Paul
III, with other portraits.

The Pope was very well satisfied with this work; and in order to
make the panelling worthy of the paintings, he sent to Monte Oliveto
di Chiusuri, a place in the territory of Siena, for Fra Giovanni da
Verona, a great master at that time of perspective-views in inlaid
woodwork, who made there not only the panelling right round, but
also very beautiful doors and seats, wrought with perspective-views,
which brought him great favour, rewards, and honour from the Pope.
And it is certain that in that craft there was never any man more
able than Giovanni, either in design or in workmanship: of which we
still have proof in the Sacristy, wrought most beautifully with
perspective-views in woodwork, of S. Maria in Organo in his native
city of Verona, in the choir of Monte Oliveto di Chiusuri and that
of S. Benedetto at Siena, in the Sacristy of Monte Oliveto at
Naples, and also in the choir of the Chapel of Paolo da Tolosa in
the same place, executed by that master. Wherefore he well deserved
to be esteemed and held in very great honour by the convent of his
Order, in which he died at the age of sixty-eight, in the year 1537.
Of him, as of a person truly excellent and rare, I have thought it
right to make mention, believing that this was due to his talents,
which, as will be related in another place, led to many beautiful
works being made by other masters after him.

[Illustration: THE "DISPUTA DEL SACRAMENTO"

(_After the fresco by =Raffaello da Urbino=. Rome: The Vatican_)

_Anderson_]

But to return to Raffaello; his powers grew in such a manner, that
he was commissioned by the Pope to go on to paint a second room,
that near the Great Hall. And at this time, when he had gained a
very great name, he also made a portrait of Pope Julius in a picture
in oils, so true and so lifelike, that the portrait caused all who
saw it to tremble, as if it had been the living man himself. This
work is now in S. Maria del Popolo, together with a very beautiful
picture of Our Lady, painted at the same time by the same master,
and containing the Nativity of Jesus Christ, wherein is the Virgin
laying a veil over her Son, whose beauty is such, both in the air of
the head and in all the members, as to show that He is the true Son
of God. And no less beautiful than the Child is the Madonna, in
whom, besides her supreme loveliness, there may be seen piety and
gladness. There is also a Joseph, who, leaning with b