SALA DI SATURNO. 
177 
and gentle deportment, the head gracefully bent, and the per- 
fect simplicity and dignified composure, mark a woman of noble 
mind and training. She bears a missal in her left hand which 
as well as the right, is beautifully painted. In the land¬ 
scape, seen between two open arches, is a walled town and 
distant hills. 
Between the windows is a picture, by Giovan Battista 
Franco (1498-1561), of the Battle of Montemurlo, by which 
the Grand Duke Cosimo I. destroyed his enemies, and secured 
his seat on the throne of Tuscany. 
The Sala di Saturno, the ceiling of which is also painted by 
Pietro da Cortona and represents Saturn with Mars, and an 
allegorical figure of Prudence, has to the right of the door on 
entering, the celebrated picture of the Madonna della Seggiola, 
by Raffaelle, painted entirely by his own hand, probably in the 
year 1510, when he was engaged with the fresco of the School 
of Athens in the Vatican. The Virgin is not divine, but she is 
the perfection of womanly beauty and modesty, as well as of 
maternal tenderness. The Child is grand in form and expres¬ 
sion, although the rounded limbs and features, and the clinging 
action, are wholly infantine ; the earnest, yet childlike worship 
of the little St. John is no less appropriate and excellent. The 
composition is simple, the colour rich, and the heads of the 
Virgin and Child are highly finished, whilst the rest of the 
picture is painted with great freedom, yet softness produced 
without scumbling, and leaving the outlines distinct. 
Above this picture is a fine portrait of Cardinal Ippolito de 
Medici, by Jacopo Pontormo (1494-1557). His hand rests 
on the head of a dog, which is painted with much life and 
power. Ippolito was the natural son of Giulio de’ Medici, Duke 
of Nemours, whose monument by Michael Angelo is in 
the Sacristy of San Lorenzo : he was educated by his uncle 
Leo X. ; and although his tastes led him to prefer a secular to 
an ecclesiastical career, he was forced to enter the Church and 
See Passavant’s Rafael von Urbino, vol. i., p. 294 ; vol. ii. p. 294. 
VOL. II.