side of her bed sinks back alarmed, almost fainting; the angel in a robe of crimson, with a white tunic, stands before her, half turning away and grasping his sceptre in his hand, with a proud commanding air, like a magnificent surly god-a Jupiter who had received a repulse.

I pass over other instances conceived in a taste even more blamable -Gabriels like smirking, winged lord chamberlains; and Virgins, half prim, half voluptuous - the sanctity and high solemnity of the event utterly lost. Let this suffice for the present: I may now leave the reader to his own feeling and discrimination.

ST. RAPHAEL.

Lat. Sanctus Raphael. Ital. San Raffaello. Fr. Saint Raphael. Ger. Der Heilige Rafael. "I am RAPHAEL, one of the Seven Holy Angels which present the prayers of the Saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the HOLY ONE."-Tobit, xii. 15.

I HAVE already alluded to the established belief, that every individual man, nay, every created being, hath a guardian angel deputed to watch over him: Woe unto us, if, by our negligence or our self-will, we offend him on whose vigilance we depend for help and salvation! But the prince of guardian spirits, the guardian angel of all humanity, is Raphael; and in this character, according to the early Christians, he appeared to the shepherds by night "with good tidings of great joy, which shall be for all people." It is, however, from the beautiful Hebrew romance of Tobit that his attributes are gathered: he is the protector of the young and innocent, and he watches over the pilgrim and the wayfarer. The character imputed to him in the Jewish traditions has been retained and amplified by Milton: Raphael is the angel sent by God to warn Adam: :

"The affable archangel

Raphael; the sociable spirit that deign'd

To travel with Tobias, and secured

His marriage with the seven times wedded maid.”

And the character of the angel is preserved throughout; his sympathy

with the human race, his benignity, his eloquence, his mild and social So when Adam blesses him:

converse.

"Since to part,

Go, heavenly guest, ethereal messenger,

Sent from whose sovereign goodness I adore!
Gentle to me and affable hath been

Thy condescension, and shall be honour'd ever
With grateful memory. Thou to mankind

Be good and friendly still, and oft return!"

This character of benignity is stamped on all the best representations of Raphael, which, however, are not common: they occur principally in the chapels dedicated to the holy guardian angels; but there are also churches and chapels dedicated to him singly.

The devotional figures of Raphael exhibit him in the dress of a pilgrim or traveller, "his habit fit for speed succinct," sandals on his feet, his hair bound with a fillet or diadem, the staff in his hand, and sometimes a bottle of water or a wallet (panetière) slung to his belt. In this figure by Murillo (46), from one of the most beautiful pictures in the Leuchtenberg Gallery, Raphael is the guardian and guide of the votary who appears below a bishop who probably bore the same name.1

Sometimes, as guardian spirit, he has a sword: the most beautiful example I could cite of this treatment is the figure in the Breviary of Anne of Bretagne (A.D. 1500); he wears a pale-green tunic bordered with gold, and wings of a deep rose colour; he has a casket or wallet slung over his shoulder by a golden belt; in one hand he holds a sword, and the other is raised with a warning gesture; his countenance, beautiful and benign as possible, yet says, "Take heed." More commonly, however, he carries a small casket, box, or vase, supposed to contain the "fishy charm” against the evil spirits. (Tobit, vi. 6, 7.)

Raphael, in his character of guardian angel, is generally represented as leading the youthful Tobias. When, in order to mark the difference between the celestial and the mortal being, Tobit is figured so small as to look like a child, and when the angel wears his spirit-wings, and is not disguised, the whole subject becomes idealised: it is no longer an historical action, but a devotional allegory; and Tobias with his fish

Mr. Stirling entitles this picture "an angel appearing to a Bishop at his prayers.”

represents the Christian, the believer, guarded and guided through his life-pilgrimage by the angelic monitor and minister of divine mercy.

There is a small side chapel in the church of Saint Euphemia, at Verona, dedicated to St. Raphael. The walls are painted with frescoes from the story of Tobit; and over the altar is that masterpiece of Carotto, representing the three archangels as three graceful spirit-like figures without wings. The altar being dedicated to Raphael, he is here the principal figure; he alone has the glory encircling his head, and takes precedence of the others; he stands in the centre leading Tobias, and looking down on him with an air of such saintly and benign protection, that one feels inclined to say or sing in the words of the

litany, "Sancte Raphaël, adolescentium pudicitiæ defensor, ora pro nobis!" Even more divine is the St. Michael who stands on the right, with one hand gathering up the folds of his crimson robe, the other leaning on his great two-handed sword; but such a head, such a countenance looking out upon us so earnest, powerful, and serious! — we recognise the Lord of Souls, the Angel of Judgment. To the left of Raphael stands Gabriel, the Angel of Redemption; he holds the lily, and looks up to heaven adoring: this is the least expressive of the three heads, but still beautiful; and, on the whole, the picture left a stronger impression on my mind than any I had seen at Venice, the glorious Assumption excepted. The colouring in its glowing depth is like that of Giorgione. Vasari tells us, that this picture, painted when Carotto was young (about A. D. 1495), was criticised because the limbs of the angels were too slender; to which Carotto, famous for his repartees, replied, "Then they will fly the better!" The drawing, however, it must be conceded, is not the best part of the picture.

The earliest picture of Titian which remains to us is a St. Raphael leading Tobias'; beautiful, but not equal, certainly, to that of Carotto. Raphael, as we might naturally suppose, painted his guardian angel and patron saint con amore2: we have by him two St. Raphaels; the first, a little figure executed when he was a boy in the studio of his master Perugino, is now on one side of an altar-piece in the Certosa at Pavia. Later in life, and in one of his finest works, he has introduced his patron saint with infinite beauty of feeling: in the Madonna della Pesce 3, the Virgin sits upon her throne, with the Infant Christ in her arms; the angel Raphael presents Tobias, who is not here a youth but a child; while the Infant Christ turns away from the wise bearded old doctor, who is intently studying his great book, to welcome the angel and his charge. The head of the angel, looking up in the face of the Madonna, is in truth sublime: it would be impossible to determine whether it belongs to a masculine or a feminine being; but none could doubt that it is a divine being, filled with fervent, enthusiastic, adoring love. The fish in the hand of Tobias has given its name to the picture; and I may as well observe that in the devotional pictures, where the

In the church of S. Marziale, Venice. 2 Passavant's Rafael, vol. ii. p. 6. 150. 3 Madrid Gallery.

fish is merely an attribute, expressing Christian baptism, it is usually very small in the story it is a sort of monster, which sprang out of the river and would have devoured him.

-

All the subjects in which the Archangel Raphael is an actor belong to the history of Tobit. The scenes of this beautiful scriptural legend -I must call it so have been popular subjects of Art, particularly in the later schools, and have been admirably treated by some of the best Dutch and Flemish painters: the combination of the picturesque and poetical, with the homely and domestic, recommended it particularly to Rembrandt and his school. Tobias dragging the fish ashore, while the angel stands by, is a fine picturesque landscape subject which has been often repeated. The spirited little sketch by Salvator', in which the figure of the guardian angel is admirable for power and animated grace; the twilight effect by Rembrandt 2; another by Domenichino; three by Claude; may be cited as examples.

In such pictures, as it has been rightly observed, the angel ought not to have wings: he is disguised as the friendly traveller.

The dog,

which ought to be omitted in the devotional pictures, is here a part the story, and figures with great propriety.

of