Chap. IX. LO SPAGNA. 309 be discerned in comparing the creations of two men one of whom is replete with genius, whilst the other is not. Spagna, the least favoured of the two, is the author of Mr. Maitland’s Christ on the Mount. Yet, Mr. Passavant in speaking of it as one of Raphael’s youthful efforts, 1 sup ports his theory on a passage in Vasari, in which it is stated that a highly finished panel representing the sub ject was ordered by Guidubaldo of Urbino, and after many vicissitudes became the property of the monastery of the Camaldoles of Urbino. 2 From thence Mr. Passa vant relates that it was taken to Gubbio, and preserved there in the family of the Gabrielli, one of the members of which had been prior of the Camaldoles; and thence to the Palazzo Gabrielli in Rome. But the whole of this story rests on a fanciful basis. The picture of Mr. Fuller Maitland is that which was in the Palazzo Gabrielli at Rome, but it is not that which Vasari mentions, unless we assume that he described it incorrectly. He distinctly states that the Saviour prays on the Mount, but that the apostles are asleep in the 'distance. At Mr. Maitland’s the apostles are on the foreground. But, even were it true that this very work was done for the Duke Guidu baldo, the name of Raphael woufd still be incorrect, and we must assume that Spagna executed it in oil at Ra phael’s request. 3 The catalogue of the Spagnas in this class is hardly exhausted with the notice of a graceful and exquisitely finished little Virgin and child, a distemper in the mode of the Ancajani altarpiece, exhibited under the name of Perugino in the Gallery of Rovigo. 4 1 Life of Raphael I. 77—8. II. 31. 2 Vasari, life of Raphael VIII. 7. 8. 3 Geheimer Rath Dr. Waagen (Treasures III. p. 5) has already suggested that Spagna had a share in the work. It is in all hut perfect preservation with the exception of the head of the sixth soldier to the left, counting from the right hand side of the panel. There are little hits of the drapery of S. Pe ter and S. John slightly abraded, a spot on the temple of the Sa viour, and an abrasion of the halo. 4 No. 42. Gallery of Rovigo. This is a half length with a ver-
