e reached under Perugino, or during what is
called his first manner in painting. Before this he had executed a large
number of beautiful pictures, among which was the so-called "Staffa
Madonna." This is a circular picture and represents the Virgin walking in
a springtime landscape. It remained in the Staffa Palace in Perugia three
hundred and sixty-eight years, and in 1871 was sold to the Emperor of
Russia for seventy thousand dollars.

In 1504 Raphael returned to Urbino, where he became the favorite of the
court, and was much employed by the ducal family. To this time belong the
"St. George Slaying the Dragon" and the "St. Michael Attacking Satan," now
in the gallery of the Louvre. But the young artist soon grew weary of the
narrowness of his life, and went to Florence, where, amid the treasures of
art with which that city was crowded, he felt as if he was in an enchanted
land. It is worth while to recount the wonderful things he saw; they were
the cathedral with the dome of Brunelleschi, the tower of Giotto, the
marbles and bronzes of Donatello, the baptistery gates of Ghiberti, the
pictures of Masaccio, Ghirlandajo, Fra Angelico, and many other older
masters, while Michael Angelo and Leonardo were surprising themselves and
all others with their beautiful works.

At this time the second manner of Raphael begun. During his first winter
here he painted the so-called "Madonna della Gran Duca," now in the Pitti
Gallery, and thus named because the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand III.,
carried it with him on all his journeys, and said his prayers before it at
morning and evening. He made a visit to Urbino in 1505, and wherever he
was he worked continually, and finished a great number of pictures, which
as yet were of religious subjects with few and unimportant exceptions.

[Illustration: FIG. 42.--PORTRAIT OF RAPHAEL. _Painted by Himself._]

When he returned to Florence in 1506, the cartoon of Leonardo da Vinci's
"Battle of the Standard" and Michael Angelo's "Bathing Soldiers" revealed
a new world of art to Raphael. He saw that heroic, exciting scenes could
be represented by painting, and that vigor and passion could speak from
the canvas as powerfully as Christian love and resignation. Still he did
not attempt any new thing immediately. In Florence he moved in the best
circles. He received orders for some portraits of nobles and wealthy men,
as well as for madonnas and Holy Families. Before long he visited Bologna,
and