the 15th of June, 1515, and one hundred and thirty-four in December, 1516. The rich tapestries worked from these cartoons, in wool, silk, and gold, were completed at Arras, and sent to Rome, in 1519. For these the Pope paid to the manufacturer at Arras fifty thousand gold ducats; they were exhibited for the first time on St. Stephen's Day, December 26, 1519. Raphael had the satisfaction, before he died, of seeing them hung in their places, and of witnessing the wonder and applause they excited through the whole city. Their subsequent fate was very curious and eventful. In the sack of Rome, in 1527, they were carried away by the French soldiery; but were restored, in 1553, during the reign of Pope Julius III. by the Duc de Montmorenci, all but the piece which represented the Coronation of the Virgin, which is supposed to have been burned for the sake of the gold thread. Again, in 1798, they made part of the French spoliations, and were actually sold to a Jew at Leghorn, who burnt one of them for the purpose of extracting the precious metal contained in the threads. As it was found, however, to furnish very little, the proprietor judged it better to allow the others to retain their original shape, and they were soon afterwards re-purchased from him by the agents of Pius VII., and reinstated in the galleries of the Vatican. Several sets of tapestries were worked from the cartoons: one was sent as a present to Henry VIII., and after the death of Charles I. sold into Spain; another or the same set was exhibited in London about a year ago, and has since been sold to the King of Prussia. While all Rome was indulging in ecstasies over the rich and dearly paid tapestries, which were not then, and are still less now, worth one of the cartoons, these precious productions of the artist's own mind were lying in the warehouse of the weaver at Arras, neglected and forgotten. Some were torn into fragments, and parts of them exist in various collections. Seven still remained in some garret or cellar, when Rubens, just a century afterwards, mentioned their existence to Charles I., and advised him to purchase them for the use of a tapestry manufactory which King James I. had established at Mortlake. The purchase was made. They had been cut into long slips about two feet wide, for the convenience of the workmen, and in this state they arrived in England.* On Charles's death, Cromwell bought them at the sale of the royal *There can be no doubt of the purpose for which Charles I. acquired them. The entry in the king's catalogue runs thus:-" In a slit wooden case some two cartoons of Raphael Urbino's, for hangings to be made by; and the other five are, by the king's appointment, delivered to Mr. Francis Cleyne, at Mortlake, to make hangings by." It appears that Cromwell had some intention of continuing the manufactory of tapestry at Mortlake as a national undertaking, and retained the cartoons for purposes connected with it. was also most anxious to attract Raphael to his court, and not succeeding, he desired to have a picture by his hand, leaving him the choice of subject. As Raphael had chosen St. George as the fittest subject for the King of England, he now, with equal propriety and taste, chose St. Michael, the patron saint of the most celebrated military order in France, as likely to be the most acceptable subject for the French king, and represented the archangel as victorious over the Spirit of Evil. The figures are as large as life. St. Michael, beaming with angelic beauty and power, stands with one foot on the Evil One, and raises his lance to thrust him down to the deep. Satan is so represented that very little of his hideous and prostrate form is visible, the grand victorious spirit filling the whole canvas and the eye of the spectator. The king expressed his satisfaction in a right royal and graceful fashion, and rewarded the artist munificently. Raphael, considering himself overpaid, and not to be outdone in generosity, sent to the king his famous Holy Family (called The large Holy Family, because the figures are life-size), in which the infant Christ is seen in act to spring from the cradle into his mother's arms, while angels scatter flowers from above. Engravings and copies without number exist of this famous picture the original is in the gallery of the Louvre. Raphael sent also his St. Margaret over |