eption and grandeur of design, he surpassed
Leonardo, but never could reach the sweetness and gentleness of his
figures. Even his children lose something of their infantine beauty,
and look mature; his women are commanding and lofty; his men of
gigantic proportions. His painting, like his sculpture, is remarkable
for anatomical exactness, and perfect expression of the muscles. For
this union of magnificence and sublimity, it was necessary to prepare
the mind; the first view was almost harsh, and it was by degrees that
his mighty works produced their designed effect. Raphael, while he
felt all the greatness of the Florentine, conceived that there might
be something more like nature--something that should be harmonious,
sweet, and flowing--that should convey the idea of intellectual rather
than of external majesty. Without yielding any of the correctness of
science, he avoided harshness, and imitated antiquity in uniting grace
and elegance with a strict observation of science and of the rules of
art.

It was with surprise that Michael Angelo beheld in the youthful
Raphael a rival artist; nor did he receive this truth meekly; he
treated him with coldness and distance. In the meantime Raphael went
on with his works; he completed the frescos of the Vatican, and
designed the cartoons. He also produced those exquisite paintings in
oil which seem the perfection of human art.

[Illustration: Leo X. at Raphael's Bier.]

Human affection is necessary to awaken the sympathy of human beings;
and Raphael, in learning how to portray it, had found the way to the
heart. In mere grandeur of invention he was surpassed by Michael
Angelo. Titian excelled him in coloring, and Correggio in the
beautiful gradation of tone; but Raphael knew how to paint the soul;
in this he stood alone. This was the great secret of a power which
seemed to operate like magic. In his paintings there is something
which makes music on the chords of every heart; for they are the
expression of a mind attuned to nature, and find answering sympathies
in the universal soul.

While Michael Angelo was exalted with the Epic grandeur of his own
Dante, Raphael presented the most finished scenes of dramatic life,
and might be compared to the immortal Shakespeare--scenes of spiritual
beauty, of devotion, and of pastoral simplicity, yet uniting a classic
elegance which the poet does not possess. Buonarroti was the wonder of
Italy, and Raphael became its idol.

Julius was