DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.71556#0384
338 LIFE OF MICHAEL ANGELO.
moulded according to the refined models of the
Greeks, and they conform too much to the sensual
in expression and attitude. In fact, the Raphael
of the Umbrian school, smitten with devout mys-
ticism, was a very different being from the Raphael
of the voluptuous and Epicurean court of Leo X.,
pressed upon by all that could render the carnal
predominant over the spiritual.
Not only the grand and beautiful, but the decora-
tive in Art, was wholly at his command, as is proved
by the exquisite variety of his arabesque and other
graceful ornaments for the loggie of the Vatican.
Raphael appears to have been one of the most
amiable of men ; and Vasari takes leave of him, in
a passage which so forcibly represents him as such,
that we shall place its substance before our readers
in concluding this sketch. " When this great artist,"
he says, " closed his eyes in death, painting almost
seemed to die with him. It remains for us to
imitate the fine, the perfect models which he has
bequeathed us, and to cherish in our hearts his
memory, which has left behind it a delightful
fragrance. All that in Art is most attractive
was brought to a perfection by him, which trans-
cended the brightest dreams of precursive hope.
Nor is this all that we owe to him. He taught
us, by his example, what is the fitting and proper
course of conduct in our relations with men of
the highest, the middle, and the humblest ranks
moulded according to the refined models of the
Greeks, and they conform too much to the sensual
in expression and attitude. In fact, the Raphael
of the Umbrian school, smitten with devout mys-
ticism, was a very different being from the Raphael
of the voluptuous and Epicurean court of Leo X.,
pressed upon by all that could render the carnal
predominant over the spiritual.
Not only the grand and beautiful, but the decora-
tive in Art, was wholly at his command, as is proved
by the exquisite variety of his arabesque and other
graceful ornaments for the loggie of the Vatican.
Raphael appears to have been one of the most
amiable of men ; and Vasari takes leave of him, in
a passage which so forcibly represents him as such,
that we shall place its substance before our readers
in concluding this sketch. " When this great artist,"
he says, " closed his eyes in death, painting almost
seemed to die with him. It remains for us to
imitate the fine, the perfect models which he has
bequeathed us, and to cherish in our hearts his
memory, which has left behind it a delightful
fragrance. All that in Art is most attractive
was brought to a perfection by him, which trans-
cended the brightest dreams of precursive hope.
Nor is this all that we owe to him. He taught
us, by his example, what is the fitting and proper
course of conduct in our relations with men of
the highest, the middle, and the humblest ranks