changed and improved his manner, from having seen the many works by excellent masters to be found in that city; nay, the manner afterwards adopted by him was so little in common with his earlier one, that the works executed in the latter might be supposed to be by a different hand, and one much less excellent in the art.
Before Raphael had left Perugia, he had been requested by Madonna Atalanta Baglioni to paint a picture for her chapel in the church of San Francesco,[1] but as he could not at that time comply with her wishes, he promised that on his return from Florence, whither he was then obliged to proceed for certain affairs, he would not fail to do so. While in Florence, therefore, where he devoted himself with indescribable energy and application to the studies connected with his art, he prepared the cartoon for this chapel, with the intention of proceeding to execute it in San Francesco on the first opportunity that might present itself for doing so, a work which he afterwards accomplished.
While Raphael was thus sojourning in Florence, Agnolo Doni was dwelling in that city; now Agnolo was averse to spending money for other things, but for paintings or sculptures, in which he greatly delighted, he would willingly pay, although he still did so as frugally as was possible. By him, therefore, Raphael was commissioned to paint a portrait of himself, as well as that of his wife, and both were executed, as we now see them; they are in the possession of Agnolo’s son, Giovanni Battista, in the house which Agnolo built most handsomely and commodiously, at the corner of the Alberti, in the street of the Dyers, in Florence.[2]
For Domenico Canigiani, Raphael also painted a picture wherein he represented the Madonna with the Infant Christ: the divine Child is caressing the little San Giovanni, who is brought to him by St. Elizabeth; and the latter, while holding the boy, looks with a most animated countenance at St. Joseph, who stands leaning with both hands on his staff; he
- ↑ “Vasari is mistaken,” remarks Bottari, “the church is that of San Bernardino, and not San Francesco.” Roman Edition of Vasari, 1759.
- ↑ They were sold by the descendants of Agnolo Doni to Leopold II., Grand Duke of Tuscany, and now make part of the magnificent collection in the Pitti Palace. They are engraved by Longhena. See also Passavant, ut supra.
