of his fervent self. Raffaello, on
the contrary, just before his death, seemed to be exhaling into a
nebulous mist of brilliant but unsatisfactory performances. Diffusing
the rich and facile treasures of his genius through a host of lesser
men, he had almost ceased to be a personality. Even his own work, as
proved by the Transfiguration, was deteriorating. The blossom was
overblown, the bubble on the point of bursting; and all those pupils
who had gathered round him, drawing like planets from the sun their
lustre, sank at his death into frigidity and insignificance. Only
Giulio Romano burned with a torrid sensual splendour all his own.
Fortunately for the history of the Renaissance, Giulio lived to evoke
the wonder of the Mantuan villa, that climax of associated crafts of
decoration, which remains for us the symbol of the dream of art
indulged by Raffaello in his Roman period.

These pupils of the Urbinate claimed now, on their master's death, and
claimed with good reason, the right to carry on his great work in the
Borgian apartments of the Vatican. The Sala de' Pontefici, or the Hall
of Constantine, as it is sometimes called, remained to be painted.
They possessed designs bequeathed by Raffaello for its decoration, and
Leo, very rightly, decided to leave it in their hands. Sebastiano del
Piombo, however, made a vigorous effort to obtain the work for
himself. His Raising of Lazarus, executed in avowed competition with
the Transfiguration, had brought him into the first rank of Roman
painters. It was seen what the man, with Michelangelo to back him up,
could do. We cannot properly appreciate this picture in its present
state. The glory of the colouring has passed away; and it was
precisely here that Sebastiano may have surpassed Raffaello, as he was
certainly superior to the school. Sebastiano wrote letter after letter
to Michelangelo in Florence. He first mentions Raffaello's death,
"whom may God forgive;" then says that the _"garzoni"_ of the Urbinate
are beginning to paint in oil upon the walls of the Sala de'
Pontefici. "I pray you to remember me, and to recommend me to the
Cardinal, and if I am the man to undertake the job, I should like you
to set me to work at it; for I shall not disgrace you, as indeed I
think I have not done already. I took my picture (the Lazarus) once
more to the Vatican, and placed it beside Raffaello's (the
Transfiguration), and I came without shame out of the comparison." In
answer, appa