The midsummer of Italian art . ture Raphael has perpetuatedthe different attitudes with which people are natu-rally affected while listening to music. St. Ceciliahas ceased playing herself, in order to listen to thecelestial choir who have caught up the refrain face is turned upward with an expression ofpure enjoyment, elevated by a sense of angelic com-panionship. As an ideal of highly endowed intelli-gence, the figure of St. Paul leaning on his sword indeep reverie comes next to Raphaels Plato in theSchool of Athens ; and his drapery is equally remark-able for its freedom and bread
The midsummer of Italian art . ture Raphael has perpetuatedthe different attitudes with which people are natu-rally affected while listening to music. St. Ceciliahas ceased playing herself, in order to listen to thecelestial choir who have caught up the refrain face is turned upward with an expression ofpure enjoyment, elevated by a sense of angelic com-panionship. As an ideal of highly endowed intelli-gence, the figure of St. Paul leaning on his sword indeep reverie comes next to Raphaels Plato in theSchool of Athens ; and his drapery is equally remark-able for its freedom and breadth of drawing. And now we approach Raphaels most magneticpicture, the Madonna di San Sisto. Of all works of art we may fancy this to havebeen the nearest approach to an instantaneous crea-tion. It has the appearance of having been paintedvery swiftly, but at the same time with exquisitesmoothness. We know how Goethes songs andballads came to be. His mind was suddenly inspired* The French are thieves ; not all, but a good -^NEAS GROUP, FROM the incendio del borgo BY RAPHAEL Vatican, Rome The Evolution of Raphael. 2 i 7 with them, and he seized upon the nearest piece ofpaper, sometimes writing upon it diagonally in hishaste to be delivered. So this picture must havebeen painted. It is a divine creation, and so inevit-able that we feel it must always have existed,—as italways will exist. Its superiority was not appreciated in Raphaelsown time, or Leo X. would certainly never havepermitted it to leave Rome. Vasari refers to it insome six or eight lines, and then writes nearly apage concerning the St. Cecilia group. Perhaps henever saw it. We wonder what Raphael thoughtof it himself, and whether he was for once satisfiedwith his own work. The arrangement is a formal one, and it is paintedin rather a slight manner; but its formality is con-sistent with perfect freedom, and its treatment isequally well adapted to the subject. How differentis this almost translucent coloring f
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Keywords: ., bookauthorstearnsf, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1911
