ey
are,--one stretched out at half length, trying to look as if he were
awake, the other with his head fallen forward, and his hands clasped
over his shield.

[Illustration: THE LIBERATION OF PETER
_Vatican Palace, Rome_]

In both of these scenes, the apostle is marked by the sign of the
nimbus, which we saw in the first picture, the Madonna of the
Chair. But if you look narrowly, you will see that Raphael has added
that other sign by which Peter is distinguished. He carries a great
key. The reason is to be found in the words of our Lord to him as
recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, the sixteenth chapter and
nineteenth verse. The key is a most fitting symbol here, for it seems
to imply that the apostle is himself opening the gates of his prison
house. The angel holds his hand, as an older person might lead a child
in the dark. Peter is too dazed to know what has really happened.

On the left is depicted the moment when the guards are awakened and
discover that their prisoner has escaped. It is an animated scene
illustrating the simple words of the gospel narrative: "Now as soon as
it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers, what was
become of Peter." A man with a torch tells by his gesture that
something extraordinary has happened, and the one whom he arouses
shows by his face and his uplifted hand how startled he is; the light
from the torch is too dazzling for another just awakened, and the last
of all appears to be the one whom we saw asleep over his shield.

Even in this very inadequate copy of a great painting, we can see what
is the noblest and most pervading beauty. It is the treatment of
light. The angel appears in the compartment over the window in a blaze
of light, and this light illuminates all the other figures. So it is
in the right-hand division, and Peter especially shows it, for the
side away from the angel is scarcely to be made out in the gloom. In
the left-hand division, the torch, the moon struggling through the
clouds, and the breaking of the dawn diffuse a light over the whole
scene.

It is as if Raphael meant to make it clear that the supernatural light
from the angel was brighter and more intense than the light which
falls from natural means. Thus the Liberation of Peter, like the
Expulsion of Heliodorus, keeps in mind the power of the divine over
the human. Some have thought, besides, that Raphael had in his thought
the recent delivery from captivity of Leo X., the Pope who suc