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ILLUSTRATED BIOGRAPHIES OF
THE GREAT ARTISTS

ALBRECHT DURER

VON NURNBERG

ILLUSTRATED BIOGRAPHIES OF
THE GREAT ARTISTS.

The following volumeSy each illustrated with from 14 to 20 Engravings,

are now ready ^ price 3J. 6d, : —

ITALIAN, dr'f.

GIOTTO. By Harry Quilter, M.A., Trinity Coll., Cambridge.
FRA ANGELICO. By Catherine Mary Phillimore.
FRA BARTOLOMMEO. By Leader Scott.
MANTEGNA and FRAN CIA. By Julia Cartwright.
LEONARDO DA VINCL By Dr. J. Paul Richter.
MICHELANGELO. By Charles Clement.
RAPHAEL. From J. D. Passavant. By N. D' An vers.
TITIAN. By Richard Ford Heath, M.A. Oxford.
TINTORETTO. By W. Roscoe Osler. From researches at Venice.
VELAZQUEZ. By Edwin Stowe, B.A. Oxford.
VERNET and DELAROCHE. By J. RuuTZ Rees.

TEUTONIC,
ALBRECHT DURER. By R. F. Heath, M.A.
HOLBEIN. From Dr. A. Woltmann. By Joseph Cundall.
THE LITTLE MASTERS OF GERMANY. By W. B. Scott.
REMBRANDT. From Charles Vosmaer. By J. W. Mollett, B.A.
RUBENS. By C. W. Kett, M.A. Oxford.

VAN DYCK and HALS. By Percy R. Head, Lincoln Coll., Oxford.
FIGURE PAINTERS of HOLLAND. By Lord Ronald Gower, F.S.A

ENGLISH,

HOGARTH. By Austin Dobson.

REYNOLDS. By F. S. Pulling, M.A. Oxford.

GAINSBOROUGH. ByG. M. Brock-Arnold, M.A. Oxford.

TURNER. By W. Cosmo Monkhouse.

WILKIE. By J. W. Mollett, B.A., Brasenose College, Oxford.

LANDSEER. By Frederic G. Stephens.

The following volumes are in preparation : —

VAN EYCK and MEMLING. By Mrs. Charles Heaton.
CORNELIUS and OVERBECK. By J. Beavington Atkinson.
CORREGGIO and PAOLO VERONESE. By M. Compton Heaton.

■:'. NOv Ic8i

'^OLZ\b

ALBRECHT DUKER.

From the Paii^tini: bv Himsfif

in the Pmnkiilhek, Munieh.

/ V L

J- I ■ 1

aMI ' ^•>

I . . '

210 . cy . aso . ^-^

" The whole world withoul Art woulii be one great wilderness."

ALBRECHT DORER

RICHARD FORD HEATH, M.A.

«Tft7^

. tit* V81 •!

-iOLEiK

>^y

LONDON

SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON

CROWN BUILDINGS, FLEET STREET

2ia

2.%o . ^-^

Thk DCrer Coat of Arms.

Erratum. — Under Woodcut opposite p. 5i—for "Biograi)liical " read

** Bibliographical."

PREFACE.

THE work of Albrecht Dtirer stands alone at least in one
particular, — that, while it has challenged the admiration, it
has baffled the curiosity, of centuries, and still excites speculation.
In mysterious conception we look for the special characteristic of
his art ; and as to execution, the hand of man could do no more.
One to whom the world listens — the great Goethe — has said : ' I
honour daily more and more the work of a man which cannot
be valued in gold and silver ; of one who, when we know him
thoroughly, has only the first Italians as his compeers in truth,
sublimity, and even grace ; but we will not say this aloud.' Even
if this sentiment be not universally received, yet no one will
deny to Diirer the merit of the new revelation which he gave
to the world.

It is unnecessary to recapitulate in a Preface the reflections which
occur in this brief record of ' one of the simple great ones, gone for
ever and ever by.'

The matter of the following pages has been chiefly obtained from
a careful comparison of Mrs. Charles Heaton's second edition of her
invaluable and interesting Life of Albrecht Diirer with Professor
Thausing's elaborate and exhaustive work, Diirer, Geachichte seines
Lehens und seiner Kunst, I have exercised my own judgment on
matters where their conclusions differ, without entering at large
into any of the numerous discussions, for which no doubt there is
ample scope. I have not found any infonnation elsewhere which
was not to be obtained in these two biographies. The author of
each has sketched the grand figure of Albrecht Diirer with a loving
and reverent hand, and exhibited a spirit capable of receiving the
greatness of the truth which he taught by his work and in his life.

R. F. H.

BiRHOPSWOOD ViCAKAGE,

Juljfy 1881.

PAGE

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Art in the Middle Ages in Germany — Niimberg, its Trade and
Government — Architecture and Sculpture — Albrecht Diirer the
Elder arrives in Niirnherg — His Marriage — Family — Birth of
Albrecht — Character of the elder Diirer — His Portraits — Death
— Albrecht takes charge of his Mother — Her Character, Death,
and Portrait 1

CHAPTER II.

Albrecht's Brothers — School Days — In his Father's Workshop — Early
Drawings — Apprenticeship to Wolgemut — Portrait from Mirror
— Madonna — Michel "Wolgemut — ^Art Factory — Wood Engraving
— The Monogram W — Copper Engraving — Portrait — Deaths
DUrer*8 Wanderschaft — Visit to Venice in 1494 — Sketches —
Landscajte-Painting 9

CHAPTER III.

Diirer's Portrait, 1493 — Return to Niimberg — Marriage — Frey
Family — Portraits of his Wife — Fables about Unhappinees and
Poverty — The Tscherte Letter — Durer's Workshop — Dresden
Altar-piece — S. Vitus Altar-piece — Bangartner Altar-piece —
Imhof Collection — Monogram — Hercules Fighting with the
Stymphalian Birds 16

CHAPTER IV.

Struggles for Relimous Freedom in Germany — Papst-Esel — Diirer's
Apocalypse — ^Wood Engraving — Conrad Celtes — Jacopo de'
Barbari-— S. Eustachius . 24

CHAPTER V.

Portrait Studies — The Great Passion — Drawings of the Passion on
green paper— Life of the Virgin — Visit to Venice — Marc
Antonio — Feast of Rose-Garlands — Giovanni Bellini — Titian —
Diirer at Bologna — Return to Niimberg 32

CONTENTS. VU

CHAPTER VI.

PAGR

Adam and Eve — Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand — Jakob Heller —
All Saints Picture — Madonna with the Cut Pear — Diirer's Ideal
Madonna — Miiller — Plastic and other "Works — Dead Roller —
Diptych for a Private Altar 39

CHAPTER VII.

Copper Engraving — The Copper Passion — Etching upon Iron —
Degenknopf — Diirer publishes his Books — Raphael's Letter —
Munich Portrait of Diirer — Monogram — Camerarius .... 48

CHAPTER VIII.

Maximilian — The Triumphal Arch — Stabius — Maximilian's Prayer-

Book—The Triumphal Car— The Rathhaus Walls 54

CHAPTER IX.

The Netherlands Journey — Antwerp — Quentin Matsys — Kratzer —
Erasmus — Brussels — Roger van der Weyden — Archduchess Mar-
garet — Presents— Coin — Zealand — Narrow Escape of Ship-
wreck — Bruges — Ghent — Jan van Eyck — Madrid Portrait . . 62

CHAPTER X.

Diirer's Position in Niimberg — Reformation — Pirkheimer — Spengler
— Four Temperaments — Melencolia — S. Jerome — Knight, Death
and the Devil— Spalatin — Diirer's Religions Belief — Melanchthon
— Erasmus — Four Apostles 73

CHAPTER XI.

Diirer's Illness and Death — Tomb — Testimony to him from Luther
and others — His Literary Productions — Instruction in Mensura-
tion — Fortification — Art of Fencing — Human Proportion — Food
for Young Painters — Quotations from his Writings — Reflections 86

List of Principal Works —

I. Paintings 102

II. Engravings 106

III. Woodcuts 108

BiBIJOGRAPHY Ill

Chronology 112

Index 113

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Portrait op Albrecht Durer. Painting . . . Frontispiece.

The Nativity. Engraving on Copper 23

Samson Kiluxg the Lion. Woodcut 27

The Conversion of St. Eustace. Engraving on Cupper ... 31

Christ Bearing the Cross. Woodmt 33

Christ Taking Leave of His Mother. Woodcut 35

The Descent into Hell. Woodcut 39

The Trinity. Fainting 43

The Virgin on the Crescent Moon. Woodcut 47

The Great "White Horse. Engraving on Copper 61

Albrecht Durer's House in Nurnberg .54

Portrait of the Emperor Maximilian. Drawinj 59

Christ Mocked. Woodmt 61

The Beheading of St. John the Baptist. Woodcut .... 70

The Knight, Death and the Devil. Engraving on Copper * . . 77

•

St. John and St. Peter— St. Paul and St. Mark. Painting . 84

The Knight and the Lady. Engraving on Copper 91

Christ Driving out the Money-Ch angers. Woodcut . . . . 97

Virgin and Child. Engraving on Copper 101

* Reproduced by A. and W. Dawson.

^^..o^^^^jm?^^

ALBRECHT DURER:

CHAPTER I.

