of Orvieto, or of
Bolsena, whichever it may be called. In this scene there may be
perceived in the face of the priest who is saying Mass, which is
glowing with a blush, the shame that he felt on seeing the Host
turned into blood on the Corporal on account of his unbelief. With
terror in his eyes, dumbfoundered and beside himself in the presence
of his hearers, he seems like one who knows not what to do; and in
the gesture of his hands may almost be seen the fear and trembling
that a man would feel in such a case. Round him Raffaello made many
figures, all varied and different, some serving the Mass, others
kneeling on a flight of steps; and all, bewildered by the
strangeness of the event, are making various most beautiful
movements and gestures, while in many, both men and women, there is
revealed a belief that they are to blame. Among the women is one who
is seated on the ground at the foot of the scene, holding a child in
her arms; and she, hearing the account that another appears to be
giving her of the thing that has happened to the priest, turns in a
marvellous manner as she listens to this, with a womanly grace that
is very natural and lifelike. On the other side he painted Pope
Julius hearing that Mass, a most marvellous work, wherein he made a
portrait of Cardinal di San Giorgio, with innumerable others; and
the window-opening he turned to advantage by making a flight of
steps, in such a way that all the painting seems to be one whole:
nay, it appears as if, were that window-space not there, the work
would in nowise have been complete. Wherefore it may be truly
credited to him that in the invention and composition of every kind
of painted story, no one has ever been more dexterous, facile, and
able than Raffaello.

This he also proved in another scene in the same place, opposite to
the last-named, of S. Peter in the hands of Herod, and guarded in
prison by men-at-arms; wherein he showed such a grasp of
architecture, and such judgment in the buildings of the prison, that
in truth the others after him seem to have more confusion than he
has beauty. For he was ever seeking to represent stories just as
they are written, and to paint in them things gracious and
excellent; as is proved in this one by the horror of the prison,
wherein that old man is seen bound in chains of iron between the two
men-at-arms, by the deep slumber of the guards, and by the dazzling
splendour of the Angel, which, in the thick darkness of