrness of his marble-hard
brain. He placed all hopes in the
goods of fortune"
Having acquired wealth through
great efforts and hardships, he
sought to spend it in age in the
pursuit of pleasure; but he had
made himself too stole to be senSi-
tive to pleasure now, and try as he
would, he could not be a happy lib
ertine. Happiness is the greatest
of all the arts, and comes rarest of
all to artists, who give so much Of it.
At the end Perugino refused the last
Sacraments, unfrightened by the
threat that he could not then be
buried in holy ground.
IT want to see" he said, what
happens to a soul that has not con-
feSSed"
Far later on we shall see how
Ruskin and RoSsetti, Burne-Jones
and Holman Hunt and William
Morris-that picturesque group of
romantic souls who called them
selves "Pre-Raphaelites" -contended
passionately, by preaching and eX-
ample, that it was in these men
who came before Raphael-in Giot-
to and Fra Angelica, in Andrea del
Sarto, Fra Lippo Lippi and Botti-
celli-that italian painting reached
its greatest age.
Perhaps they were wrong III their
judgment, as will happen to those
who love much; but this must be
granted to them, that in Signorelli
and Perugino religion loses its hold
upon art, and a subtle seed of de
cadence enters into the Renaissance.
When the great triumVirates-
Leonardo and Raphael and Michel
angelo, Correggio, Tintoretto and
Veronese-have passed away, that
seed will sprout into baroque eX-
travagance; depth of feeling will
pass with sincerity of belief; and
there will be no more great painters
in Italy, as there will be no more
cathedrals in Europe
RAPHAEL
ID AFFAELO SANTI COR Sanzio)
IN was well named after an angel;
for no character was ever more
angelic, nor any life more fortunate
or serene. He came into a world
where his uncle Bramante was in
power, as an architect, with the
richest patrons of art; he was
spared the struggles that deform as
well as form the spirit; and the
gentIeneSs of a mind at peace
stamped itself upon all his work.
He was born at Urbino ION Good
Friday of the year 1888, at 3 O'Clock
of the night" says Vasari, care
lessly neglecting to tell us at what
minute of the hour. His father was
a painter, who saw at once the
talent of his son, and sent him,
after a short stay with Timoteo Viii,
to the bottega of Perugino.
He spent many years at Perugia
in happy apprenticeship, learning
with what seemed a miraculous IA
cility, and producing, before his
tWentieS, pictures indiStinguishable
in style and power from the master
pieces of Perugino himself. The
next step was to outplay the master
at his own game.
Perugino had painted a Mar
riage of the Virgin; Raphael put his
hand to a similar "Sposalizio," and
everyone hailed it as superior to