ment in
the peril of the fierce flames, which are already licking around
her. And no less suffering is evident in him who is receiving the
child, both for its sake and on account of his own fear of death.
Nor is it possible to describe the imagination that this most
ingenious and most marvellous craftsman showed in a mother with her
feet bare, her garments in disorder, her girdle unbound, and her
hair dishevelled, who has gathered her children before her and is
driving them on, holding part of her clothing in one hand, that they
may escape from the ruins and from that blazing furnace; not to
mention that there are also some women who, kneeling before the
Pope, appear to be praying to his Holiness that he should make the
fire cease.

The next scene is from the life of the same S. Leo IV, wherein
Raffaello depicted the port of Ostia occupied by the fleet of the
Turks, who had come to take the Pope prisoner. The Christians may be
seen fighting against that fleet on the sea; and already there has
come to the harbour an endless number of prisoners, who are
disembarking from a boat and being dragged by the beard by some
soldiers, who are very beautiful in features and most spirited in
their attitudes. The prisoners, dressed in the motley garb of
galley-slaves, are being led before S. Leo, whose figure is a
portrait of Pope Leo X. Here Raffaello painted his Holiness in
pontificals, between Cardinal Santa Maria in Portico, who was
Bernardo Divizio of Bibbiena, and Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, who
afterwards became Pope Clement. Nor is it possible to describe in
detail the beautiful conceptions that this most ingenious craftsman
showed in the expressions of the prisoners, wherein one can
recognize, without speech, their grief and the fear of death.

In the first of the other two scenes is Pope Leo X consecrating the
most Christian King, Francis I of France, chanting the Mass in his
pontificals, and blessing the oil for the anointing of the King, and
likewise the royal crown. There, besides the great number of
Cardinals and Bishops in their robes, who are assisting, he
portrayed from life many Ambassadors and other persons, and also
some figures dressed in the French fashion, according to the style
of that time. In the other scene he painted the Crowning of the same
King, wherein are portraits from life of the Pope and of Francis,
one in armour and the other in his pontificals; besides which, all
the Cardinals, Bishops, Chambe