Page:Biographical catalogue of the principal Italian painters.djvu/170

BAPHAEL. 139 nysliy of the great Florentine, thongh Baphael never actnally imitated the pecoliaiities of style of Michelangelo. The frescoes of the Vatican Chambers, thongh much obscured and deteriorated ^y agO) ^^ Btill the noblest worics of modem painting; they are seen to great disadvantage, the locale is ab* aolntely mean, and the rooms are low and ill-shapen. A good complete set of copies of these remarkable works wonld be a noble adornment of any national Musenm, and of the utmost importance to the arts. The two ex- tremes of Italian art meet in these great works, from the high exclusive sentiment of the fifteenth centuiy, to the mere mechanical mannerism of the sixteenth, but chiefly and characteristi- cally the happy mean between those two, hence the deserved great name of Baphael; though he may owe, per- haps, his great popularity more to his nxmierons and charming Madonnas. The one subject of these great works is the glorification of the church, and of the Pontiffs, Julius and Leo, under whom they were executed. The last completed is the first in order, the Sala di Gostantino, containing the Battle of Gonstantine and Maxentius ; the Appearance of the Cross ; the Bap- tism of Gonstantine; and the Pre- sentation of Bome to the Pope. In the next chamber, the Stan2a della Segnatura (of the Signature), are — the Theology, or Dispute on the Sacra- ment, Baphael's first work in the Vatican, an extraordinaiy performance, in his second manner, and with all the glory of the quattrocento; the com- position is vast and symmetrical, but full of grandeur; many of the heads are magnificent : opposite to this is the Philosophy, or School of Athens, a composition of a different character, but equfdly remarkable, and with greater freedom and fulness of form, but on the whole inferior in grandeur and less impressive: on a third wall, is the Parnassus, or Poetry ; and opposite to it Jurisprudence, in three distinct com- positions ; in the centre above are three female figures, personifications of Pru- dence, Fortitude, and Temperance; and at the sides. Ecclesiastical and Civil Law — Gregory XI. delivering the Decretals to a consistorial Advocate; and Justinian delivering the Pandects to Tribonianus : on the ceiling of this chamber, on a gold ground, are the per- sonifications of the four great subjects represented on the walls. The next chamber is the Stanza dell' Eliodoro, containing the Expulsion of Heliodo- rus from the Temple, illustrating the passage in Maccabees — '< there ap- peared to them a horse with a terrible rider upon him, adorned with a veiy rich covering ; and he ran fiercely and struck Heliodorus with his fore-feet; and he that sat upon him seemed to have armour of gold. Moreover there appeared two other young men, beau- tiful and strong, bright and glorious, and in comely apparel : who stood by him on either side, and scourged him without ceasing." — The whole typical of the delivery of the States of the Church from foreign enemies by Ju- lius II. There could not have been a more refined choice for the purpose, nor could the subject have been more sublimely rendered; the two young men are indeed bright and glorious, the whole group has more the charac- ter of what it i^presents, an angelic vision, than the work of human hands. The next picture is the Mass of Bol- sena — ^representing the truth of the doctrine of transubstantiation to a doubting priest: while he was con- secrating the Host in the church of Santa Christina, at Bolsena, in 1263, the wafer bled ; the procession of Cor- pus Christ! is the celebration of this event. On the third wall, opposite to the HeUodorus, is the Attila ; and the