. The study and criticism of Italian art : second series. he third proposition Ienounced at the beginning, namely, that Raphael,for his Sposalizio, did not draw his inspirationfrom the Caen altar-piece, but that, on the contrary,it was the Caen picture that was borrowed outrightfrom Raphael. Granting that Lo Spagna not only painted butalso designed the Sposalizio, the answer to thequestion, given the immense difference of geniusbetween Lo Spagna and Raphael, is obvious. Thesun does not borrow his light from the certainly would not have dreamt of imitat-ing his humble reflector, Lo
. The study and criticism of Italian art : second series. he third proposition Ienounced at the beginning, namely, that Raphael,for his Sposalizio, did not draw his inspirationfrom the Caen altar-piece, but that, on the contrary,it was the Caen picture that was borrowed outrightfrom Raphael. Granting that Lo Spagna not only painted butalso designed the Sposalizio, the answer to thequestion, given the immense difference of geniusbetween Lo Spagna and Raphael, is obvious. Thesun does not borrow his light from the certainly would not have dreamt of imitat-ing his humble reflector, Lo Spagna. However, letus be patient awhile, and find new proofs to convincethose who may still remain unconvinced. The question would be of course settled if weknew the exact date at which the Caen Sposalizio was executed. As we all know, this painting, up to 1 This picture belongs to Mr. Denman Ross, of Cambridge, Reproduced in Les Peintures Italiennes de New Yorket Boston ( Gazette des Beaux Arts, Troisieme Periode,tome xv., p. 212). Bi LO SPAGNA. Alinari photo.} [ Todi. THE CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN THE CAEN SPOSALIZIO i5 the end of the last century, occupied the altar of thechapel of St. Joseph, in the Cathedral of it was ordered in 1495, it was not yetbegun in November, 1500: that is the only docu-mentary evidence that has so far come to handabout the date of its To determine itsdate we must compare it to Lo Spagnas datedworks. The first which we know of is the Corona-tion at Todi, of 1511, which we have already hadoccasion to mention. In this picture—his master-piece—Lo Spagna seems barely to have attainedhis full maturity. He is still penetrated with ayouthful freshness, but, at the same time, the differentelements of which his style is composed, are betterassimilated than in the Perugia altar-piece, or in theSposalizio, or in the Nativity of the the other hand, his characteristic traits—theexaggerated relief of the cheek
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectartital, bookyear1902
