RAPHAEL. HOW liberal and kindly heaven shows itself sometimes in bestowing on a single person the infinite store of its treasures and all those graces and rarest gifts which it is wont to distribute among many individuals in a long space of time, may be clearly seen in the no less excellent than gracious Raphael Sanzio of Urbino; who was by nature endowed with all that modesty and kindness which may sometimes be seen in those who beyond others have added to a refined and gentle nature the beautiful ornament of a charming courtesy, which is wont to show itself ever sweet and pleasant to all kinds of persons and in all manners of things. He was nature"s gift to the world, when, vanquished by art in the hands of Michelangelo Buonarroti, she was willing in Raphael to be vanquished by art and manners at once." With these words Giorgio Vasari, who wrote in the i6lh century the lives of famous Italian artists from Cimabue to himself, begins the life of the immortal master, who brought...