which he caused the Florentine sculptor Lorenzetto[1] to execute two figures,[2] these are still in his house situate in the Macello de Corvi in Rome.[3] But the death'of Raphael, and afterwards that of Agostino,[4] caused the execution of the sepulchre to he made over to Sebastiano Viniziano.[5]
Raphael had now attained to such high repute, that Leo X. commanded him to commence the painting of the great hall on the upper floor of the Papal Palace, that namely wherein the victories of Constantine are delineated, and this work he accordingly began.[6] The Pope also desired to have certain very rich tapestries in silk and gold prepared, whereupon Raphael made ready the Cartoons, which he coloured also with his own hand, giving them the exact form and size required for the tapestries. These were then despatched to Flanders to be woven, and when the cloths were finished they were sent to Rome.[7] This work was so admirably executed that it awakened astonishment in all who beheld it, as it still continues to do; for the spectator finds it difficult to conceive how it has been found possible to have produced such hair and beards by weaving, or to have given so much softness to the flesh by means of thread, a work which certainly seems rather to have been performed by miracle than by the art of man, seeing that we have here animals, buildings, water, and innumerable objects of various kinds, all so well done that they do not
- ↑ Whose life follows.
- ↑ They represent the prophets Elisha and Jonas; the last said to have been modelled by Raphael himself.
- ↑ They are now placed in the Chapel, wdth two other figures by Bernini, the latter representing the prophets Daniel and Habakkuk.
- ↑ Agostino Chigi died a few days after the death of Raphael himself, on the 10th of April namely, 1520.
- ↑ Sebastiano Luciani, better known among ourselves as Sebastiano del Piombo, so called from the office of signet (piombo) bearer, which he held under Clement VII. See ante, vol. ii. page 454.
- ↑ He made the design for the general arrangement, that is to say, with the cartoons for the Speech of Constantine to his soldiers, that for the battle and those for the allegorical figiires of Justice and Clemency. These last he caused Giulio Romano and Francesco Penni to paint in oil, on the wall, by way of specimen; the remainder were executed by his disciples after his death. For details respecting these works see Passavant and the many other authorities above cited.
- ↑ The tapestries were sent to Rome, but the cartoons were not returned. Seven of the latter, of which there were originally ten, are now, as our readers are aware, at Hampton Court; of the remaining three, certain fragments only now exist.
