18 FEBRUARY 1860, Page 20

RAPHAEL'S " APOLLO AND 3LIB.STAS.”

On the 9th instant, the Emperor and Empress of Austria inspected in the Empress's apartments entitled Belaria, Raphael's famous picture of " Apollo and Marsyas," together with various photographs from drawings by Ra- phael of the same period, and expressed themselves much struck by the rare beauty of this masterpiece. Their Majesties spent a considerable time in comparing it with the photograph from Raphael's original draw- ing for it existing in the Academia di Belle Arti at Venice, and listened with marked attention to the explanations which Mr. Morris Moore gave in reply to the various questions which they put to him concerning its previous history, condition, &c. The Emperor manifested much interest in Mr. Morris Moore's project of once more bringing into imme- diate propinquity, after centuries of separation, the painting and the parent work, by exhibiting them side by side in the Academia di Belle Arti at Venice. Mr. Morris Moore, having expressed a desire to have his Majesty's signature in remembrance of the occasion, the Emperor, on retiring, took Mr. Moore's book of autograph signatures to his apartment, and presently returned it with the Empress's signature beneath his own.