It is a small, lofty room, quite covered over
with frescos of sacred subjects, both on the walls and ceiling, a good
deal faded, yet pretty distinctly preserved. It would have been no
misfortune to me, if the little old chapel had remained still hidden.
We next issued into the Loggie, which consist of a long gallery, or
arcade or colonnade, the whole extent of which was once beautifully
adorned by Raphael. These pictures are almost worn away, and so defaced
as to be untraceable and unintelligible, along the side wall of the
gallery; although traceries of Arabesque, and compartments where there
seem to have been rich paintings, but now only an indistinguishable waste
of dull color, are still to be seen. In the coved ceiling, however,
there are still some bright frescos, in better preservation than any
others; not particularly beautiful, nevertheless. I remember to have
seen (indeed, we ourselves possess them) a series of very spirited and
energetic engravings, old and coarse, of these frescos, the subject being
the Creation, and the early Scripture history; and I really think that
their translation of the pictures is better than the original.
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