ART IN MIDDLE AOBB IN GERMANY — NtRNBERQ, ITS TRADE AND
GOVBBNMBKT — ARCHITECrtlRB AND BCULPTURE — ALBBBOflT

DUEER the ELDBR ABBIVEB IK HCRNBERO Ht8 MARRIAGE —

PAMILT — BIRTH OP ALBREOHT — OHARAOTKR OP THE KLDBR

DCRER HI8 PORTBAITa — DEATH — ALBRECHT TAKES OHARQE

OP Hia MOTHER — HER CHARAOTBR, DEATH AND PORTRAIT.

THE Germany of the Middle Ages would seem to have been
no home for Art Where nature was so unpropitions,
and society ho barbarous, the marvel is that it found a life at aU.
Yet without the advantages which existed south of the Alps,
without ancestry, without traditions, without nurture — it sprung
up hardy and stroi^, though having an individuality which
was not attractive, responsible alike foi its own merits and
defects. Nor were the political conditions of the country
favourable to its growth. Nation there was none. The strong-
holds of the petty princes, who divided the country and preyed
upon each other in utter contempt of law and right, wore no
nurseries of Art. The free imperial cities of Niirnbei^ and
Augsbui^ were almost the only homes of liberty ; and it is no

2 ALBRECHT DGREK.

wonder, therefore, that they produced the only two men who
ever rose to the highest position as artists — Diirer and Holbein.

With the former city and her renowned son it is that we
have to do, the Kiirnberg whose " hand is in every land " ;
whose workmen in the fifteenth century had the souls of artists
and hands which obeyed their feelings ; whose work went to the
ends of the world. The quaint old city, with its narrow streets,
its gabled roofs, its massive fortifications and noble churches,
stands much as it did in those days, though the foot of the
destroyer is hard upon it now, and the light of the Middle Ages,
which has been kept burning there so long, as over a sacred
shrine, is dyiYig out. Once the centre of manufactures, which
were an expression of thoughtful and lofty minds, her import-
ance and prosperity are now things of the past.

At the beginning of the thirteenth century she obtained from
the Emperor Frederick special rights and privileges, " in con-
sideration," as he says in his great charter, " that she has no
vineyards or navigation, and lies upon very ungenial soil."

Great mechanical activity and improvement in all kinds of
machinery was exhibited in Kiirnberg early in the fifteenth
century. She could boast of the first German paper-mill, and
of Antonius Koburger's celebrated printing-press. In every
branch of industry there were men of skill and renown — watch
and clock-makers, braziers, organ-makers ; but the most celebrated
throughout Europe were the workers in gold who abounded in
the city. Their designs were in themselves works of art, and
they engraved them only on the true metal, the laws of their
guild forbidding the employment of anything spurious. The
rich burghers were proud of exhibiting their wealth in the
jewels with which they decked their wives and daughters, and
most of their household utensils were of gold and silver. It
was said of Kiirnberg, that she had the reputation of governing
herself better than any other town in Germany, on which,
account she was called by many the Venice of Germany. At

nCrnberg in the fifteenth century. o

the head of the Eepublic were three elected chiefs, who had
similar authority to that of the Venetian doges. They were
members of patrician families; but as the Eath numbered
among its forty-two members some of the principal burghers
and eight artisans, representatives of the principal guilds in the
city, the prevailing aristocratic element was modified. The
Eath watched over the interests and welfare of its children, and
everything was done to sustain the reality of the wealth and
intelligence of the people which made Nurnberg what she was.
Her merchants were nobles, who extended their commercial
influence to every country, and were the centre of the life at
home. The great house of Pirkheimer, of one member of which
we shall hear much, was the soul not only of the great city
interests, but also of its culture. The spirit of progress whicli
characterized the fifteenth century found in such a city a
congenial atmosphere. Then arose the longing for the beautiful.
The individual character of the Teutonic mind had revealed
itself in Gothic architecture, which was the mother of sculpture
and the kindred arts. In Nurnberg was the church of S.
Lawrence, rich in decoration, and famed for Adam Krafft's
SacramenU'Hdusldn, There were the statues above the porch
of the Frauenkirche, the celebrated Brautthiir of S. Sebald*s ;
and the Sclione Brunnen, erected by Meister Heinrich der Balier
in 1385 — 96, with its twenty-four statues by another artist, rising
gracefully in the market-place.^ There was, moreover, the Shrine
of S. Sebald, the master-piece of Peter Vischer, the great worker
in bronze, picturing the miracles of the saint, abounding in
forms of every description from the realms of nature or of fancy,
but specially famed for the figures of the Apostles.

^ The statues above the porch of the Frauenkirche, the * Bride's Door '
of S. Sebald and the figures of Electors and Heroes on the Sehone Brun-
neriy have all, until recently, been ascribed to one Sebald Schonhofer.
Modem research has, however, thrown gi-eat doubts on their authorship,
and even on the very existence of Schonhofer.

B 2

4 ALBRECHT DtRER.

Furthermore, Veit Stoss enriched his native city with his
wonderful wood-carvings, which abound both in the churches
and in private houses. The Great Crucifix in S. Sebald's, and
the Sahdation of the Angel in S. Lawrence's, are his. These
and numberless other minor evidences help us to understand
something of the conditions under which Diirer'a mind and
tastes developed.

Into this Niimberg there came upon his wanderings, on the
11th of March, 1455, a young goldsmith. He was twenty-eight
years of age, and bore the name of Albrecht Diirer. His home
lay far away in Hungary at a village called Eytas, a German
settlement. He came of a race of herdsmen; but his father
was a goldsmith, and this the eldest son was following the same
calling, which brought him on this day to Ntimberg, after living
for a long time among the great Netherland artists. It was a
festal day. There was a great dance under the old Linden-tree,
which stiU stands in the court of the Eeichsveste, for young
Philipp Pirkheimer was celebrating his wedding-feast. Albrecht
took it for a good omen. There, amidst so gorgeous a display of
gold and silver, seemed a home for his craft. Yet he could not
dream that in after days his name would be associated for ever
with that of the bridegroom; nor could the bridal guests or
lookers-on see in that unknown idler anything which fore-
shadowed glory to their native town.

He found employment with Hieronymus Holper, a master
goldsmith of repute ; and after serving him for twelve years,
married his daughter Barbara, a beautiful and virtuous maiden
of fifteen. At the same time Diirer the Elder, as he is called,
became a sworn member of the Goldsmiths* Guild as "Albrecht,
Holper' 8 son-in-law," and was made a burgher. The next year
he became a master goldsmith, and then for the first time was
known by his own name.

He took up his abode in a house in the Winkler Strasse, called

ALBRECHT DtRER THE ELDER. 5

the Pirkheimer Hinterhaus, a sort of appendage to the family
mansion. Again fate at a critical moment brought the names of
Diirer and Pirkheimer together.

On the 5th of December, 1470, the only and longed-for son was
bom to the Pirkheimers ; and on the 21st May, 1471, the third
child, and second son, of the goldsmith Diirer saw the light.

Antonius Koburger was his godfather, and gave him the
name of Albrecht. Notwithstanding the difference in rank of
the two children living under the same roof, no doubt they
played together, and then was forged the first link of that chain
which for ever united so closely the two greatest men of
Niirnberg — ^the artist and the scholar. JSTo doubt the soul of the
child Albrecht received in those very early days an elevating
influence in the house of Pirkheimer, though he was but five
years old when his father removed from the Hinterhaus.

Holper's death seems to have improved the position of his
son-in-law, and enabled him to buy a house for himself. It was
Peter Kjafft*s, "No, 493, unter der Vesten, the corner house of
the street. The surroundings of the new house were not without
an influence upon the future artist. It was in the neighbour-
hood of Wolgemut, Schedel, koburger, and Sebald Frey, the
uncle of his future wife.

Albrecht the Elder constantly improved his position by his
own merits, but his means were barely sufficient to provide his
numerous family with necessaries. Frau Barbara presented him
with a stately roll of eighteen children, of whose births, even to
the hour and respective sponsors, he made careful note. Most
of them died young ; still we may readily imagine that the
father's life was no easy one. Little is known of him as an
artist, or of the work done in his shop near the Eathhaus, but
his excellent son says of him : " He had a great reputation with
many who knew him, for he led an honourable Christian life,
was a patient man, gentle, in peace with every one, and always
thankful to God, He had no desire for many worldly pleasures,

6 ALBEECHT DtJRER.

was of few words, did not go into society, and was a God-
fearing man. This my dear father was most anxious to bring
up his children to honour God. His highest wish was that his
children should be pleasing to God and man ; therefore he used
to tell us every day that we should love God and be true to our
neighbours."

As well as describing his father in such words, he has given
us two paintings of him. The first was done at the end of his
apprenticeship, before his Wanderschaft, as if he wanted to re-
pay the old man for his education. The picture is in the Uffizi,
He wears a black cap and brown overcoat. The face and the
hands, which hold a wreath of red roses, are wonderfully life-
like; the expression is earnest and calm, the mouth wonder-
fully firm; the eyes look out clearly from a face of decided
character. At the back of the picture is a sketch of the Diirer
arms — a closed helmet, a bust of a Moor wearing a pointed red
cap and a red jacket slashed with gold, between two golden
wings at the top of two shields. One of these shows an open
golden door on a red ground, the other a white ram on an £izure
field. The former is known to be the arms of Diirer, or Thurer.
The quarterings can only be those of Diirer's mother, and are
doubtless those of the Holper family.

