the very animals, who would constantly follow his steps and always loved him.[1]
We find it related, that whenever any other painter, whether known to Raphael or not, requested any design or assistance, of whatever kind, at his hands, he would invariably leave his work to do him service; he continually kept a large number of artists employed, all of whom he assisted and instructed with an affection which was rather as that of a father to his children, than merely as of an artist to artists. From these things it followed, that he was never seen to go to Court but surrounded and accompanied, as he left his house, by some fifty painters, all men of ability and distinction, who attended him thus to give evidence of the honour in which they held him. He did not, in short, live the life of a painter, but that of a prince. Wherefore, oh art of Painting! well mightest thou for thy part, then esteem thyself most happy, having, as thou hadst, one artist among thy sons, by whose virtues and talents thou wert thyself exalted to heaven. Thrice blessed indeed may’st thou declare thyself, since thou hast seen thy disciples, by pursuing the footsteps of a man so exalted, acquire the knowledge of how life should be employed, and become impressed with the importance of uniting the practice of virtue to that of art. Conjoined as these were in the person of Raphael, their force availed to constrain the greatness of Julius II. and to awaken the generosity of Leo X., both of whom, high as they were in dignity, selected him for their most intimate friend, and treated him with every kind of familiarity; insomuch that by means of the favour he enjoyed with them and the powers with which they invested him, he was enabled to do the utmost honour to himself and to art. Most happy also may well be called those who, being in his service, worked under his own eye; since it has been found that all who took pains to imitate this master have arrived at a safe haven, and attained to a respectable
- ↑ “Who,” inquires a zealous annotator of our author, “who, among the most affectionate disciples of the great painter, could eulogize him with more enthusiasm and cordiality than does our poor Vasari V’ (he alludes to the bitter reproach of partiality so often and so unjustly brought against the biographer) “he too who was the follower, not only of another n-aster, but of that one precisely who was the most powerful and most untired antagonist of the object of his praise.”
