en able to
reach his extraordinary perfection, they would not have laboured in
vain nor acquired a manner so hard, so full of difficulty, wanting in
beauty and colouring, and poor in invention, but would have been able,
by aiming at catholicity and at imitation in the other fields of art,
to render service both to themselves and to the world.

Raffaello, then, having made this resolution, and having recognized
that Fra Bartolommeo di San Marco had a passing good method of
painting, well-grounded draughtsmanship, and a pleasing manner of
colouring, although at times, in order to obtain stronger relief, he
made too much use of darks, took from him what appeared to him to
suit his need and his fancy--namely, a middle course, both in
drawing and in colouring; and mingling with that method certain
others selected from the best work of other masters, out of many
manners he made one, which was looked upon ever afterwards as his
own, and which was and always will be vastly esteemed by all
craftsmen. This was then seen perfected in the Sibyls and Prophets
of the work that he executed, as has been related, in S. Maria della
Pace; in the carrying out of which work he was greatly assisted by
having seen the paintings of Michelagnolo in the Chapel of the Pope.
And if Raffaello had remained content with this same manner, and had
not sought to give it more grandeur and variety in order to prove
that he had as good a knowledge of the nude as Michelagnolo, he
would not have lost a part of the good name that he had acquired;
but the nudes that he made in that apartment of the Borgia Tower
where there is the Burning of the Borgo, although they are fine, are
not in every way excellent. In like manner, those that were painted
likewise by him on the ceiling of the Palace of Agostino Chigi in
the Trastevere did not give complete satisfaction, for they are
wanting in that grace and sweetness which were peculiar to
Raffaello; the reason of which, in great part, was the circumstance
that he had them coloured by others after his design. However,
repenting of this error, like a man of judgment, he resolved
afterwards to execute by himself, without assistance from others,
the panel-picture of the Transfiguration of Christ that is in S.
Pietro a Montorio, wherein are all those qualities which, as has
already been described, are looked for and required in a good
picture. And if he had not employed in this work, as it were from
caprice, printer's sm