Cardinal Montalto was a nephew of Pope Sixtus, and the strongest man,
save the Pope, in Rome. He had immense wealth, great learning, and rare
good sense in matters of art. He was a close friend of the Duke of
Mantua; and to come into personal relations with such a man was a piece
of rare good fortune for any man. The art world of Rome now belonged to
Rubens--all doors opened at his touch. "Our Fleming" knew the value of
his privileges. "If I do not succeed," he writes to his mother, "it will
be because I have not improved my opportunities." The word fail was not
in his lexicon. His industry never relaxed. In Walpole's "Anecdotes of
Painting," an account is given of a sketchbook compiled by Rubens at this
time. The original was in the possession of Maurice Johnson, of Spalding,
England, in Eighteen Hundred Forty-five, at which time it was exhibited
in London and attracted much attention.

I have seen a copy of the book with its hundred or more sketches of the
very figures that we now see and admire in the Uffizi and Pitti galleries
and in the Vatican. Eight generations of men have come and gone since
Rubens sketched from the Old Masters, but there today stand the chiseled
shapes, which were then centuries old, and there today are the "Titians"
and the "Raphaellos" just as the exuberant Fleming saw them. Surely this
must show us how short are the days of man! "Open then the door; you
know how little while we have to stay!"

The two figures that seemed to impress Rubens most, as shown in the
sketchbook, are the Farnese "Hercules" and Michelangelo's "David." He
shows the foot of the "Hercules," and the hand of the "David," and gives
front, back and side views with comments and criticisms. Then after a few
pages have been covered by other matter he goes back again to the
"Hercules"--the subject fascinates him.