DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.73712#0237
RAPHAEL MENOS' 145
glad of it, and said that Buonarroti did him by
this a great favor, since he thought him Worthy
of competition with him and not with Father
Sebastian.
In this painting Raphael is no more that free
and ardent Painter which he was in the frescos
of the Vatican; he does not expose himself to
any peril: nothing is lopped off or added to truth:
he chooses thus the beautiful, discovers a new
degree of perfection, and opens the true road
to the Art.
In Raphael alone is found the three styles of
painting; since in his first works he was, like
the inventors of the Art, a pure imitator of Na-
ture, but without representing it with its true
grace. In his second,which are those of the Vati-
can and particularly in the School of Athens, he
reduced the mechanism of the art, and the imita-
tion of truth to the rules of Beauty, expressing
all with force and boldness, being capable of
following whatever his talent dictated.
He remained thus for some time, being in-
toxicated by sels love, and the praises which her
received ; and not being abetted by any com-
petitors, he committed almost all his works
to his disciples. Finally his ardent genius be-
gan to advance; and since that was not pos-
sible by the beaten path, he undertook ano-
ther mote secure, searching a more perfect
nature than that which he had followed before.
He sought more variety in the drapery, more
beauty in the heads, and more nobleness in the
style. He perfectedhis Clare obscure, by putting it
glad of it, and said that Buonarroti did him by
this a great favor, since he thought him Worthy
of competition with him and not with Father
Sebastian.
In this painting Raphael is no more that free
and ardent Painter which he was in the frescos
of the Vatican; he does not expose himself to
any peril: nothing is lopped off or added to truth:
he chooses thus the beautiful, discovers a new
degree of perfection, and opens the true road
to the Art.
In Raphael alone is found the three styles of
painting; since in his first works he was, like
the inventors of the Art, a pure imitator of Na-
ture, but without representing it with its true
grace. In his second,which are those of the Vati-
can and particularly in the School of Athens, he
reduced the mechanism of the art, and the imita-
tion of truth to the rules of Beauty, expressing
all with force and boldness, being capable of
following whatever his talent dictated.
He remained thus for some time, being in-
toxicated by sels love, and the praises which her
received ; and not being abetted by any com-
petitors, he committed almost all his works
to his disciples. Finally his ardent genius be-
gan to advance; and since that was not pos-
sible by the beaten path, he undertook ano-
ther mote secure, searching a more perfect
nature than that which he had followed before.
He sought more variety in the drapery, more
beauty in the heads, and more nobleness in the
style. He perfectedhis Clare obscure, by putting it