RAPHAEL
647
RAPHOE
Pitti Palace, the portrait of Phsedrus Inghirami (Bos-
ton, Fenway Court), and that of Castighone (LouvTe)
are rivals of the most perfect work of Titian, Velas-
quez, and Rembrandt. There is no doubt that the
original of the splendid "Donna Velata" of the Pitti
Palace, who so often inspired him, played a part in
his life, but she keeps her secret and no one has ever
succeeded in piercing her incognito. It is only certain
that she was not the Fornarina, who seems to be an
invention of a romance dating only from the end of
the eighteenth century. The rather indecent portrait
of a woman in the Barberini Palace, which bears on a
bracelet the name of Raphael, is the work of GiuUo
Romano, and the signature is a forgery- of the seven-
teenth centur>'.
Raphael's fame, after three centuries of unclouded splendour, has been \'iolently attacked during the last century. The progress of historical criticism and the discoverj' of the "Primitives" were the beginning of a reaction as violent as it was unjust. It was asserted that the Renaissance, instead of furthering the prog- ress of art, was a source of decadence. A school was founded Ijearing the standard of the Pre-Raphaehtes. This school, whose herald was John Ruskin, did much good, but without denying it its due, it is time to reject some of its narrow and prejudiced judgments. There is no doubt that Raphael, Uke other men of genius, had no pupils worthy of him. It would be strange to reproach him with the fact that his art was quite personal to himself. It may be that compared with Leonardo and especially with Michelangelo, Raphael seems less great or less original. He made no dis- coveries in nature like those of his great rivals, he added nothing to our knowledge of anatomy, of model- ling, or construction; he is not a colourist like Titian, nor even a draughtsman in the absolute sense of the word, such as was Diirer or PoUaiuolo. It is probable that Raphael will never recover the singular position ascribed to him in the schools as the faultless master and the professor whose instructions are always to be consulted. On the other hand, he appears more and more the most exquisite and perfect expression of an age and a society which will never return. Never- theless the fact remains that if there have been rarer or more learned painters than he, he excels them all in his incomparable sense of beauty. No other has shown us so much nobility in nature, no one ever had or led us to form a better opinion of human nature. No other painter handled so completely all the resources of his art. He has never been equalled as a portrait painter and decorator. No one hss known so well how to invest the highest and most precious ideas with plastic forms. He has given form to our dreams.
The most comprehensive source of information is the work of MiJNTZ, Les biographer et les criiiques de Raphael (Paris. 1883) ; Vasari. Le vUe. ed. Milanesi. IV (Florence. 1879); Pungileoni. Eloffio storico di Gioranni Sanii (Urbino. 1822); Idem, Elogio atorico di Giovanni Sanli (Urbino. 1829); Passavant. Rafael ron Urbino u. sein Voter Giov. Sanii. I. II (Leipzig. 1839); III (1858). French tr. Lacboix (Paris. 1860); Bckckhabdt. Der Cicerone (Basle, 1835). ed. Bode (Leipzig. 1879); French tr.. Gerard (Paris. 1894); Gruyer. Raphael cl Vantiquili (Paris. 1864) ; Idem. Essai sur let fresques de Raphael; Idem. Lea fiirges de Raphael (Paris. 1.S69); Idem. Raphael, peintre de portraits (Paris. 1887); T.une. Voyage m Ilalie (Paris. 1866); Idem. Philosophie de I'art en Ilalie (Paris. 1868); Spbinoer, Raphael u. Michelangelo (Leipzig. 1878); Morelu. Italian Painters (London. 1893); Muntz. Raphael, sa xie, son etuvre et son temps (Paris. 1887; new ed.. 1900); Minghetti. Raffaello (Bologna. 1885) ; Wickhoff. Die Bibliolh'ek Julius II in Jahrbuch fur Kunsliriss., XIV (Berlin. 1893); Cartwright. Raphael (London. 1895); Knackfcss. Rafael (Bielefeld. 1897); Klaczeo. Jules II, Rome et la Renaissance (Paris. 1898); Beren- BON. Central Italian Painters (New York. 1900); Idem. The Study and Criticism of Italian Art (2nd series. London, 1902); Bertattx. Rome (Paris, 1902); Caroiti. Le opere di IjConardo, Bramante et RaffaMo (Milan, 190G); GiLLET. Raphael (Paris. 1907).
Louis Gillet. Raphael Society. See Emigrant Aid Socteties.
Raphoe, Diocese of (Rapotensis), comprisea the greater part of the Co. Donegal (Gael. Tirconail), in the ecclesiastical Province of Armagh. Raphoe
(Gaelic Rathboth, fort of cottages) was the first of
St. Columba's Irish foundations to become an
episcopal see. The monastery which he founded
there in the middle of the sixth century was renovated
about the year 700 by Adamnan, who succeeded him
in Raphoe as well as in lona. Though Adamnan died
in lona (704) he spent the last six years of his life
in Ireland, and his mother's kindred were the clan
that occupied the Raphoe district. It has been sug-
gested that then, though not before, he may have been
in episcopal orders with a !>edes at Raphoe (Cuimhne
Coluimcille, 12). Be that as it may, for Eunan, who
is venerated as first Bishop of Raphoe and so recorded
by early Irish writers and the ancient calendars, is no
other than Adamnan, whose name has the same pro-
nunciation with Irish speakers. There is no record
,, Glencolumbkil
of a break in the fine of the Catholic succession
in Raphoe. But from the death of Nial O'Boyle
in 1610 to the appointment of James O'Gallagher in
1725, owing to the \-iolence of persecution, the dio-
cese was administered by %'icars except during the
episcopate of John O'Culenan from 1625 to 1661.
The sufferings of this prelate are characteristic of
the times. He was arrested, taken to Dublin, and
twice brought before the viceroy and Privy Council.
About 1643 he again fell into the hands of his enemies.
Along with some prominent men of his diocese he was
besieged by English soldiers and forced to surrender.
Though promised quarter, seventy-two of his fol-
lowers were put to the sword, and the bishop was
given a choice between death by drowning and death
at the hands of the military. Electing the latter fate
he was stripped naked, and as the crossbows and
matchlocks failed to discharge against the kneehng
%'ictim, pikemen were advancing to dispatch him,
when Colonel Sir James Askin arri%'ed upon the scene
and prevented the murder, severely rebuking the
soldiers. The bishop was then confined for four
years in Derry in a dark dungeon where cold, hunger,
and thirst were his portion. In the exchange of
prisoners after Owen Roe O'Neill's victory at Ben-
burb he regained his liberty in 1647. But when the
remnant of the Irish army under Heber MacMahon
was defeated near Letterkenny in 1650, O'Culenan's
life was once more in daily peril. He made his way
out of the country in 1653, and died at Brussels
24 March, 1661. Six brothers, all older than him-
self, held high offices in the Church. The eldest,
Gelasius, a doctor of the Sorbonne and Abbot of
Boyle, was imprisoned in DubUn, tortured, and hanged.
The next Bishop of Raphoe, whose appointment comes
just a hundred years after that of O'Culenan, had
also to fly for his life. In 1734 James O'Gallagher
escaped capture by mounting a horse in the dead of