The other well-known likeness of his father was painted soon
after he got home, as if he wanted to give the old man an ac-
count of what he had gained from his Wanderschaft. It is in
the Sion House collection, inscribed " 1497. albrecht thurer
DBR ELTER UND ALT 70 JOR." It was engraved by Hollar in 1644,
when in the Arundel collection.

During the four years in which he had not seen his son, the
face of the father had changed much. It may have been that
this separation from his favourite, and the strain upon his vital
powers, brought the change the sooner. Before DUrer's return the
upright Meister had become a bent, silent old man. Well for
him was it that a grateful son could now step in and help him

HIS MOTHEB. 7

to bear the remainder of the burden of life; and thie Diirer
did nobly.

We are indebted for all we know of the elder Diirer to his
renowned son, whose simple jottings do more to honour the
father than the most finished panegyric. We trace his own
first steps, and get a deep look into the smooth inner life of a
German household regulated by industry, habit, and the fear of
God. There are to be found the secret springs of Durer's power
to express in visible form the longings of a period marked by
struggles for inward freedom. This is why the works of that
time always captivate us, and why the simple words in which
Diirer relates the death of his father charm us. It is because
we become conscious of that deep harmony which exists between
ingenuous spirits. It springs up at first unobserved, and only
when separated one from the other does that good which each
receives come to the surface.

Five years after Diirer completed the last likeness the father
succumbed, not to the weakness of age, but to an attack of
dysentery, " and when he saw death before his eyes, he sub-
mitted willingly with patience." He died just after midnight,
on the 20th of Sept., 1502. Diirer relates how they ran to his
room to awake him, " and before I came down he had gone, and
I am dead with grief that I was not worthy to be present at his
end." On his death -bed he commended the mother to his
son, " whom he had always praised to me, for she was a right
pious woman; therefore I mean never to forsake her."

Faithful to this intention, two years after his father's death
he took entire charge of his mother. He describes the old
woman — ^how often she went to church, how she corrected him
when he did wrong, and how constant was her anxiety about
the salvation of the souls of his brothers and himself. He
cannot praise enough her goodness to every one, her gentleness
under the trials of life, and her good repute. Therefore he
cared for his old mother with affecting attention. During his

8 ALBRECHT DtRER.

prolonged residence in Venice in 1506, he was always thouglit-
f ul for her needs, begging Pirkheimer to tell her to write to him,
and " that she must give herself every indulgence." He warns
the youngest brother Hans that he must not be a burden to her.

At length, after she had lain ill at his house for quite a year,
she felt her last hour approaching. On the 17th of May, 1514,
she gave Diirer her blessing, received the farewell cup, and died.

During her illness, and two months before her death, Diirer
portrayed his mother in a large chalk drawing on the 19th
March, 1514. The sharp, narrow head of the old woman, with
marked, open features, and a marvellously expressive look, have
something attractive in them. The drawing was in the collection
of Ambroise Firmin Didot of Paris. From Durer's description
of her by pen and pencil, she must have exercised a considerable
influence upon his character, his fancy, and his soul-life. Of
other portraits of the father, as well as the mother, which were
once in Niimberg, no trace exists.

CHAPTER II.

ALBRBCHT'S BB0THBR3 — SCHOOL DATS— IN HIS FATHER'S WORK-
SHOP — KiRLT DRAW1N08 — APPRENTIOESHIP TO WOLGEMUT —
PORTRAIT FROM UIRROB — MADONNA — MICHEL WOLGEMUT — AET-

FACTORT WOOD-ENGRATINQ — THE MONOGRAM W COPPER-

ENORAVINQ — PORTRAIT — DEATH — DORER'S WANDERSCHAFT —
TI8IT TO VENICE IN 1494 — SKETCHES— LANDSOAPB-PAIKTIKQ.

IT is uncertain how many and which of the eighteen children
grew up in the house with Albrecht. In 1524, when he
compiled his family narrative, only two were living, Andreas,
the goldsmith, and the youngest, Hans, a painter and pupil of
IKlrer, He probably spoilt this pet of the family, who appears
to have done no good in his brother's absence in 1506. We
fmd him beseeching Pirliheimer to look after the boy and talk
to him, and keep liim straight till he came back. In 1509
Diirer is'advising his mother to get work for Hans, and says,
"I would gladly have taken him with me to Venice, which
would have been an advantage to him and to me sa well ; but
the mother was afraid the eky would fall upon him." Hans
was afterwards courtrpainter to the king of Poland.

Andreas, the goldsmith, was made Meister in Murnbei^ in
1514. Albrecht, to celebrate the event, drew hia portrait on. white
paper. It is in the Aibertina collection at Vienna, engraved by
Burtsch in 1785, and later lithographed by Pilizotti. Albrecht
pwd him his share of the value of the family house in 1518.

10 ALBRECHT DGRER.

At Albrecht'B death he appears again to have got possession of
the house, which he sold twenty years after to an apothecary,
Quintin Werthaimer. Andreas continued to follow his profes-
sion. He had only one daughter, who married a goldsmith.
In spite of Albrecht's fortune, the last branch of the family-
appears to have been in needy circumstances. On this account
perhaps Andreas left NUrnberg to follow his brother Hans, and
settled down in Cracow without permission from the Town
CounciL In 1534 he was ordered to return, which he did.
Four years later the Council gave him letters of recommend-
ation to Sigismund, king of Poland, because there were outstand-
ing debts to collect. It may be presumed, therefore, that Hans
was dead, otherwise Andreas would have had no claims in
Poland, From that time all trace of the Diirer family is lost.

We have touched upon Albrecht's family first, so as to follow
his individual life without interruption.

There is no proof that the two elder children survived their
childhood. Thus the father's hopes were centred in his third
child. He delighted in him, too, because he tried to learn, and
he gave him the best education that he could, imperfect as it must
have been. Printed books were expensive in the fifteenth cen-
tury, and Albrecht had to learn his lessons from a black board.
But free Latin schools were established in many towns, and the
desire for knowledge was great. Albrecht at least learned to read
and write well, and his letters show that he was taught Latin.

It is natural that the father should have destined him for his
own trade. He was taken from school to the workshop, but
there is no record of his work at this time. It is said, however,
that he executed the Seven Falls of CJirist in silver. It must
not be imagined that he learned more than the rudiments of
engraving with his father. His first drawing attempts were in
no way the result of his hours of toil in the goldsmith's shop
under his father's direction ; on the contrary, they appear much

WOLGEMUT. 11

more like work that was surreptitiously done, as indeed it was.
In the British Museum is a sketch of a woman standing, a
falcon on lier hand, and an odd Burgundian cap on her head.
Upon the paper is an inscription, evidently by a playfellow,
" Albrecht Diirer did it for me before he went to Wolgemut's as
a painter, in the back-house, on the top floor, in the presence
of Conrat Lomayer, now dead." In his free hours, too, he
abandoned the Gothic designs for those little figures which
he drew, to the delight of his comrades, in the nooks and
corners of his father's house, or of those of his friends, till it was
forced upon him that he was destined for something more than
a goldsmith. " And now that I could work neatly my incUn-
ation was more for painting than goldsmith's work. I told my
father so ; but he was not pleased, for he regretted the time lost
in learning the goldsmith's work." However, he yielded, and
apprenticed him in 1486 to Wolgemut for three years. Fortun-
ately there are other drawings of Diirer's during his apprentice-
ship to his father, which show that the time was not lost, as the
good old man supposed. His earliest work (now in the Albertina
Collection in Vienna) is the Portrait of Himself , with an inscrip-
tion added later by his own hand, "This I copied, out of a
looking-glass, of myself, in 1484, whilst still a child. Albrecht
Diirer, ^^ This half-length is done with surprising freedom. It
is the face of a sensible, lovable child, in which it is easy to see
the grand man of the future picture. The long hair is cut short
over the brow, according to the fashion of the time. Despite
its boyish imperfections, one seems to see through the large
soft eyes the dawn of a childish melancholy of soul. The point
of the cap is held by three buttons, and on the other side hangs
down in a long fringe, which seems to be adorned with gay
feathers. He wears an open jacket, which he holds together
with his left hand, whilst the thumb and finger of the other
hand point constrainedly to the right.

Interesting as this first picture is, there is another of the

12 ALBRECHT DtJREK.

following year, 1485, which marks still more distinctly the
precocity of the artist. It is a Madonna under a canopy, with
an angel on either side. The Virgin has a long head and high
forehead, and wears a huge crown, in the style of the Cologne
pictures of this date. She looks calmly upon the infant, who
stands upon her knee and embraces her. It bears traces of an
old style in unmixed purity and grace, which is never seen in
his later works. In fact, the contrast is so great that no one
would believe it to be original if it did not bear quite plainly
his oldest mark A. and D. together, and the date 1 485. This
confident handling of the pencil by a boy of fourteen is inex-
plicable. These drawings show a conscious effort and artistic
comprehension which he never learnt in the goldsmith's trade.
They bear the character not only of the art of that period, and
of NUrnberg especially, but the influence of a school of painting
which was none other than that of Michel Wolgemut. From the
inscription upon Diirer*s portrait of his master in the Pinakothek
at Munich, we find that Michel was born in 1434. He seems
to have remained in the Rhine districts after his apprenticeship,
and to have transplanted the Van Eyck influence to Niirnberg.
In the year in which Martin Schongauer of Colmar completed
his Madonna in the Rosehishf Wolgemut first appears in the roll
of Niirnberg citizens. He had married Barbara the widow of
Hans Pleydenwurff, carried on his business, and had to maintain
his step-children. The stern necessities of existence no doubt
made him appear less in the character of an artist than as the
master of an art factory ; still as a painter, the Peringsdorffer
altar-piece in the chapel of S. Maurice ^ and many other works
testify to his skill. He seems to have struck out the path in
which DUrer achieved a reputation for himself as well as for
his master. Least of all can this be disputed in the matter
of those great publications by which Wolgemut became the
founder of the NUmberg school of wood-engraving. For him,

* Now used as a picture gallery.

