DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51585#0158
154
EARLY ITALIAN PAINTERS.
with the cartoon for his picture, and, it is said,
drew some of the figures (that of Lazarus, for
example) with his own hand on the panel; but he
was so far from doing this secretly, that Raphael
heard of it, and exclaimed joyfully, “ Michael An-
gelo has graciously favoured me, in that he has
deemed me worthy to compete with himself, and
not with Sebastian 1” But he did not live to enjoy
the triumph of his acknowledged superiority, dying
before he had finished his picture, which was after-
wards completed by the hand of Giulio Romano.
During the last years of his life, and while en-
gaged in painting the Transfiguration, Raphael’s
active mind was employed on many other things.
He had been appointed by the pope to superin-
tend the building of St. Peter’s, and he prepared
the architectural plans for that vast undertaking.
He was most active and zealous in carrying out the
pope’s project for disinterring and preserving the
remains of art which lay buried beneath the ruins
of ancient Rome. A letter is yet extant addressed
by Raphael to Pope Leo X., in which he lays down
a systematic, well-considered plan for excavating by
degrees the whole of the ancient city; and a writer
of that time has left a Latin epigram to this pur-
pose—that Raphael had sought and found in Rome
“ another Rome“ To seek it,” adds the poet,
“ was worthy of a great man ; to reveal it, worthy
of a god.” He also made several drawings and
EARLY ITALIAN PAINTERS.
with the cartoon for his picture, and, it is said,
drew some of the figures (that of Lazarus, for
example) with his own hand on the panel; but he
was so far from doing this secretly, that Raphael
heard of it, and exclaimed joyfully, “ Michael An-
gelo has graciously favoured me, in that he has
deemed me worthy to compete with himself, and
not with Sebastian 1” But he did not live to enjoy
the triumph of his acknowledged superiority, dying
before he had finished his picture, which was after-
wards completed by the hand of Giulio Romano.
During the last years of his life, and while en-
gaged in painting the Transfiguration, Raphael’s
active mind was employed on many other things.
He had been appointed by the pope to superin-
tend the building of St. Peter’s, and he prepared
the architectural plans for that vast undertaking.
He was most active and zealous in carrying out the
pope’s project for disinterring and preserving the
remains of art which lay buried beneath the ruins
of ancient Rome. A letter is yet extant addressed
by Raphael to Pope Leo X., in which he lays down
a systematic, well-considered plan for excavating by
degrees the whole of the ancient city; and a writer
of that time has left a Latin epigram to this pur-
pose—that Raphael had sought and found in Rome
“ another Rome“ To seek it,” adds the poet,
“ was worthy of a great man ; to reveal it, worthy
of a god.” He also made several drawings and