Raphael by Paul G. Konody — Read

A letter written by Raphael to his uncle Simone Ciarla on the 1st of July 1514 is of incalculable importance for the light it throws upon the master's private life and character. It is written by a man flushed with success, but modest withal -- in the full enjoyment of all the gifts that fortune and his talent and tact have brought to him, but in no way overbearing or boastful. And through it all sounds a note of cool calculation -- in money matters as well as in the weighing of matrimonial chances. He states the amount of his fortune, of his salary as architect of St. Peter's, and of the payments that are to be made to him for "work in hand." And in the same way he refers to an "advantageous match" proposed to him by Cardinal Bibbiani, to which he has already pledged himself, but should it fall to the ground, "I will fall in with your wishes" -- a reference apparently to an eligible matrimonial candidate in Urbino. Nor are there chances lacking in Rome, where, indeed, he knows of a pretty girl with a dowry of 3000 gold crowns! He also mentions with no little pride that he is living in Rome in his own house.

These remarks about his matrimonial schemes take us to one of the most interesting and most disputed chapters of Raphael's life -- his irregular attachment to the "Bella Fornarina," the beautiful daughter of a baker from Siena, which is referred to first by Vasari, and then, in 1665, by Fabio Chigi, and has been treated as mere invention by many modern writers. The evidence collected by Signor Rodolfo Lanciani proves, however, the truth of Vasari's story, and furthermore establishes the name and ultimate fate of the "Fornarina." According to local tradition, three houses in Rome are pointed out as the successive homes of Raphael's "inamorata"; and each of these houses is in close proximity to the buildings, on the decoration of which the master was successively employed. The first of these houses in the Via di Sta. Dorotea is still occupied by a bakery known as "il forno della Fornarina;" the second is in the Vicolo del Cedro near St. Egidio in Trastevere; and the third is the Palazzetto Sassi, which has a tablet let into the wall with an inscription to the effect that "Tradition says that the one who became so dear to Raphael, and whom he raised to fame, lived in this house."