HIS WANDBRSCHAFT. 13

moreover, and for his studio must be claimed the greater
number of the old copper-plates with the monogram W., which
have been so often ascribed to Wenzel, Even in these, however,
the diflference of treatment and the inequality in single plates
suggest the idea of helping hands, and no doubt he had a large
number of apprentices and assistants; but his was the master
spirit, and it was to Wolgemut that Niirnberg was indebted for
the introduction of the art of engraving on copper.

The best proof of the honour which DUrer paid to his teacher
is furnished by the excellent likeness he has left of him. The
inscription on the picture says, that " Michel Wolgemut died
November 30th, 1519, before sunrise ''-—exactly thirty years
after Dilrer's apprenticeship was completed. It was painted
from the drawing, now in the Albertina Collection, which was
done in or about 1516.

DUrer passes over the time of his apprenticeship with the
remark, that God gave him industry, and that he learned well,
but that he had much to suffer from his fellow - apprentices.
This is all he says. Just as briefly too he passes over the years
of his wanderschaft " When I had served my time my father
sent me away. I was away four years until he called me back,
I went away in 1490 after Easter, and came back again after
Whitsuntide in 1494, which in this year was the 18th of May."
Whither he first wandered, and where he spent those four years,
can only be surmised from scattered traditions and from his
youthful works. Much may be gathered from the sketch-
maps which he brought from his travels. He seems to be
endeavouring to shake off the traditions of the Wolgemut school,
and to retain principally a feeling for the charms of landscape,
the treatment of which he henceforth improved from the
teaching of nature only.

Christoph Scheurl, a neighbour of Wolgemut, says, that Durer
wandered through Germany and came to Colmar in 1492. He
was kindly received by Martin Schongauer's brothers ; but the

14 ALBRECHT DCrER.

master, whom he would have been delighted to see, and whose
influence he had largely imbibed during the time of his appren-
ticeship, had been dead four years.

According to the old trade custom, Burer strayed from town
to town, lingering a longer or shorter time in a place as fancy
directed, working in this or that studio. Though we cannot
find him in 1493, we have two works of his of this date. One is
a miniature in tempera on parchment of the child Jesus ; the
other the large Portrait of Hhnselfy also on parchment. Nurn-
berg was intimately connected by commerce with the city of
the Lagoons, and was familiar with her history. NUmberg
merchants passed to and from her, and were well known in her
factories, and Durer must have longed to see her ; but beyond
what he himseK says in his sketches and letters, we do not know
for ceitain that he was reaUy in Venice in 1494, though we
venture to think that there is ground for assuming that he was.
It is an important fact in his development.

In 1506, February 7th, writing from Venice, he seems to
refer to a previous residence there. The manner in which he
first mentions Giovanni Bellini denotes that he first knew or
learned to value him there ; for he writes further, " He is very
old, and still the best painter," and " that thing," meaning work,
" which eleven years ago pleased me well now pleases me no
more, and if I had not seen it myself I would not have believed
it.'^

Now this alteration in judgment which he finds upon the
evidence of his own senses took place in the eleven years, which
would be from 1494 to 1505, when he was again in Venice. The
same Christoph Scheurl of whom we have spoken seems to
have known of this residence of Diirer in Venice, for he writes
in 1506, "Qui quum nuper in Italiam rediisset .... tum con-
salutatus est alter Apelles '* (" and when recently he came hack
into Italy then he was generally received as a second Apelles ").

LANDSCAPE. 15

We do not know under what influence the young German
apprentice found himself; probably it was under that of the
school to which Jacopo de* Barbari belonged, whose relations
witli Niimberg, as we shall find hereafter, were very intimate.
From this first residence in Venice comes a miniature of a Lion
with the A and D mark, 1494, in the Harz collection at
Hamburg ; it is the earliest copy of a lion from nature by the
hand of a northern artist. Diirer's special study at this time
was landscape. A number of such studies, views of castles and
towns, belong to a journey through the Tyrol into Italy in
1493-4. The view of Insyrug in the Albertina, that of Trient
at Bremen, — that also of Tnent in the possession of Mr. Malcolm
in London, — the Fenedier klawsen in the Louvre, the Welseh
schloss in the Hausmann collection, and other sketches, most of
which are marked by Diirer himself, belong to this series. He
knew that he could only learn the mysteries of ^N'ature from
Nature herself, and accordingly devoted himself to the study
with an energy which is remarkable, considering that he had to
look for profit from his work ; and yet there was none to be
obtained from the sale of landscape-painting. A century before
him the Van Eycks had begun to borrow the backgrounds of
their pictures from nature ; but Diirer went further, and copied
the details in a way which entitles him to be considered the
founder of independent modern landscape-painting. The more,
however, he developed a taste for figure-drawing the less import-
ance he seems to have attached to landscape ; not that he was
indifferent to its charms, for in the Netherlands journey of 1520
he fotind the town of Middelburg "delightful to sketch."

CHAPTER m.

dCbbb's portrait, 1493 — bstdbn to NOBHBBBO MABRIAGB —

fbey family — portraits of his wife — fables about un-

HAFPlHEaa AND F0VERT7 — THE TSCHBBTK LBTTEB — DOREB'B

WORKSHOP DRESDEN ALTAB-FIECB — 8. VITD8 ALTAB-FIECE

BAtTHOiRTKER ALTAR-FIECB — IHHOF CuLLECTlOH — UONOOBAM
— HERCULES FIGHTIKO fflTH THE STIUFHALIAS BIBDS.

DUEEK'S portrait of himaelf in 1493 gives us en idea of his
appeontnce during his wanderachaft. Goethe, who saw it,
describes it as invaluable. It is the pictuie of a gaily-dreseed
youth, half life-size. He weara a purple cap, an embroideTed
shirt, the folds of vhich are tied with peach-coloured ribbons, a
loose blue-grey cloak with yellow strings, and carries in hia hand
a blue flower called " Man's Fidelity." The youth ia handsome,
with an earnest look, and wears the signs of manhood an his
lip and chin. "The whole," Goethe continues, "ia adndiably
drawn and worthy of Diirer,"

The picture, damaged even at that time, has been transfened
to canvas and restored. Only the lower part, with the hands,
show the original painting. It is the boy of 1484 over again,
but more mature. In none of his other portraits la he so
carefully dressed, like a young man of fashion, not a wandering
apprentice. Was the likeness done in Venice f "Why was it
done at all) By his father's commands he returned at the end

AGNES FKBY. 17

of May, 1494; and "when I had returned," he says, "Hans
Frey was in treaty with my father, and gave me his daughter
Agnes and 200 gulden with her, and celebrated the wedding,
which took place on July 14, 1494." Matter-of-fact as such
arrangements were in those days, yet the few weeks between
Alhrecht's return and his marriage could scarcely have been
enough for the arrangement between the fathers. Bather more
probably the elder Diirer was endeavouring to promote his son's
interests, and that the portrait was sent Uh please the bride and
satisfy the father.

The connection with the Freys was advanttigeous to the-Dorer
family. Hans Frey was a man of consideration and property in
and out of the town, and kept ai good house by the Wohidei
Gate. He was not an ordinany man, but " expert in all things."
He understood musicj and had a taste for invention, but was
neither a professed musician nor mechanist. He left at his
death a considerable fortune. His wife, Agnes's mother, was
descended from one of the principal Niimberg families. Diirer
was on excellent terms with them both, and no doubt was
substantially assisted by them. He carefully and affectionately
records the death of each.

We may assume then that Diirer made a capital match. The
bride's personal advantages, moreover, corresponded with her
position and property. The master has left us- many proofs of
this. There- is a sketch in the Aylbertina< Collection, another in
the Kunsthalle at Bremen, the same girlish* face and straight nose.
In the portrait of 1500 she has developed into a handsome
Hausfrau' in a white cap and richly-trimmed dress. In 1504
again he portrays her in the bloom, of her beauty. As we think
of this woman by Albrecht's side, we must confess that a hand-
somer couple never passed through the Brautthiire of S. Sebald.
Yet they were destined for a mark, for the jest or pity of a
future generation, and their marriage a by-word for unhappiness
— an unhappiness which, perhaps, existed only in the diseased

18 ALBRECHT DORER.

mind of his friend Pirkbeimer, and finds its sole expression in a
certain letter to Tscherte, the imperial architect in Vienna, a rough
copy of which is in the Niimberg Library. In connection with
this idea too, and as to some extent the cause of it, there exists
another, equally fabulous, as to Diirer's destitute condition. Let
us see what we know about both of these affairs, so that we need
not be constantly alluding to them. After the marriage he took
her to his father's house, contrary to the Niirnberg custom. They
were living there at least when his father died in 1502. He had
supported the infirm old man, and now took upon himself the
care of his mother and the younger children, no easy matter for
the young master. He writes in 1506 from Venice : "For my-
self, I might not go to ruin ; but to support a number is too hard
for me, for no one throws money away." It is true that, from
remarks in his letters to Pirkbeimer, we might imagine that he
left Venice almost empty-handed ; but soon after he came back
he was able to pay his debts, and redeem a mortgage on the old
home. This place, moreover, did not long content him. In 1518
he became sole proprietor of two good houses in Nurnberg. So
much for what he calls "sheer poverty." The best insight into
his position, his character, and his relations with his wife, is no
doubt obtained from his iBTetherlands diary. There is no trace
of dissension between them. If there is any anxiety about
money, it was with regard to the profitable investment of his
savings. For this reason it was that he applied to the council
of his native town to receive 1000 gulden, and give him interest.
It was from this capital that his widow was able to found a
theological scholarship at Wittemberg, for which Melanchthon
thanked God and lauded Agnes.

