might have known him for a poet or a
painter in whose mind a celestial vision was floating. Suddenly he saw
the young mother and her two children. The painter, for it was
Raphael, now beheld his vision made flesh and blood. But he had only a
pencil. On what could he draw the beautiful group? He seized the clean
cover of a wine cask near by and drew upon it the lines to guide him
in his painting. He went home and filled out his sketch in loveliest
color, and ever since the world has been his debtor for giving it his
heavenly vision. So the hermit's prayer was answered. His two friends
were glorified together.

Other honors, besides those coming from his paintings, were showered
upon Raphael at this time. He was now rich, and the Cardinal Bibbiena
offered him his niece Maria in marriage. It was considered a great
thing in those times to be allied by marriage to a church dignitary,
but Raphael had higher honors, and so, while he accepted the offer
rather than offend the cardinal, he put off the wedding until Maria
died. His heart was not in this contract because for years he had
loved a humble but beautiful girl, Margherita, who was probably the
model of some of his sweetest Madonnas.

Speaking of the honors thrust upon Raphael, we must not forget that
the Pope made him architect-in-chief of St. Peter's on the death of
Bramante. He was also appointed to make drawings of the ancient city
of Rome, in order that the digging for buried remains might be carried
on more intelligently.

In every Madonna we have described, we have had to use freely the
words _lovely_, _great_, _beautiful_, but one there remains which,
more than any other, merits all these titles and others in addition.
It is the "_Sistine Madonna_" in the Dresden Gallery. It was the last
picture painted wholly by Raphael's hand. It was painted originally as
a banner for the monks of St. Sixtus at Piacenza, but it was used as
an altar-piece. In 1754, the Elector of Saxony bought it for $40,000
and it was brought to Dresden with great pomp. People who know about
pictures generally agree that this is the greatest picture in the
world.

[Illustration: ST. PAUL. Detail from _St. Cecilia_. _Raphael._]

Let us see some of the things which it contains--no one can ever tell
you all, for as the years increase and your lives are enlarged by joy
and by sorrow, you will ever see more and more in this divine picture
and feel more than you see. Two green curtains ar