with celestial bliss.

Another remarkable thing in this supreme manifestation of genius is that
in the Virgin and the Infant, of such different, we might almost say
such opposite expressions, the same features are noticeably repeated.
Raphael has been faithful to the last to the system he adopted in almost
his earliest pictures, and to make this intentional resemblance more
noticeable here he has placed the two heads close together, and shown
them almost full face, so that there shall be no distracting element;
and has opposed them to each other by turning them in different ways so
that they may complement each other and be reflected in one another as
in a mirror. Therefore, as the same glory surrounds both Mother and Son
at the same time, so the same character of beauty is found faithfully
reproduced in each. The skulls of both have the same general
conformation, the same intelligence shines upon the two brows, although
the Saviour's is dark and menacing whilst the Virgin's remains radiant
and clear; the eyes have also the same shape and are full of the same
fire, though the glance of the one is terrible and of the other,
reassuring; the mouth has the same lines, the same nobility, and the
same quiver that has the power of alternately inspiring terror and
tranquillity; and the cleft in the chin is identical. The colour also
helps to make an almost perfect unity of these two figures--we have the
same white and solid flesh tints, strong and delicate; the same warm and
always luminous shadows. Indeed, Jesus is confounded with Mary, so to
speak, so that the two forms together make one and the same body, and,
moreover, the Saviour at need may get rid of his majestic nakedness
beneath the veil and in the mantle of Mary.

This Virgin, in which Raphael has surpassed himself, was painted in a
moment of veritable exaltation of genius. It was not laboriously
conceived; it was born of itself, spontaneously complete, like the
antique Minerva, with its perfect form and beauty, and it was the
recompense for an entire life consecrated without intermission to the
search after nature and truth, to the study of the masters and all the
traditions, to the cult of the ideal and especially of the Virgin.

After having produced so many rare masterpieces, his love and faith were
carried to such a pitch of power and enthusiasm that he seemed to be
borne up by them, and, suddenly penetrating into a sphere superior to
all he had hitherto visite