so much enchanted with his paintings in the halls of the
Vatican, that he ordered the frescos of former artists to be
destroyed. Among them were some of Perugino's, but Raphael would not
suffer these to be removed for his own; he viewed them as the relics
of a beloved and honored friend, and they were consecrated by tender
and grateful feelings.

Raphael collected from every part of the world medallions of intaglios
and antiques to assist him in his designs. He loved splendor and
conviviality, and gave offence thereby to the rigid and austere. It
was said that he had a prospect of changing the graceful beretta for a
cardinal's hat; but this idea might have arisen from the delay which
existed in his marriage with Cardinal Bibiano's niece, whose hand her
uncle had offered to him. Peremptorily to reject this proposal of the
cardinal without giving offence would have been impossible, and
Raphael was too gentle in his own feelings voluntarily to injure
another's; but he was not one to sacrifice his affections to ambition.

Whatever were the struggles of his heart, they were early terminated.
Amid the caresses of the great, the fond and devoted friendship of his
equals, the enthusiastic love of his pupils, the adulation of his
inferiors, while crowned with wealth, fame, and honor, and regarded as
the equal of the hitherto greatest artist in the world, he was
suddenly called away. He died on Good Friday, the day of his birth, at
the age of thirty-seven, 1520.

We are sometimes impressed with veneration when those who have even
drunk the cup of life almost to its dregs resign it with resignation
and Christian faith. But Raphael calmly and firmly resigned it when it
was full to the brim.

Leo X. and Cardinal Bibiano were by his bedside. The sublime picture
of the "Transfiguration," the last and greatest which he painted, was
placed opposite to him, by his own desire. How impressive must have
been the scene! His dying eye turned from the crucifix he held in his
hand to the glory of the beatified Saviour.

His contemporaries speak of him as affectionate, disinterested,
modest, and sincere; encouraging humble merit, and freely giving his
advice and assistance where it was needed and deserved.

TITIAN

By GIORGIO VASARI[2]

[Footnote 2: Giorgio Vasari, a contemporary of Titian, and
himself a painter of no mean rank, wrote a series of lives of
the Italian artists, from which the following is