of their time, were gathered in one town. Almost as if everyone had foreknown that Raphael
had only little more than ten years to live, honors and duties were loaded upon him, more rap-
idly and lavishly than upon any artist before or since. He received every possible distinction,
and it was even rumored, that a cardinal's hat was in store for him. One of the cardinals of-
fered him his niece in marriage. Even the death of Julius II scarcely created an interruption
in his activities; the new Pope, Leo X ( 1513-1521), not only held him in his work but even
added to his responsibilities and honors.

The work in the Stanze took up most of Raphael's energy. And still he painted portraits,
Madonnas, and other smaller pictures, and frescos in the chapels and the villa of a faithful pa-
tron, the banker Agostino Chigi of Siena. After Bramante's death in 1514 he became the ar-
chitect of St. Peter's and his advice was asked in other building matters. He designed sculpture,
silver-ware, coins, medals, and similar work; he attended to stage settings; he created a new style
of ornamental decoration; he interested himself in the young art of engraving and kept Marc-
antonio supplied with drawings; he made cartoons for a series of monumental tapestries for
the Vatican; and finally he began an archaeological survey of the classical remains of Rome.
And still he found time for friendly intercourse with men of quality and men of letters, whose
erudition supplied him the lofty thoughts which are expressed in his fresco cycles; in his spare
moments he followed the elegant fashion of the day and composed sonnets addressed to his lady-
love. In all this work he had numerous helpers and many a brilliant idea of his, alas, has found
its realization obscured by the lesser skill of an apprentice's hand. This gave cause to malicious
gossip, and a small group of envious painters who wanted to ingratiate themselves with Michel-
angelo tried to do so -- we do not know with what success -- by casting aspersions on the man
whom they considered Michelangelo's most formidable rival. It was said with envy that Raph-
ael used to walk about surrounded by his pupils like a prince by his courtiers.

Raphael's fame spread; his works were in request in other towns of Italy and even abroad.
Isabella d'Este, the inveterate collector of beautiful things, pleaded in vain, that he paint a pic-
ture for her palace in Mantua; Raphael had no time. The Duke of Ferrara was no more success-
ful. His agent in Rome wrote to him: "Men of such excellence are all subject to melancholic
humors; and he above all for having undertaken this building ( St. Peter's) and for trying to fill
the shoes of Bramante." This is the only hint we have that Raphael's even temper began to
crack under the strain of work -- that even temper which was praised by everyone, and which
is reflected in the serenity of his pictures. On Good Friday, 1520, Raphael unexpectedly died,
thirty-seven years old, carried away by a short malignant fever. The consternation was gen-
eral. Even sober men felt as if a disaster had befallen mankind. The envoy of the Duchess of
Mantua wrote in a report: "His death was marked by one of the signs which were seen in the
hour of Christ's death, when the rocks rent (lapides scisi sunt, cf. Matt. 27, 51); the palace of the
Pope opened itself and threatened to collapse."

Vasari, though friend and partisan of Michelangelo and hence suspect of prejudice against
Raphael, has given perhaps the most beautiful characterization of his personality: "The large
and liberal hand wherewith Heaven is sometimes pleased to accumulate the infinite riches of
its treasures on the head of one sole favourite, showering on him all those rare gifts and graces,
which are more commonly distributed among a larger number of individuals, and accorded at
long intervals of time only, has been clearly exemplified in the well known instance of Raph-

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