The century illustrated monthly magazine . ity of invention which adapted allto his own purposes; but in his personal righthe had a refinement of perception which en-abled him to add to what he borrowed a sub-tlety and grace which made it his own. To real-ize fully his power of design we must study thedrawings he made for his pictures. In theacademical qualities of drawing he has neverhad an equal, and the fertility and rapidity ofhis invention are shown by the enormous num-ber of works he has left. These gifts make himthe great master for serious students of paintingin its larger field,— that
The century illustrated monthly magazine . ity of invention which adapted allto his own purposes; but in his personal righthe had a refinement of perception which en-abled him to add to what he borrowed a sub-tlety and grace which made it his own. To real-ize fully his power of design we must study thedrawings he made for his pictures. In theacademical qualities of drawing he has neverhad an equal, and the fertility and rapidity ofhis invention are shown by the enormous num-ber of works he has left. These gifts make himthe great master for serious students of paintingin its larger field,— that of expression of theartists thought,— and I have heard the great-est of modern idealists, Jean Francois Millet,talk by the hour with the highest enthusiasmon a portfolio of the Raphael drawings as thelie plus ultra of design in its best sense. Forthe modern type of painter, the man who re-gards his function to be that of a mirror tonature, or who considers nature his mistressrather than his purveyor, and his brush-work . ^«. ^.». PORTRAIT OF MADDALENA DONI, BY RAPHAEL. ENGRAVED BY T. COLE, FROM THE ORIGINAL IN THE PITTI GALLERY. FLORENCE. AT FIRST. 173 more important than his conception, Raphaelis no model, and for such he has no tendency of all modern painting is moreand more to these characteristics, so that he whowill understand the Urbinate in all his breadthmust turn his back on all the modern schools(if there be anything now which deserves thename of school), and build his judgments ona standard found in the range of work fromMasaccio to Michelangelo. By this standard Raphael must be given, if not the supremerank which his contemporaries gave him, atleast a place in the front rank among the half-dozen who have endowed art with a highernobility; and among them all he stands firstfor the sense of beauty, and next to Michel-angelo for refinement; first as academicianand composer, and side by side with Giottofor fertility of invention. This is enough ofho
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectamerica, bookyear1882
