of them lost. The
Flemish artist, Rubens, came across those remaining, however, and
recommended Charles I. of England to purchase them for his palace at
Whitehall. Later Cromwell bought them for the nation, and today we may
see them pasted together and carefully mounted in South Kensington
Museum, London. "_The Miraculous Draught of Fishes_," (see opposite
page,) is one of the best known of the series. All are bold and strong
in drawing, and several are very beautiful, as "_Paul and John at the
Beautiful Gate_." One critic, in speaking of the cartoons, says they
mark the climax of Raphael's art.

We must not forget that all these years, while Raphael was making
these wonderful cartoons and pictures, the work on the rooms of the
Vatican was going steadily forward. He certainly was a busy man!

Probably the best known of Raphael's Madonnas is "_The Madonna della
Sedia_," so called because the mother sits in a chair. A delightful
story is told of the painting of this picture. It runs something like
this: Many years ago there lived in a quiet valley in Italy a hermit
who was greatly loved by all the people round about, for he taught
them and he helped them in sickness and in trouble. His hut was near a
giant oak tree that sheltered him from the sun of summer and the
biting winds of winter. In the constant waving of its branches, too,
it seemed to converse with him, and so he said he had two intimate
friends, one that could talk, and one that was mute. By the one that
could talk he meant the vine-dresser's daughter who lived near by and
who was very kind to him. By the mute one he meant this sheltering
oak.

Now, one winter a great storm arose, and when the hermit saw that his
hut was unsafe, his mute friend seemed to beckon him to come up among
the branches. Gathering a few crusts, he went up into the tree where,
with hundreds of bird companions, his life was saved, though his hut
was destroyed. Just as he thought he should die of hunger, Mary, the
vine-dresser's daughter, came to see her old friend and took him to
her home. Then the pious hermit, Benardo, prayed that his two friends
might be glorified together in some way.

[Illustration: MADONNA DELLA SEDIA. _Raphael._]

Time wore on. The hermit died, the oak tree was cut down and converted
into wine casks, and the lovely Mary married and was the mother of
two boys. One day as she sat with her children, a young man passed by.
His eyes were restless, and one