ITALIAN SCHOOL. 0000000000 RAPHAEL. oocccooooo CHURCH AT ROME.

ISAIAH.

The prophet Isaiah, who descended from the house of David, lived about 700 years before Christ. He is one of the four to whom has been given the title of Great Prophets, in allusion to the importance of their predictions. Some authors have pretended that Raphael had done this work after having seen Michael Angelo's productions in the Capella Sistina : but this is doubtful. The artist was very young when this picture was ordered by one John Corricius, who, according to a very frequent custom at that period, had made a vow, in case of succeeding in a certain enterprise, to place a fine picture in the church of St. Augustin.

This fact is in part recalled in the dedication written, in greek, in the upper part of the picture:

TO ANNA, THE MOTHER OF THE VIRGIN;

TO THE VIRGIN, THE MOTHER OF GOD;

TO THE REDEEMER, CHRIST:

JOHN CORRICIUS.

As to the hebrew inscription, it is taken from Isaiah, ch. xxvi, v. 2: Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.

This figure is very remarkable there is as much sublime grandeur in it as in Michael Angelo's works: the expression of the head is full of dignity and mildness: the two children who hold up the festoon have the gracefulness of the divine Raphael.

This figure has been engraved, in 1592, by Henry Goltzius; in 1699, by N. Chapron ;and at Milan in 1779, by Giuseppe Cereda.

Height, 8 feet 6 inches; width, 5 feet 3 inches.