is knee, Mr. Sumner gave them the other
photograph.

"This," he resumed, "you will readily recognize, as you have so often
looked at the picture in the Pitti Gallery in Florence--the _Madonna del
Gran Duca_. This is the only Madonna that belongs to this period of
Raphael's painting, and the last important picture in the style. It was
painted during the early part of his visit to Florence."

"I never see this, uncle," said Margery, as she passed the photograph on
to the others, "without thinking how the Grand Duke carried it about in
its rich casket wherever he went, and said his prayers before it night
and morning. I am glad the people named it after him. Don't you think it
very beautiful, uncle?"

"Yes; and it is one of the purest Madonnas ever painted--so impersonal
is the face," replied Mr. Sumner.

"I wish," he continued, "I could go on like this through a list of
Raphael's works with you, but it is utterly impossible, so many are
there. When he went to Florence, where you know he spent some years, he
fell under the influence of the Florentine artists, and his work
gradually lost its resemblance to Perugino's. It gained more freedom,
action, grace, and strength of color. Some examples of this second
style of his painting are the _Madonna del Cardellino_, or Madonna of
the Goldfinch, which you will remember in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence,
and _La Belle Jardiniere_ in the Louvre, Paris. But I have brought
photographs of these pictures so that you may see the striking
difference between them and those previously painted."

Murmured exclamations attested the interest with which the comparison
was made. After all seemed satisfied, Mr. Sumner continued:--

"After Raphael came to Rome, summoned by the same Pope Julius II. who
sent for Michael Angelo, and was thus brought under the influence of
that great painter, his method again changed. It grew firmer and
stronger. Then he painted his best pictures,--and so many of them! So,
you can see, it is somewhat difficult to characterize Raphael's work as
a whole, for into it came so many influences. One thing, however, is
true. From all those whom he followed, he gathered only the best
qualities. His work deservedly holds its prominent place in the world's
estimation;--so high and sweet and pure are its _motifs_, while their
rendering is in the very best manner of the High Renaissance. No other
artist ever painted so many noble pictures in so few years of time."

"Did no