si; and
for this Lorenzo, who had taken a wife about that time, he painted a
picture in which he made a Madonna, and between her legs her Son, to
whom a little S. John, full of joy, is offering a bird, with great
delight and pleasure for both of them. In the attitude of each is a
certain childlike simplicity which is wholly lovely, besides that
they are so well coloured, and executed with such diligence, that
they appear to be rather of living flesh than wrought by means of
colour and draughtsmanship; the Madonna, likewise, has an air truly
full of grace and divinity; and the foreground, the landscapes, and
in short all the rest of the work, are most beautiful. This
picture was held by Lorenzo Nasi, as long as he lived, in very great
veneration, both in memory of Raffaello, who had been so much his
friend, and on account of the dignity and excellence of the work;
but afterwards, on August 9, in the year 1548, it met an evil fate,
when, on account of the collapse of the hill of S. Giorgio, the
house of Lorenzo fell down, together with the ornate and beautiful
houses of the heirs of Marco del Nero, and other neighbouring
dwellings. However, the pieces of the picture being found among the
fragments of the ruins, the son of Lorenzo, Battista, who was a great
lover of art, had them put together again as well as was possible.

[Illustration: MADDALENA DONI

(_After the panel by =Raffaello da Urbino=. Florence: Pitti, 59_)

_Anderson_]

After these works, Raffaello was forced to depart from Florence and
go to Urbino, where, on account of the death of his mother and of
his father Giovanni, all his affairs were in confusion. While he was
living in Urbino, therefore, he painted for Guidobaldo da
Montefeltro, then Captain of the Florentines, two pictures of Our
Lady, small but very beautiful, and in his second manner, which are
now in the possession of the most illustrious and excellent
Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino. For the same patron he painted a little
picture of Christ praying in the Garden, with the three Apostles
sleeping at some distance from Him. This painting is so highly
finished, that a miniature could not be better, or in any way
different; and after having been a long time in the possession of
Francesco Maria, Duke of Urbino, it was then presented by the most
illustrious Signora Leonora, his consort, to the Venetians Don Paolo
Giustiniano and Don Pietro Quirini, hermits of the holy Hermitage of
Camaldoli, who afte