accompanied by the Angel. In the countenance of St. Peter there is evidence, that he is as a man who feels himself to be acting in a dream, and not as one awake. Equally well expressed are the terror and dismay of those among the guards, who, being outside the prison, hear the clang of the iron door; a sentinel with a torch in his hand, awakens his sleeping companions; the light he holds is reflected from their armour, and all that lies within the place which the torch has not reached is lighted by the Moon. This admirably conceived picture Raphael has placed over the window, at the darkest part of the room; it thus happens that when the spectator regards the painting, the light of day strikes on his eyes and the beams of the natural light mingle and contend with the different lights of the night as seen in the picture, the observer fancies himself really to behold the smoke of the torch, and the splendour of the Angel, all which, with the dark shadows of the night, are so natural and so true, that no one would ever affirm it to be painted, but must believe it to be real, so powerfully has our artist rendered this most difficult subject.[1] The play of the shadows on the arms, the flickering reflections of the light, the vaporous haloes thrown around the torches, the dim uncertain shade prevailing in certain parts; all are painted in such a manner, that contemplating this work one cannot but declare Raphael to be indeed the master of all masters. Never has painting which purports to counterfeit the night been more truly similar to the reality than is this, which is of a truth a most divine work, and is indeed admitted by common consent to be the most extraordinary and most beautiful of its kind.
On one of the unbroken walls of the chamber, Raphael then depicted the worship of God as practised among the Hebrews, with the Ark and golden Candlesticks; here also is the figure of Pope Julius, who is driving the avaricious intruders from the Temple.[2] In this work, which is of
- ↑ This is one of the earliest night-pieces painted by the Italian artists, and its masterly treatment has secnred the author the lasting admiration of the world. It was the first painted after the accession of Leo X., and doubtless refers to his remarkable liberation from the French after the battle of Ravenna. It was finished in 1514. See Passavant, vol. i. p. 198, vol. ii. p. 160.
- ↑ On this picture, which represents the miraculous expulsion of Heliodorus
