The Midsummer of Italian Art Author:Frank Preston Stearns General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1914 Original Publisher: R. G. Badger Subjects: Art, Italian Art / General Art / History / General Art / European Art / History / Medieval Art / History / Renaissance Art / Individual Artist Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has n... more »o illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: THE EVOLUTION OF RAPHAEL IT would seem as if Nature, dissatisfied with the caprice of Leonardo and the wilfulness of Michel Angelo, wished to try her hand again, and moulded an image in some respects superior to either. Few travellers visit the city of Raphael's birth, and yet there is no more enchanting portion of Italy. It is a peaceful country, and the clouds drift lazily across the sky, casting shadows upon the low Um- brian mountains as they did when Tityrus reclined under the spreading beech, and tuned his slender pipe for a serenade to the gentle Amaryllis. The hills seem to sleep in the sunshine, and man is so contented that he thinks not of life or death. One would suppose that in his youth Raphael had drunk in the aspect of this country until he became the living expression of its tranquillity and repose. If character predominated in Michel Angelo, and intellect in Leonardo, temperament was the cornerstone of Raphael's nature. His disposition was so pleasant that it captivated every one that came near him, as we sometimes notice among women whonevertheless are not remarkable for their beauty. Such attractive persons tread a dangerous path, until experience has instructed them to avoid the allurements of their fellow-mortals; but Raphael was not more amiable than generous and self-forgetful. He had that true disposition of the poet which " loves another's song more than its own singing." Admiration ...« less