wont to distinguish sacred
persons by a circle about the head. Sometimes, as here, the circle is
a golden line only; sometimes it is a gold band almost like a plate
against which the head is set. This circular form took the name Nimbus
from the Latin word for a cloud, as if the heads of sacred persons
were in an unearthly surrounding. It is also called a halo. Such a
representation is a symbol or sign to indicate those higher and more
mysterious qualities which are beyond the artist's power to portray.

This simple composition is a perfect round, and if one studies it
attentively one will see how curved and flowing are all the lines
within the circle; even the back of the chair, though perpendicular,
swells and curves into roundness. It is by such simple means as this
that the painter gives pleasure to the eye. The harmony of the lines
of the composition makes a perfect expression of the peaceful group
centred thus about the divine child.

[Illustration: MADONNA OF THE CHAIR
_Pitti Gallery, Florence_]

It is a home scene and one such as Raphael might have seen in Rome
in his own time. Not unlikely he saw a mother enfolding her child thus
when he was taking a walk at the quiet end of day, and caught at once
a suggestion from the scene for a Madonna. There is indeed an old
legend which grew up about this picture, relating the supposed
circumstances under which Raphael found a charming family group which
served him as a model, and which he rapidly sketched upon the head of
a cask; the circular form of the picture is thus accounted for.
Whether or not this pretty story is true, it is certain that the
Madonna of the Chair is a true picture of home life either in
Raphael's time or even in our own day. The mother wears a handkerchief
of many colors over her shoulders, and another on her head like the
Roman scarf one still sees nowadays.

We may see what delight and reverence Madonna pictures like this have
awakened as we read the words of an old chant. In quaint diction and
with fanciful imagery the writer tried to express his feelings in the
presence of a painting which, if not this veritable Madonna of the
Chair, was certainly very like it.

"When I view the mother holding
In her arms the heavenly boy,
Thousand blissful thoughts unfolding
Melt my heart with sweetest joy.

"As the sun his radiance flinging
Shines upon the bright expanse,
So the child to Mary clinging
Doth he