The early work of Raphael . waspurchased by a Tuscan Grand Duke, who employed the artist Cassanato finish Raphaels work, and placed it in the Pitti Gallery. The otherwas the little picture of the Virgin and Child with St. John whichClement XL presented to the Empress Elizabeth in the last century, andwhich is now in the Esterhazy Gallery at Buda-Pesth. The originalcartoon for this Madonna, in the Uffizi, is far more lovely than thepicture itself. The kneeling mother and eager child are drawn with thesame delicate grace as the Madrid Virgin, and in the background, Raphaelhas given us a glimpse
The early work of Raphael . waspurchased by a Tuscan Grand Duke, who employed the artist Cassanato finish Raphaels work, and placed it in the Pitti Gallery. The otherwas the little picture of the Virgin and Child with St. John whichClement XL presented to the Empress Elizabeth in the last century, andwhich is now in the Esterhazy Gallery at Buda-Pesth. The originalcartoon for this Madonna, in the Uffizi, is far more lovely than thepicture itself. The kneeling mother and eager child are drawn with thesame delicate grace as the Madrid Virgin, and in the background, Raphaelhas given us a glimpse of some Tuscan valley with a mill-stream descend-ing between wooded banks and a hill crowned with towers. In the pictureitself, this landscape was altered, and a background of ruined temple andcliffs afterwards added by one of Raphaels pupils. But the drawings THE EARLY WORK OF RAPHAEL 11 of this period as a rule excel the finished pictures in form and beautyof expression. Nothing, for instance, can be finer than the Santa. Sta. Apollonia. By Raphael. Habick Collection. Apollonia of the Habich Collection, a standing figure with a profile of thesame type as St. Catherine and the Graces in the Vatican. Like most 78 THE EARLY WORK OF RAPHAEL of Raphaels drawings at this time, this study is executed in black chalk,a practice which he had lately borrowed from Fra Bartolommeo and nowfrequently adopted instead of the pen-drawing common in Peruginosschool. But at this time of his life Raphael, like other masters ofhis age, was obliged to avail himself largely of the help of assistants,in order to satisfy the demands of his patrons. He was now anoriginal and independent artist, able to stand alone, and second tonone in his profession. He had learnt all that Perugino and FraBartolommeo had to teach, and the separate currents of Ferrarese, ofUmbrian, and of Florentine painting were united in his art. All that heneeded now was a wider field, a sphere where his powers of brain andhand might
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookde, booksubjectraphael14831520, bookyear1895
