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140 RAPHAEL. fourth is the delivery of St Peter out of prison : the paintings of this cham- ber are all great works, and the finest of Raphael's frescoes. .In the fourth chamber, the Stanza dell' Incendio, so called from the fire of the Borgo, or suburb of Rome, miraculously arrested by Leo lY . ; this chamber chiefly exe- cuted by Raphael's scholars, contains also the Oath of Leo TIL, before Charlemagne ; the Coronation of Char- lemagne by Leo ; and the Victory of Leo rV. over the Saracens at Ostia; all completed in 1517. During the progress of this chamber, the Loggie were painted by Raphael's scholars, Giulio Romano, Gianfrancesco Penni, Raffaellino del Colle, Perino del Vaga, and Pellegrino da Modena; and the ornamental arabesques, or grotesques, imitated from the ancient Baths of Titus, chiefly by Giovanni da Udine. The Stanza dell' Eliodoro was com- pleted in 1514; and from this time Raphael had so many engagements, that the prosecution of these frescoes was delayed, and the general character of his works sensibly deteriorated, except in some few instances ; his frescoes, however, more than his oil pictm*es; but he preserved his style of grandeur to the last The third Vatican chamber, the Stanza dell' Incendio was executed almost entirely by his scholars; and the fourth, or Sala di Costantino, was only completed after Raphael's death, by Giulio Ro- mano and Gianfrancesco Penni, in 1623. In the meanwhile were executed, besides the arabesques of the Loggie, or gallery leading to the Stanze, con- taining the series known as Raphael's Bible, also the Galatea and other fres- coes of the Famesina, the world- celebrated Cartoons at Hampton Court (about 1616); numerous Madonnas, Holy Families, and Portraits ; and the following admirable oil-pictures — St Cecilia, at Bologna ; the great Madonna di San Sisto, at Dresden ; the Spasimo, at Madrid ; and his last performance, the Transfiguration, at Rome. Of Raphael's numerous Madonnas, &c., a very interesting general view is given in small cuts in Sir Charles Eastlake's second edition of Kugler's Handbook of Painting in Itaiy, The whole of these works, executed during the last ten years of his life, are in his third manner, which constitutes the Roman School in its perfection : — conspicuous both for the most comprehensive, or, indeed, boundless range of expression, as displayed in the Cartoons with unrivalled power, and unapproached dramatic composition; correct and vigorous design, embodying the ideal perfection of form in general character, yet too true to nature to admit of much absolute individual beauty ; and in colour, certainly in the frescoes, grand and appropriate. This unri- valled painter, sumamed by the Italians II Divino, died in the vigour of man- hood; he lived exactly thirty-seven years, as we are informed by the in- scription on his tomb by his friend the Cardinal Bembo; he died on Good Friday, April 6, having been bom on that same day, April 6, thirty-seven years before, 1483. Raphael lost his life in some mea- sure owing to his overwhelming occu- pations ; for, independent of the extra- ordinary demands on him for pictures, in 1514, he had succeeded Bramante as Architect of St Peter's. Of a subtil and delicate organisation, such inces- sant and various application must have injured his health, as it did his repu- tation, for much was necessarily left to his numerous scholars. The extra- ordinaiy efibrt he made in his last work, the Transfiguration, was owing to the competition of Sebastiano del Piombo, personally aided by Michel- angelo. The Transfiguration, and the