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Knights of Art -
Raphael
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Gallery of Art: Among
the marvellous tales of the Arabian Nights, there is a story told of a
band of robbers who, by whispering certain magic words, were able to
open the door of a secret cave where treasures of gold and silver and
precious jewels lay hid. Now, although the day of such delightful
marvels is past and gone, yet there still remains a certain magic in
some names which is able to open the secret doors of the hidden haunts
of beauty and delight. The Holy Family with a Lamb by
Raphael For
most people the very name of `Raphael' is like the `Open Sesame' of the
robber chief in the old story. In a moment a door seems to open out of
the commonplace everyday world, and through it they see a stretch of
fair sweet country. There their eyes rest upon gentle, dark-eyed
Madonnas, who smile down lovingly upon the heavenly Child, playing at
her side or resting in her arms. The little St. John is also there,
companion of the Infant Christ; rosy, round-limbed children both, half
human and half divine. And standing in the background are a crowd of
grave, quiet figures, each one alive with interest, while over all there
is a glow of intense vivid colour. We
know but little of the everyday life of this great artist. When we hear
his name, it is of his different
pictures that we think at once, for they are world-famous. We almost
forget the man as we gaze at his work. It
was in the little village of Urbino, in Umbria, that Raphael was born.
His father was a painter called Giovanni Santi, and from him Raphael
inherited his love of Art. His mother, Magia, was a sweet, gracious
woman, and the little Raphael was like her in character and beauty. It
seemed as if the boy had received every good gift that Nature could
bestow. He had a lovely oval face, and soft dark eyes that shone with a
beauty that was more of heaven than earth, and told of a soul which was
as pure and lovely as his face. Above all, he had the gift of making
every one love him, so that his should have been a happy sunshiny life. Madonna della Tenda by Raphael But
no one can ever escape trouble, and when Raphael was only eight years
old, the first cloud overspread his sky. His mother died, and soon after
his father married again. The
new mother was very young, and did not care much for children, but
Raphael did not mind that as long as he could be with his father. But
three years later a blacker cloud arose and blotted out the sunshine
from his life, for his father too died, and left him all alone. The
boy had loved his father dearly, and it had been his great delight to be
with him in the studio, to learn to grind and mix the colours and watch
those wonderful pictures grow from day to day. But
now all was changed. The quiet studio rang with angry voices, and the
peaceful home was the scene of continual quarrelling. Who was to have
the money, and how were the Santi estates to be divided? Stepmother and
uncle wrangled from morning until night, and no one gave a thought to
the child Raphael. It was only the money that mattered. Madonna Contestabile by
Raphael Then
when it seemed that the boy's training was going to be totally
neglected, kindly help arrived. Simone di Ciarla, brother of Raphael's
own mother, came to look after his little nephew, and ere long carried
him off from the noisy, quarrelsome household, and took him to Perugia. `Thou
shalt have the best teaching in all Italy,' said Simone as they walked
through the streets of the town. `The great master to whose studio we
go, can hold his own even among the artists of Florence. See that thou
art diligent to learn all that he can teach thee, so that thou mayest
become as great a painter as thy father.' `Am
I to be the pupil of the great Perugino?' asked Raphael, his eyes
shining with pleasure. `I have often heard my father speak of his
marvellous pictures.' `We
will see if he can take thee,' answered his uncle. The
boy's heart sunk. What if the master refused to take him as a pupil?
Must he return to idleness and the place which was no longer home? Madonna della Granduca by
Raphael But
soon his fears were set at rest. Perugino, like every one else, felt the
charm of that beautiful face and gentle manner, and when he had seen
some drawings which the boy had done, he agreed readily that Raphael
should enter the studio and become his pupil. Perugia
had been passing through evil times just before this. The two great
parties of the Oddi and Baglioni families were always at war together.
Whichever of them happened to be the stronger held the city and drove
out the other party, so that the fighting never ceased either inside or
outside the gates. The peaceful country round about had been laid waste
and desolate. The peasants did not dare go out to till their fields or
prune their olive-trees. Mothers were afraid to let their little ones
out of their sight, for hungry wolves and other wild beasts prowled
about the deserted countryside. Then
came a day when the outside party managed to creep silently into the
city, and the most terrible fight of all began. So long and fiercely did
the battle rage that almost all the Oddi were killed. Then for a time
there was peace in Perugia and all the country round.
