maintained itself unhurt and without spot or blemish of any kind: for even the fury of the winds and the waves of the sea had had respect to the beauty of so noble a work. The fame of this event was bruited abroad, and the Monks, to whom the picture belonged, took measures to obtain its restoration: in this they eventually succeeded, though not without great difficulty and only by aid of the Pope, when they largely rewarded those who had effected its recovery from the waves.[1] Being then embarked anew, the picture was ultimately landed in Sicily; the Monks then deposited the work in the city of Palermo, where it has more reputation than the Mount of Vulcan itself.[2]
While Raphael was thus engaged with the works above described, which he could not decline doing, partly because commissioned to execute them by great and important personages, but partly, also, beeause a due regard for his interest would not permit him to refuse them,—while thus occupied, I say, he did not on that account neglect to continue the works which he had commenced in the Papal Halls and Chambers; on the contrary, he kept people constantly em- ])loyed therein, and by them the work was continued from drawings made by his own hand, every part being minutely superintended by himself, and the more important portions of the whole executed by him, so far as was possible in a work of such magnitude. Ho long time elapsed, therefore, before he gave to view the apartment of the Torre Borgia, on every wall of which he had placed a painting—two over the windows namely, and two on the sides wherein there are no windows. In one of these pictures the master has depicted the Conflagration of the Borgo Vecchio of Rome, which could not be extinguished until Pope Leo IV. presented himself at the Loggia of the Palace, and extinguished it entirely by the power of his benediction. In this work is the representation of many perilous incidents; on one side are women bearing vases of water on their heads and in their
- ↑ This much celebrated picture, called Lo Spasimo di Sicilia, was taken to Paris, where it was transferred from the panel to canvas; it is now in the Royal Gallery of Madrid. The figure of St. Veronica is not in the picture. Vasari described it from memory, and is in error on this point.
- ↑ Our author is here following the old poets, who make Mount Etna the abode of Vulcan and the site of his forge.