Again, as Diirer died without a will, and left no child, the widow
had a right to everything. At her death one-fourth would go to
his brothers. What did she do 1 She had everything valued, gave
up the fourth part at once " of her own accord and good friend-
ship, which she felt for them for her husband's sake, as being their

PIRKHEIMEK. 19

dear sister-in-law." After the valuation she parted with several
useless things, and in doing so committed an error which has had
a serious effect upon her memory. Among DUrer's collections
were several pairs of antlers, one pair of special heauty. There
was a great rage for these things in Niimherg, and Pirkheimer
seems to have caught the infection. There was nothing in
Diirer's possession which he so coveted as this particular pair of
horns. When therefore Diirer's widow disposed of them without
letting him know, he must have written that famous letter to his
friend Tscherte, the architect at Vienna. It was written a few
weeks before his death. His health had been bad for ten years ;
and after Dilrer*s death he had withdrawn'sulkily into seclusion.

This extraordinary letter had no other purpose than to avenge
himself for the loss of these antlers. " Albrecht Diirer,'* he says,
" had some horns, and amongst them a splendid pair, which I
should have liked, but she (viz. the widow) has sold them for an
old song." Hence the anger against poor Agnes which he pours
forth. "She tormented him (Albrecht) that he died all the
sooner, for he was dried up like a bundle of straw, and dared not
go into society." Now we know from Melanchthon that this was
not true in 1520. If, later on, his wife kept him at home for his
health*s sake she only did her duty. But Pirkheimer maintains,
that " she kept him hard at work day and night," only that he
might have the more to leave her when he died ; for she was
always fancying that she would starve, " which she still does,
though Albrecht has left her 6000 gulden."

What we know and shall see of Diirer^s business during the
later years of his life is quite inconsistent with Pirkheimer's
statements. The fact is, that there could be little sympathy
between the man of pleasure and the plain, perhaps somewhat
narrow-minded, burgher wife, of whom he was obliged to confess
that she was no knave, but a "pious and God-fearing woman."

The contents of the latter part of the letter weakens the force
of his accusations against Agnes. The whole world had gone

20 ALBRECHT DtTRER.

wrong with him. The harbarous Turk, the disunited Christians,
all the events of the time, especially those of Numherg, were
depicted in the darkest colours. As to the prominent religious
doctrines, " God preserve all lands " from them, says the man
who was a chief promoter of the Reformation, and who, ten years
before, was included with Spongier in the bull of excommunica-
tion against Luther. Now on the verge of the grave he gives
up his faith and his friend : Spengler shares with Diirer's wife
the fate of being slandered in this- letter, and whatever value
there is in such language as ** he was a man whose deeds con-
tradicted his words, and that his writings were published to suit
both himself and the times, that he was once the good friend of
Pirkheimer and Diirer, but had worn his friends out ; " what-
ever value there is in the one-sided statements about the Reform-
ation period, the same value is there in his remarks about Agnes ;
and this value can readily be estimated.

After Diirer's return home he at once set up a workshop in
his father's house, where he lived for fifteen years with his young
wife, eagerly devoting himself to work, amidst the cares of
his little house, and bearing the additional family burdens to
which we have alluded above. He seems to have followed
Wolgemut's practice of giving sketches to his apprentices to fill
up. Happily, however, there is one work entirely his own, a
triptych — the Dresden Altar-piece. It came from All Saints
in Wittemberg, and is mentioned by Scheurl, and was probably
painted by order of Frederick the Wise of Saxony. It is in
water-colour on fine linen, done in that rapid style which was
natural not only to the German masters, but also to Mantegna
and Veronese. On the central panel is a half-length Madonna.
The figure is slight, the dress blue, with a white veil. The long
face is turned adoringly towards the infant asleep upon a pillow
watched by an angel. Over Mary's head two other angels hover,

EARLY WORKS. 21

bearing a crown. In the foreground two boy angels are busy
cleaning the room. Behind, in another room, Joseph is at work.
From the window is a view of a German yard, with trees and a
waggon. It is a prelude to the description of the home-life of
the Holy Family in the Life of the Virgin^ by which Diirer
made himself immortaL The one wing contains a life-size figure
of S. Anthony the hermit, reading. The powerful head bent
earnestly over the book, the strong knotty hands are very
truthfuL The by-work is carefully drawn — the crown of
roses, and a scarce-noticed little monster by the side. On the
other wing is the half-figure of a suppliant, supposed to be S.
Sebastian.

The )S. Vitiv» altar-^ecey painted a few years later, bears the
electoral arms of Saxony upon the wings. It was in the chapel
of the Archbishop's palace at Vienna, now at Ober St. Veit, near
that city. Probably this also came from Wittemberg. I'he
original sketch is in the Museum at Basle, inscribed by his own
hand, " Albertus Diirer, 1502." The Sebastian in the left wing
is all his, but most of the work is by Schaufelein, who was a
pupil of Wolgemut, and worked with Dilrer till he went to
Venice in 1505. He, more than any other, adopted Biirer's
style, but there were two other men deserving notice, his associ-
ates in these early days, Kulmbach and Baldung, called Grien.
The former worked for the master latsr on. Wiih the latter
Diirer was intimate. He carried some of his works, as well as
Schaufelein's, to the Netherlands to sell. Baldung received a
lock of Diirer's hair at his death, which the family still keep as
a precious relic. These men seem to have been the centre of a
group of painters whose works, the more or less finished school-
pictures, are often confused, one with the other. They were
productions of the early and obscurer school of painting and
drawing in distinction from the later one of engraving. After
the first painting studio was closed, Diirer did not open another
on so large a scale. He abandoned the trade in votive pictures,

22 ALBRECHT Dt)RER.

ambitious of larger paintings by his own hand, till he grew tired
of painting altogether.

The most important production of the early Durer school,
however, is the Baumgdrtner Altar-piece, now in the Pinakothek
at Munich. The Nativity, with a landscape in the background
containing the Annunciation to the shepherds, occupies the
centre. In each wing is a knight with his steed, the one a like-
ness of his friend Stephan Baumgartner,^ for whom the altar was
designed, the other that of his brother Luoas Baumgartner.

This picture marks the transition period between the school
pictures and those larger ones of DiLrer's own. Whatever his
part in these may have been, there is no trace of the inspiration
of the Apocalypse in them. We should get from them no idea
of his style were there not some early pictures from his hand,
which serve as an illustration of his axiom, that " the use of the
art of painting is in the service of the Church to exhibit the
sorrows of Christ, and also to preserve the likeness of men after
their death."

Wilibald Imhof — the grandson of Pirkheimer, and brother to
Hieronymus, Diirer's godchild, who died in 1580 — collected a
number of Diirer's drawings and paintings, together with many
spurious copies. These increased in number under his success-
ors, who traded upon Diirer's name. 'No other master, not even
Eaphael, has been such a source of profit as Dilrer. Hieronymus
tells us, in the * Geheimbuch,' which belongs to the Niimberg
Library, how the trade was carried on. For example, " A picture
of the Virgin on wood, oil, small : " " my deceased father had
Albrecht Diirer's mark painted under it, but it is not certain that
he painted it." So grave were the doubts about the genuineness
of the works in the Imhof collection, that when it was sent fop
the inspection of the Elector Maximilian of Bavaria, who was a
great admirer of the master, he would acknowledge none of them,
but sent them all back without an order for even one. Two

^ Sometimes written Paumgartner.

HIS OWN PORTRAIT. 23

years afterwards the collection was bought by a Dutch merchant
for 34,000 thalers. The * Geheimbuch ' says, " God be praised
and thanked, such a good bargain for us as we dared not expect,
for certainly out of all sold there is not one great work, but
chiefly small things painted in water-colours, and amongst them
many about which it is doubtful whether they were painted by
Albrecht Diirer at all." Still, after careful selection, there are
enough to give an idea of his style.

In 1497 he adopted his celebrated monogram, and the next year
published the Apocalypse. His Portrait of himself of 1 498, there
fore, may be looked upon as a justifiable exhibition of self-com-
placency. He appears in fashionable dress, more splendid than
as a bridegroom five years ago. His hands rest on the parapet
which completes the picture. In the background is a village
landscape girt with a mountain range and snow-covered peaks.
Against it comes out the small head, covered with ringlets, with
a fringe of beard on the face. The colour is pale and the tone
feeble, but the picture is carefully finished. The eyes have the
same look as in the face reflected in the mirror. The original is
in the Madrid Museum ; a copy is in the Uffizi at Florence.

