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42 THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT’S JOURNAL. [February 1,1868. colours entirely faded. In the early part of the last century it was almost entirely repainted by an inferior artist, and a geconi time about a hundred years since; so that with the exception of some of the heads very little of the original work now remains; but by the clever copies of it by succeed ing artists, and numerous splendid engravings, this renowned work is familiar to most who have any acquaintance with the art. It has been asserted that the painter said it took him a whole year to determine how he could best give expression to the features of so bad a man as Judas, and that he had often resorted to places frequented by the worst characters to meet with a countenance suitable for this purpose. On the reverse is the head of the Redeemer most dignified, full of grave and sorrowful expression; and yet we are informed that Da Vinci did not finish it because he could not find a model answerable to the conception he had formed of so exalted and Holy a Person. The rival of de Vinci was Michael Angelo Bonarotti. If Leonardo was eminent for sweetness of expression of sentiment, justness of conception of his subject, an elevated taste, and a softness of manner, Bonarrotti surpassed him in boldness and fire. His forte lay in representing the vehemence of passion, grandeur of conception, and breadth of manner. Devoting the first part of his time to sculpture, and being well acquainted with anatomy, he understood the attitudes and contortions of the human figure, especially that of males, which is shown in his first great painting known as the Cartoon of Pisa, pro duced in competition with Leonardo di Vinci for the saloon of the Public Palace at Florence. This work represents a number of soldiers bathing, and on a sudden attack, leaping or rushing forward to defend themselves, by which he was able to shew his admirable knowledge of anatomical drawing and fore shortening. He also, by command of Julius II., painted a series of frescos in the arches and on the ceiling of the Chapel of Sixtus IV. at Rome. Not being so much accustomed to painting as to his favourite art, sculpture, he reluctantly com menced the work, but not before he obtained assistance and instruction from some of the best painters in Florence. When he had acquired what instruction he deemed necesssary, ho effaced their labours, and set about the work without any assistance, preparing his own colours, and not even committing the mixing of them to subordinates. For a considerable time he almost wholly devoted himself to sculpture and architecture, but Pope Paul III. induced him to resume his pencil, and he then commenced his grand picture of the “ Last Judgment " on the wall of the Sistine Chapel sixty feet high, and finished it within seven years. For boldness of conception, variety of movement and attitude, difficult foreshortenings, and the num ber of figures, this work is considered as unique. The Pope ex pressed a wish that this picture should be painted in oil, but Michael Angelo declined, saying “ That oil painting was an employment fit only for women and idlers of mean capacity.” Many have censured this work, he having confounded sacred history with profane. The Saviour is represented sitting in judgment, and Minos assigning their proper places to the con demned; the angels as described m the Apocalypse, and Charon, the Stygian ferryman, conducting the departed to Inferno. And also, to indulge a satirical humour, he intro duced among the condemned the portrait of a cardinal who was his enemy. Fuseli in his lectures says:—“ This great artist rose above all competition, and has remained with out a rival.’’ Vasari, in his Lives of Painters, observes, “ That applying himself to the study of the human figure (the great object of his art) he neglected the attractions of colour ing. It has again been objected to him that, in uniting the bones and muscles, to show his knowledge of anatomy, he seems to have forgotten that the muscles are less prominent when clothed with skin, and are not so apparent in children and youths as in robust and vigorous manhood.” We now proceed to notice the history and works of the greatest of all artists, and who, by universal consent, has been acknowledged as the “Prince of Painters. Raphael Sanzio was bom at Urbino in 1483. His father was a painter of moderate talent who instructed him in the rudiments of his art, and subsequently placed him under the tuitiion of Pietro Perugino, a painter of great merit, but, like many others, he soon surpassed his master. His early works partook of the Style of Perugino, and a specimen of this style is seen by a picture in the National Gallery, the subject, The Vision of a Knight, which presents a striking contrast with his later works. But with this stiffness there was, nevertheless, the germ of that dignity and grace which was so characteristic of his middle and later periods. At the age of 21 he removed to Florence, where the art was at its greatest perfection. Here he studied the works of Masaccio, and beheld the produc tions of De Vinci, and after working for some time went to Rome, where his kinsman, Biamauto, the architect, intro duced him to Pope Julius II., and was by him employed' to decorate the state apartments of the Vatican. Here he had the opportunity of studying the remains of ancient Grecian art in sculpture and architecture, Bramante instructing him in the first principles. He lived among the works of the classic ages, and derived from them not only the con tours, attitudes, and drapery of the ancient masters, but pos sessed himself of a just knowledge of their excellence, and to this is attributed his correct drawing, dignity, and grace, which gave inestimable value to his future works. While painting the state apartments of the Palace of the Vatican, Michael Angelo was engaged in his works in the Sistine Chapel, and these works animated him with a noble emulation and a deter mination to excel. Besides copying the statues and bas relievos which presented themselves to his notice, he hired persons to copy all that otherwise would have been overlooked, and which he in after times made use of as occasion required. The succeeding Pope, Leo X., entertained a great admiration for Raphael and his genius, and engaged him to make designs for the tapestries with which he intended to hang the walls of the papal chapel, the subjects to be the Acts of the Apostles and Evangelists. These cartoons were done in distemper. The tapestries themselves are still in the Vatican, having been worked at Arras, in Flanders. They are in a very decayed and faded condition. Seven out of twelve of the cartoons were formerly at Hampton Court, but the whole twelve are uni versally known by the copies of them by artists of a high class. The invention of Raphael was astonishing. He availed himself of every example ancient and modern. Another of his greatest works, and his last, is “ The Transfiguration,” now in the Vatican, and this was suspended over his dead body previous to its interment. Raphael, by common consent, is placed at the summit of his profession. His style and design can be seen either in his paintings or drawings, and by the numerous first-class engravings of his works which from time to time have been published. If he was inferior to his rival, Mi chael Angelo, in anatomy, he excelled him in the chasteness of his design, dignity, and truth. Another eminent accom plishment was grace. His Madonnas are exquisite; displaying the personification of modesty, purity of mind, and maternal affection. His infants arc no less inimitable ; and the Child Jesus, even in his mother’s lap, gives the beholder the idea of intelligence beyond his age, but nevertheless displaying all the simplicity and playfulness of one of less distinction. There were two Epochs in the works of this great artist. The first when he followed the style of his master, P. Perugino, which partook greatly of the conventional taste of the earlier artists; and the second when and after he had studied the antique models, and carefully observed the works of L. di Vinci and Buonarotti at Florence. This was at the time when he pro duced many of his exquisite easel pictures, particularly his Holy Families and portraits. Raphael had a number of scholars who assisted him in his numreous important works, the principal of which was Gulio Romano. The School of Venice has been called the child of nature. Not having the advantage which was presented to the Roman school by ancient models and the remains of antiquity, the artists of this had to form their own conceptions of beauty, both in form and expression; but although deficient in these requisites they possessed great judgment and taste in harmony of tint, agreement and opposition of colour, and the contrast of light and shade, they were able to produce the most vigorous and beautiful effects, so that this school stands pre-eminent among others. The most ancient specimen of early art was to be seen in the secluded part of a nunnery at Verona, and it is believed to have been painted before the revival of the arts in Italy. Great advances had been made by the artists who painted in miniature. During the 13th and 14th centuries the art made no great progress, the productions being mostly, if not exclusively,