DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36839#0081
CASTIGLIONE AND RAPHAEL 59
and couM not be disturbed. Whether this was
actually the fact, or, as the ambassador suspected,
was merely an excuse to keep out importunate
visitors, the Count was certainly closely associated
with Raphael in one of his most important tasks at
this time. The survey of the classical monuments of
ancient Rome upon which the master was engaged
naturally appealed to Castiglione, as it did to all the
leading humanists of the day. The Ferrarese scholar,
Celio Calcagnini, who returned to Rome from Hun-
gary that year, wrote in glowing terms of the great
and almost incredible work which this wonderful
youth, the first of living painters and most excellent
of architects, had undertaken by the Popes desire.
' This/ he says, ' is nothing short of a plan of the
city of Rome, which he is reproducing in its ancient
aspect and proportions. By digging out the founda-
tions of ancient monuments, and restoring them
according to the descriptions of classical authors, he
has filled Pope Leo and all Rome with such admiration
that they regard him as a god sent down from heaven
to restore the Eternal City to its former majesty/
No one was better fitted to help Raphael in this
task than M. Baldassare, whose classical scholarship
and fine taste in art had already been of much use
to him in the past. Together the two friends explored
the regions which were to be described and illustrated
in his book. Together they pored over Vitruvius
with the learned antiquarian, Andreas Fulvius, and
Fabio Calvi, the old Ravenna humanist, whom
Raphael found at the age of eighty living on cabbage
in a hole no better than the tub of Diogenes, and
took into his house. But it was, above all, in draw-
ing up the report of this archaeological survey of
and couM not be disturbed. Whether this was
actually the fact, or, as the ambassador suspected,
was merely an excuse to keep out importunate
visitors, the Count was certainly closely associated
with Raphael in one of his most important tasks at
this time. The survey of the classical monuments of
ancient Rome upon which the master was engaged
naturally appealed to Castiglione, as it did to all the
leading humanists of the day. The Ferrarese scholar,
Celio Calcagnini, who returned to Rome from Hun-
gary that year, wrote in glowing terms of the great
and almost incredible work which this wonderful
youth, the first of living painters and most excellent
of architects, had undertaken by the Popes desire.
' This/ he says, ' is nothing short of a plan of the
city of Rome, which he is reproducing in its ancient
aspect and proportions. By digging out the founda-
tions of ancient monuments, and restoring them
according to the descriptions of classical authors, he
has filled Pope Leo and all Rome with such admiration
that they regard him as a god sent down from heaven
to restore the Eternal City to its former majesty/
No one was better fitted to help Raphael in this
task than M. Baldassare, whose classical scholarship
and fine taste in art had already been of much use
to him in the past. Together the two friends explored
the regions which were to be described and illustrated
in his book. Together they pored over Vitruvius
with the learned antiquarian, Andreas Fulvius, and
Fabio Calvi, the old Ravenna humanist, whom
Raphael found at the age of eighty living on cabbage
in a hole no better than the tub of Diogenes, and
took into his house. But it was, above all, in draw-
ing up the report of this archaeological survey of