So
it happened that as soon as the people of Perugia had time to think of
other things besides fighting, they began to wish that their town might
be put in order, and that the buildings which had been injured during
the struggles might be restored. This
was a good opportunity for peaceful men like Perugino, for there was
much work to be done, and both he and his pupils were kept busy from
morning till night. Portrait of Pope Julius II by
Raphael Of
all his pupils, Perugino loved the young
Raphael best. He saw at once that this was no ordinary boy. `He
is my pupil now, but soon he will be my master,' he used to say as he
watched the boy at work. So
he taught him with all possible carefulness, and was never tired of
giving him good advice. `Learn
first of all to draw,' he would say, when Raphael looked with longing
eyes at the colours and brushes of the master. `Draw everything you see,
no matter what it is, but always draw and draw again. The rest will
follow; but if the knowledge of drawing be lacking, nothing will
afterwards succeed. Keep always at hand a sketch-book, and draw therein
carefully every manner of thing that meets thy eye.' Raphael
never forgot the good advice of his master. He was never without a
sketch-book, and his drawings now are almost as interesting as his great
pictures, for they show the first thought that came into his mind,
before the picture was composed. So
the years passed on, and Raphael learned all that the master could teach
him. At first his pictures were so like Perugino's, that it was
difficult to know whether they were the work of the master or the pupil. But
the quiet days at Perugia soon came to an end, and Perugino went back to
Florence. For some time Raphael worked at different places near Perugia,
and then followed his master to the City of Flowers, where every artist
longed to go. Though he was
still but a young man, the world had already begun to notice his work,
and Florence gladly welcomed a new artist. It
was just at that time that Leonardo da Vinci's fame was at its height,
and when Raphael was shown some of the great man's work, he was filled
with awe and wonder. The genius of Leonardo held him spellbound. `It
is what I have dreamed of in my dreams,' he said. `Oh that I might learn
his secret!' Little
by little the new ideas sunk into his heart, and the pictures he began
to paint were no longer like those of his old master Perugino, but
seemed to breathe some new spirit. It
was always so with Raphael. He seemed to be able to gather the best from
every one, just as the bee goes from flower to flower and gathers its
sweetness into one golden honeycomb. Only the genius of Raphael made all
that he touched his very own, and the spirit of his pictures is unlike
that of any other master. For
many years after this he lived in Rome, where now his greatest frescoes
may be seen-- frescoes so varied and wonderful that many books have been
written about them. There
he first met Margarita, the young maiden whom he loved all his life. It
is her face which looks down upon us from the picture of the Sistine
Madonna, perhaps the most famous Madonna that ever was painted. The
little room in the Dresden Gallery where this picture now hangs seems
almost like a holy place, for surely there is something divine in that fair face. There she stands, the Queen of Heaven,
holding in her arms the Infant Christ, with such a strange look of
majesty and sadness in her eyes as makes us realise that she was indeed
fit to be the Mother of our Lord. Sistine Madonna by Raphael But
the picture which all children love best is one in Florence called `The
Madonna of the Goldfinch.' It
is a picture of the Holy Family, the Infant Jesus, His mother, and the
little St. John. The Christ Child is a dear little curly-headed baby,
and He stands at His mother's knee with one little bare foot resting on
hers. His hand is stretched out protectingly over a yellow goldfinch
which St. John, a sturdy little figure clad in goatskins, has just
brought to Him. The baby face is full of tender love and care for the
little fluttering prisoner, and His curved hand is held over its head to
protect it. `Do
not hurt My bird,' He seems to say to the eager St. John, `for it
belongs to Me and to My Father.' These
are only two of the many pictures which Raphael painted. It is wonderful
to think how much work he did in his short life, for he died when he was
only thirty-seven. He had been at work at St. Peter's, giving directions
about some alterations, and there he was seized by a severe chill, and
in a few days the news spread like wildfire through the country that
Raphael was dead. It
seemed almost as if it could not be true. He had been so full of life
and health, so eager for work, such a living power among men. But
there he lay, beautiful in death as he had been in life, and over his
head was hung the picture of the `Transfiguration,' on which he had been
at work, its colours yet wet, never to be finished by that still hand. Madonna of the Goldfinch by
Raphael All
Rome flocked to his funeral, and high and low mourned his loss. But he
left behind him a fame which can never die, a name which through all
these four hundred years has never lost the magic of its greatness.
Return to:
Stories of the Italian Painters
by Amy Steedman