The first picture painted on commission in 1499, -is the
Portrait of Osicald Krell, in the Pinakothek at Munich. A
painting of 1500 must be for many reasons singled out from
DiLrer's works — Hercules fighting with the Stymphalian Birds,
It is now at Niimberg, and has been painted over and varnished,
except in some little places, one of which is a stone bearing the
date and monogram. An outline etching exists at Darmstadt
in the ducal collection. The principal figure exhibits the mas-
ter's knowledge of anatomy in energetic movement and muscu-
lar tension. The greatest pains have been bestowed upon this,
while the landscape is shghtly sketched in. This is one of the
authentic paintings in which the subject is secular, and not a
portrait.

CHAPTER IV.

STRUOOLES FOB REU0I0U8 FREEDOU IN OBBHAHT — PAFST-ESEL

DCREtt'a APOOALYPSB — WOOD-ENGBAVINQ OONRAD 0KLIE8

JACOFO DE* BABBAEU 8. EU8TACEIU8.

THE close of the 15th century found Gennauy in a state of
religious station. TheMwaa a struggle for freedom from
the Papal system. In 1492 the notorious Alexander VI, became
Pope, and Maximilian L head of the Boman kingdom of the
German nation. Bound him flocke<l the estates and princes
ec^er to establish peace, and restore a constitution. The in-
fluence of the Pope in the affairs of Germany was the greatest
obstacle. Whea in 1495 an imperial council iras considenDg
the grievances of the people, the Pope issued a decree against
publishii^ unauthorised books, for he discovered in German
literature a force which was springing up to push him from his
seat. There was a realm, however, which he left unnoticed — the
domain of art. While he adorned his palace with the splendonro
of the Kenaissance, insignificant German wood-cuts were under-
mining the Papal system by speaking everywhere to multitudes
whom writings could not reach. In the front of the aggressive
artists came Wolgemut with his Pap«(-£srf (Pope's-ass), in 1496.
It is inscribed ' Poma caput mundi.' On the left is the Castle
of Sant' Angelo with a flag eveir it, bearing the key« as a device :
on the right the Torre, di Nona, and between them the Tiber.
In the centre is a female monster covered with scales. She haa

THE APOCALTPiE. 25

the foot of a goat and the claw of a vulture ; her left hand is
stretched out to clutch ; a cat's paw serves for her right. From
under a mask shoots out a tail, sprouting into a dragon's head,
and between the shoulders is that of an ass. Only under the rule
of the patricians of Niimberg could this little copper-plate have
appeared.

Meanwhile, hard by, young Diirer was working at his Apoca-
lypse. A year before, in 1495, he had made a sketch of the
Babylonian Woman, for the last but one of his series of wood-
cuts. The drawing is in the Albertina Collection. In the wood-
cut there is a voluptuous woman sitting on the beast with seven
heads, holding the * cup of abomination ' in her right hand.
There is a group of people before her showing little concern in
her presence. There is a king pointing at her as he talks, and
a sleek countryman with a slouched hat staring with horror ; a
soldier and a woman passing flippantly by. The centre figure,
type of the boldest thoughts of the age, stands with his arm
placed firmly on his hip, and gazes at the monster resolutely and
inquiringly, in contrast with a monk close by, who alone pros-
trates himself before the woman. Above hovers the angel of the
18th chapter, and pointing to the city in flames upon the sea-
shore, cries, " Babylon the great is fallen." And the other angel
is casting the millstone into the sea, and crying, "Thus with
violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down." To the
left from the open heaven the * Word of God ' rides forth on the
white horse, followed by the armies of heaven, to establish the
new kingdom. The picture is a revolutionary song — " Alleluia,
for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth."

Even during his Wanderschaft, Dtirer was busy with a plaa
of the Apocalypse. In 1498 appeared the first two editions,
one with a German, the other with a Latin text : — Die heimliche
Offenbarung Johannis, or the Apocalipsis cum Figuris : it was
printed by Durer himself, -and adorned with fifteen wood-cuts.

The first engraving shows the Bnffennge ef ike Evangelist in

26 ALBRECHT DORER.

presence of the Emperor Domitian : the second the Vision of the
Seven Golden Candlesticks, In the third we see the doors of
heaven opened, and the throne of God set in the centre of a
gleam of light. The book with the seven seals is on the knees
of Jehovah. The Lamb who shall open them stands upon it.
One of the four-and-twenty elders around the throne is speaking
to the Seer. Separated by clouds from the celestial scene, and
lying beneath, is a charming view of sea-shore, with trees and
mountains^ castles and towers — a picture of peace, unbroken as
yet by the torments which follow the opening of the seals.

The sequel to this scene is found in the fourth cut, The Four
Eiders. This, one of Diirer's most powerful drawings, has for
centuries commanded universal admiration. He adheres faith-
fully to the sacred text. The riders going forth to execute
vengeance bear, the one a bent bow, the second a sword raised
and ready to descend with a sweep, while the third is swinging
back a pair of scales. The horses are ugly, the men wear fancy
dresses of the period. Death, the fourth rider, a withered old
man with staring eyes, swinging the infernal trident, bestrides a
wretched jade. His legs just touch the ground. Behind him
yawns the mouth of the giant dragon Hell, in the act of swal-
lowing a crowned head. The group on the right represents the
fourth part of men who shall be slain, in characters of the age —
a NUmberg housewife, a sleek merchant, a shrieking peasant, a
terrified burgher, and a tonsured head.

There is no picture so unique in the series, for as a rule Diirer
tries to introduce several subjects in one composition. Thus in
the fifth cut. The opening of the fifth and sixth seals, in the
upper part is The giving of white robes to the inartyrs, the
comforting of those who were slain for the word of God. DiLrer,
in 1521, refers to this subject when he writes of " the innocent
blood which the pope, priests and monks had shed." Below,
on the earth, the punishment of man has begun — emperor, pope,
cardinal, ecclesiastic and layman, young and old^ are stricken

SAMSON KILLING THE LION. BY ALBRECHT DURER.
Frfm tht iVocH Engraving,

THE APOCALYPSE. 27

with terror, and are calling on mountains and rocks to hide
them from " Him that sitteth on the throne," for " the great
day of His wrath has come." In the centre of the picture between
heaven and earth are the darkened sun and moon, and falling stars.

There are also two subjects in the sixth cut. The four
angels holding the four winds, and Tlie sealing of the elect.
The angels are old and thin, not bearers of blessing but
executors of wrath. Their long bony figures and huge vulture
wings proclaim their vocation. Two of thein stand motionless
with hand upon the sword, more powerful in their repose than
a third who is in actual conflict with the winds. In the sky
is the angel bringing the " seal of the living God " in form of a
cross. Another lovely messenger of peace is sealing in their
foreheads the " servants of God," among whom there seem to
be some portraits. The seventh cut represents The giving of the
trumpets to the seven angels, and the plagues following the
sounding of the first five ; the loosing of the Four angeh which
are hound in the great river Euphrates, by him who had the
sixth trumpet, occupies the eighth, the most powerful conception
of the series next to the Four Riders. Beneath the heavy sword-
cuts of the little band rushing on upon their fire - vomiting
horses with lions' heads every one falls. Their mission is
against the third part of men, and they spare neither woman nor
horseman. One is grasping the terrified pope by the shoulder,
a bishop already slain lies behind him, and the emperor is
vainly grasping at his trembling diadem. Only the angels in
their whirlwind career have a right to exist. What is left from
their swords is destroyed by the fire, the smoke, and the
brimstone which come forth from the mouths of the monsters
which carry them.

The ninth cut vainly wrestles with impossible material
Only the head and hands of The cloud-clothed angel of the
\Oth chapter are seen, and the " feet as pillars of tire," as he
offers the Evangelist the book to swallow.

28 ALBRECHT DtBER.

The Woman clothed with the sun is depicted in the tenth,
standing upon the crescent moon, and upon her head a crown of
twelve stars. Near her the seven-headed dragon is threatening
her new-bom child, which a floating group of boy-angels is
carrying up to God. DUrer recognised, by the wings with which
he furnishes the woman " that she might fly into the wilderness,"
that some other than the Blessed Virgin is meant by the text,
probably "The Church of God." The eleventh cut exhibits
the War in heaven hetioeen Michael and his angels against
the dragon. The charming landscape in the lower part of the
picture is a relief to the fierce struggle waging above in the
heaven. The figure of the archangel has always been admired
for the mixture of energy and self-restraint which it exhibits.

The Worshipping of the tioo beasts forms the subject of the
lower part of the twelfth cut, while above sits upon the throne
the Lamb having a sharp sickle in his hand; and angels are
hastening to reap the world's harvest.

The thirteenth crft which, contraiy to Diirer's own sequence,
has been placed as the seventh, is the only pleasant picture of
the series, and comes as a relief after all the terrible things
which have gone before. Diirer purposely does not confine
himself to one subject, in order that he may set forth the joyful
issue of all things, the triumph of the redeemed multitude with
" the Father's name written on their foreheads," and The glory
of the Lainh.

The last two cuts of the series seem like an after-piece of the
great tragedy. The fourteenth. The Babylonian Woman, has
been described. The fifteenth forms the conclusion, and contains
an Angd of vengeance stepping forth to bind " the dragon " for a
thousand years ; whilst above, another angel is showing to the
enraptured St. John the "new Jerusalem couung down from
God," which Durer describes in one of his letters as " the pure
and Holy Gospel which shall not be darkened by human
teaching."

THE APOCALYPSE. 29

In the title-page to the third edition of this series (1511)
Durer placed a vignette representing an Appearance of the
mother of God to 8t, John as he is writing in a book. Perhaps
he wanted to reconcile some who had taken offence at the
apparent slight to her in the tenth cut. At any rate a half
figure of the Blessed Virgin appears there on the crescent
moon, and a crown of twelve stars upon her head.

As regards execution, Diirer introduced a new epoch in the
art of wood-engraving ; not that he engraved the blocks himself.
He did as the rest of the old masters who traced in their designs,
and left professed Formschneider (wood-engravers) to carry tliem
out, though sometimes, it is thought, he attempted the cutting
with his own hands.

He required no colouring ; his skill in the arrangement of
his lights and shades was far more effective than colour.
He had the power of setting forth his meaning with unerring
precision, so that his designs were easil/^ worked out, and this
accounts for his influence upon the wood-engraver's art. As-
regards sentiment, he has given us an evidence of the side to
which he leaned in the religious movement of the day. Drawn
as he was through his intimacy with Pirkheimei into the circle
of the Humanists, of which Conrad Celtes was the centre, he
found no relief there from the fetters of the Church of Eome.
His nature was so entirely religious that it could only find
sympathy with the Eeformers. To the period of his relations
with the Humanists, however, many of his mythological wood-
cuts must be referred. He furnished drawings for Celtes's books
— the Philosophy, Apollo with Daphne, and Apollo in Parnassus ;.
also one of Cdtes before the Emperor Maximilian. Some were
not, however, to the taste of his^ employers, and were unnoticed.
For instance, the beautiful etching of Apollo, in the British
Museum, and that remarkable drawing in Windsor Castle, bear-
ing the inscription " Pupilla Augusta," with the view of Niimberg

30 ALBRECHT DtRER.

in the background, which was probably intended for the title-
page of Celtes's description of the city.

By degrees, however, and for some time, Diirer seems to
have been striving to curb his fancy, and to have sought for
greater reality in the Schools of Nature, of the Antique, and
of the Italian Eenaissance. It is in this period of his develop-
ment that the influence of Jacopo de' Barbari deserves consider-
ation. All information respecting this man seems to be very
defective. He was probably by birth a Venetian, and was
known among NUrnberg artists as Jakob Walch. He resided
in Niirnberg apparently before 1500. Later we find him in
the service of Philip, son of the Duke of Burgundy, and in
1510 he was painter to the Duchess Margaret, Eegent of the
Netherlands. He was dead in 1516. In Venice he was known
as the Master of the Caduceus, and seems to have left the city
for ever soon after the publication of his great map in 1500.
Durer came into contact with him early, for he says that he
found no one " who had described how to take the measure of
the human form, but a man called Jacobus, a native of Venice,
a charming painter. He showed me a man and a woman taken
by measure, so that at that time I would rather have seen what
his meaning was than a new empire. But at that time I was
young, and had never heard of such things." To him and his
Vitruvius, Diirer ascribes his first knowledge of proportion. To
judge, however, from his own figures, Barbari's knowledge was by
no means perfect. DUrer must, it would seem then, have known
Jacopo either in NUrnberg or during that first visit to Venice
which we have before assumed. It was not by accident that
Albrecht, just in those years in which we find Barbari's influence
at work, adopted that style of minute execution of details
which is to be observed in the life-size stag's head in the Paris
library ; the daw's wing in Berlin ; the stag-beetle in the Alber-
tina Collection; the hares and the bouquet of violets, in which only
scent seems wanting. Then there is the Madonna in the Imperial

S. EUSTACHIUS. 31

Gallery, Vienna, and the unfinished Salvator Mundi, which seems
to mark a period at which Diirer was abandoning Barbari's style.

In 1504 his first large panel painting, the Adoration of the
Magi, was completed. It was a commission from Frederick
of Saxony, and now adorns the Uflfizi. The Madonna, a true
German mother, with the charming Infant upon her knee, receives
the gorgeous Eastern sages ; while Nature, even to the flowers,
the great beetle and two butterflies, seems to share in the solemn
devotion of the worshippers.

His largest copper-plate engraving — the 8, EustacMiLS (or 8.
Huhertus ^) — exhibits the same qualities as this painting of the
Adoration, If the great Charm of the picture is in the wonder-
ful landscape, yet the detail of execution and the character and
arrangement of the figures command the highest admiration.
The apparition of a formal stag with a crucifix between its
horns has brought the huntsman from his horse upon his knees.
He kneels there, the picture of a grand convert. The horse
tied to the tree is astonished at the unusual action of his
master, and the hounds wait about in the most perfectly natural
positions. The progress that Diirer was making under the
guidance of Nature is marked in his treatment of animals, and
likewise in his dealing with the human form ; he relies more
and more upon himself, and less upon an imitation of Barbari.
" Albertus Diirer Noricus f aciebat ; " so he inscribes his engraving
of Adam and Eve, in which he shows himself master of his art.
This, with the Satyr Family, the G^reat Horse and the Little
Horse, exhibits his triumph over difficulties which we are but
little able to appreciate, and shows how entirely he had taken
his own course.

^ The same legend is told of both saints. Diirer himself always called
this print '' S. Eustachius," and it is therefore a better title than the more
common " S. Hubertus."

FOBTRAIT BTtmiEB THB GREAT PAB8I0N — URAVIHOB OP THI

PASSION ON OREBN PAPER UPR OP THE VIRQIN VISIT TO

VENICE — UABC' ANTOStO — PEA8T OP BOSE-OABLAMDB — QIOVAKNI
BELLINI — Tiniir — DORIB at bologna — RETDRH TO HCBN-
BBRO.

WHETHER or not we have been right in attribnting to
a fonner reBidence ii> Venice an iafluenw on Diirer'a
development, we are certain of this fact, that for the last ten
years the- great aim of his life had been towards tbo attainment
of the h^hest and the best. His character had deepened, and
the Beli-dependence of which we have spoken had displayed
iteelf. The loss of bis father, and his own sickness, had mnch to
do with tbia. There is a drawing in the British Museum — the
Hmd of the dead Saviour crowned with thorns, the eyes closed
and mouth open, the expression one of intense suffering — which
bears- the inscription, " This I did in my illaess," and the date
1503. There is, moreover, a series of portrait studies, including
the one of his wife, and another of Pirkkeimer, very true to the
life, which date from this time, and which lead up to the various
representations of the Apostles in which Durer so much delighted.
These are proofs of the discoveries which be had made " more
than all other painters together " in their search after the real
and the true.

IRIST BEARING THE CROSS. BY ALBRECHT DURER.
Frem Ihi fVaed EngravingiH " The Great Pasiicn."

34 ALBRECHT Dt^RER.

liowever, to which he has retreated, there is An angel appearing,
bearing a parchment which contains the promise of a child.
Joachim embraces Anna at the golden gate is a touching scene
— that meeting of the old husband and wife. Then follows a
picture of NUrnberg life ; the interior of the room where the
Birth of the Virgin has taken place, and is the theme of con-
versation among eleven gossips who regale themselves with beer,
while the Child is being put into a bath. The fifth cut is the
Presentation of the Child, now three years old, in the temple.
She runs eagerly up the steps of the temple, followed by her
father and mother bearing gifts. The Marriage of Mary and
Joseph is performed by the high priest before ati arched portal
richly ornamented in Gothic style. The bride is a genuine
Niimberg girl, as is also her attendant in the high cap. Into the
picture of the Annunciation there is a strange introduction of
the devil, in the shape of a hog, watching from outside. The
Visitation, which forms the subject of the eighth drawing,
affords an opportunity for the introduction of a beautiful
mountain landscape, and of the half-shorn " Diirer-dog." The
Natioity gives a view of a ruined stable, with the Infant in a
basket, the object of adoration by its mother and by angels.
]S'owhere has the subject of the Adoration of the Kings been
more happily treated than in the next cut, the tenth of the
series. In place of the stable is a castle ruin, upon some frag-
ments of which the Virgin is sitting happy with the Child upon
her lap, who turns half playfully to the kingly old man kneeling
before him. The second king is delaying his offering so as to
encourage the third who is a Moor. Then follow the Circum-
cision: the Presentation in the Temple; and the Flight into
Egypt, which has the character of Martin Schongauer's drawing
in the palms and exotics, and even in the shape of the donkey.
But the most charming of the series is the Rest in Egypt, a
picture of domestic happiness and repose. Joseph is at work,
and a group of little angels, playing naturally about, gather up
the shavings. One has the workman's hat upon its little head.

CHRIST TAKING LEAVE OF HIS MOTHER. BY ALBRECHT DURER.
Fivm tit Wood EngravtHg in " The Z^ft ef tki Virgin."

IN VENICE. 35

The building in the back-ground is a strange mixture of wood
and stone, with an introduction of work that looks like a piece
of Diirer's own house in Nurnberg. Joseph is stopping for a
moment to look at the Child in the cradle rocked by its mother,
who sits happily spinning beside it. There are two grand
angels watching over this charming scene of family life. In the
next cut we see Jesus disputing in the Temple, and then follows
the scene of his Parting with His Mother, after years have
passed, before his last journey to Jerusalem. The Virgin has
grown old now. The Son, a majestic figure in flowing dress,
turns to bless her. She is wringing her hands in despair, and
breaks down with the weight of her agony.

When Diirer went to Venice in 1505, sixteen out of the
twenty cuts of this series were finished. The Christmas^ an
engraving representing the birth of Christ, has the date 1504, and
is in the same style as if it were a part of the Life of the Virgin,
The last two of the series, the Death of the Virgin and the
Assumption (of which there is a drawing in the British MuseUm),
dated 1505, were designed but not completed at this time.

According to Vasari,. the cause of Diirer's visit to Venice was a
suit against Marcantonio Eaimondi respecting these woodcuts.
The only interdiction which the Signoria granted, however,
was against the use of his monogram. On the later editions,
therefore, of the copies of Diirer's Little Passion, Marcantonio
left a plain tablet which he oftener used than his own monogram.

In his letters from Venice to Pirkheimer, which are interesting
inasmuch as they afford some slight idea of Venetian art society,
though they are mainly filled up with trifles connected with his
friend's affairs, Diirer describes the Italian painters as hostile to
him. They were given to copying his engravings and wood-cuts,
though they reviled his art and said it was " not antique." Some
say that he went to Venice to escape the plague in Kiirnberg, others
to sell his works and obtain commissions. One acknowledged aim
was an order for an altar-piece for the church of San Bartolommeo,
which came probably through Pirkheimer's friend Kolb, one of

D 2

36 ALBRECHT DtJRER.

the great German merchants connected with the Fondaco de*
Tedeschi. This building had been burned down in 1504-5, and
the rebuilding was entrusted to a German named Hieronymus.
In Diirer*s first letter, Jan. 1506, he says, ** I have to paint a
panel for the Germans for which they give me 110 gulden."
He did not apparently know his worth at this time, for he says
later that he would have done better to refuse the commission.
Crowds of Italians came to visit his studio, and the nobles were
friendly to him, but his art brethren were mostly jealous. On
Sept. 8th he writes to his friend : ** My panel says it would give
a ducat for you to see it ; it is so good and beautiful in colour. I
have got much praise but little profit from it. I have silenced
all the painters who said that I was good at engraving but could
not manage colour. Now everyone says that they have never
seen better colouring." It was finished on Sept. 23rd. The sub-
ject of the picture was the Feast of Rose Garlands ; it is now in
the monastery of Strahow, near Prague. The Madonna, holding
the Infant Saviour, sits upon a throne in the midst of a pleasant
landscape surrounded by the founder of the feast, S. Dominic,
and groups of men and women kneeling who are being crowned
with wreaths of roses by numberless little angels. In the centre
Pope Julius II. receives his garland from the Infant, while Mary
places a wreath upon the head of Kaiser Max. There are many
familiar Diirer faces in the assembly, likenesses of some of the
leading German merchants. Hieronymus the architect is, no
doubt, that thin man with the rule in his hand. Apart from the
scene are the figures of Wilibald Pirkheimer, and Diirer himself
with a scroll bearing the inscription, "Exegit quinquemestri
spatio Albertus Diirer Germanus M. D. VI." In the distance
the eye rests upon the fortress and castle of Niirnberg. The
composition is masterly, but the painting has suffered much.

When Diirer announces the completion of this work to
Pirkheimer, he tells him of another picture " the like of which
he had never done." Probably this was Jesus among the Doctors^
now in the Barberini Palace in Eome, a picture with seven half-

FRIENDSHIP WITH GIAN BELLINI. 37

figures done in five days ; it seems intended for a great study in
hands ; those of the Christ are the main feature of the picture.
This painting has an historical interest, as showing the sympathy
hetween the genius of Leonardo da Vinci and that of Diirer. In
spite of the rapidity of execution, the minuteness of detail is
remarkable, especially in the beard of one of the Pharisees.
Diirer's hand was ready at such work. There is a pretty story
told of old Giovanni Bellini, whose friendship with Diirer was
most interesting. He wanted to get at the mystery of DUrer^s
fineness of touch, and once begged particularly for one of the
brushes with which he painted hair. DUrer produced his stock,
and placed them at his friend's disposal. The old man, however,
did not find among them the particular brush which he expected,
and asked again. Diirer, however, assured him that it was a
brush of the usual kind which he always used, an(J to prove it
took up the first that came to hand and rapidly painted a lock
of a woman's hair in such a manner that Bellini afterwards
declared he would not have believed it had he not seen the work
done. DUrer speaks in his letters with admiration and affection
of Bellini, whose acquaintance he made soon after his arrival in
Venice. " Gianbellini," he says, " has praised me much before
many of the nobles. He wanted to have something of my work,
and came himself to ask me to do something for him, and he
would pay well. Everyone tells me what an honourable man
he is, and that he likes me ; he is very old, and still the best
painter." There was Titian too, a young man at this time, upon
whom the presence of DUrer must have had some effect, and we
even seem to trace in his celebrated Tribute Money an inspiration
from the NUmberg painter, though of course it far surpasses all
the German's work. There is a wonderful example of this minute-
ness of style in the Dresden Christ on the Cross, dated 1506.
The open mouth shows the teeth and tongue at the moment of
uttering the words, " Pater, in manus tuas commendo spiritum
meum," which appear in the inscription.

38 ALBRBCHT D^RER.

In one of his letters Diirer says that he has sold almost
all the panels which he had taken with him, and had plenty of
commissions in Venice ; but he seems to have carried out only
one of his intended excursions to other parts of Italy from which
he hoped to have obtained some profit. His friend Scheurl
tells us of his visit to Bologna, and was an eye-witness of the
reception which was given him ; how they reckoned him first
among painters, and declared that they should die more happily
after their long-wished for sight of Albrecht.

Diirer left Venice in 1507. His letters to Pirkheimer were
found in a room which had been walled up in the house of
Wilibald Imhof, which came into the possession of Christoph
von Haller in the middle of the last century. Another letter
was found in the British Museum. The first five speak of
domestic cares and anxieties which followed him to Venice,
and he repeatedly expresses his gratitude for his friend's help,
who had provided him with money for his journey. Pirk-
heimer gives him numbers of commissions for classical books,
carpets, glass, crane-feathers — " fool's feathers," Diirer calls them
— ^to put in his hat, and especially for precious stones. Diirer's
mode of writing was very peculiar, but shows a freedom of style
and intimate knowledge of his language. His nature thawed
under the Italian sky, and he constantly deferred his departure,
dreading to return to NUrnberg, where he says that he should
only be a hanger-on. " How cold I shall be after this sun,** he
says. "Here I am a gentleman." Unhappily Pirkheimer's
letters with one exception are wanting, but this one proves that
he wrote in Latin, which assumes Diirer's familiarity with the
language. Indeed the artist mixes up bits of Latin with Italian
and German in his correspondence in an unmeaning way ; still
we are able from these letters to get a fair idea of his literary
attainments which were considerable, and it is necessary to
remember that he was an author and a scholar as well as an
artist.

'*:;-:":"*^r-",.q^^^^3itV

.. ^-^^-^ . -, . ' ,..'?. .^„^

.j'^.-— ,<-

W^4

l^p^

^p^^^

^I^^^SP

THE DESCENT INTO HELL. BY ALBRECHT DIJRER,
/>w« tit WteJ S»grai-iHg in " Tht Great Passien."

CHAPTER VL

ADAH AND ETB — MARTYRDOM OF THB TSN THOUSAND — JAKOB
HELLER — ALL SAINTS PICTUBE — MADONNA WITH THE CUT FEAB

DVREb's ideal madonna — MULLER — PLABTIO AND OTHER

WOBKS — DEAD ROLLER— DIPTtCH FOR A PKIVATB ALTAB.

WHILE in Venice Durer took advantage of hia oppor-
tunities of studying from the nude, aud on his return
saenis to have devoted his powers to competition with the great
Italian masters on their own ground. H.h Adam and Mve oi 1507,
painted on wuoden panels, are the most perfect nnde figures
which then had come from the hand of a northern artist. The
original paintings were in the Kathhaus at Kiimbeig, and thence
came into the possession of the Emperor Budolph II., copies
being put in their place, which the French carried off in 1796, and
presented to the town of Mainz, where they are still shown as a
Diirer-treaaure. The or^pnals, however, found their way to Flor-
ence, or, aa Passavant maintains, to Madrid. From the numer-
ous sketches which he made for these paintings, some of which
(those for the Eve) are in the British Museum, we may judge of
the labour which he bestowed upon them. The position of
Adam is the same as that of his engraving, except that the head
is raised and the lips patted in delight, so that the tongue is
visible. He holds in his left hand the branch with the apple

40 ALBRECHT DtJRER.

on it which Eve has given him, stepping forward with a smile
upon her face. He was soon employed upon another painting
which contained a throng of figures, the Martyrdom of the ten
thottsand Saints, under king Sapor II, It was painted for
Frederick of Saxony, and is now in the Belvedere Gallery at
Vienna. He writes to Jakob Heller, a rich merchant of Frank-
fort : "I have heen troubled with fever for some time, and
have therefore been hindered in my work for Duke Frederick
of Saxony for several weeks, which is a great loss to me, but
now I shall be able to finish his work, which is more than half
done.*' On March 19th, 1508, he reports that in fourteen days
it will be finished. " I wish you could see my gracious master's
panel, I think it would please you. I have worked at it for
almost a year, and got little profit from it, for I do not receive
more than 280 Rhenish gulden for it, and have spent almost
that over it." The representation of death in its most cruel
forms is not fascinating, but the grouping and variety of attitudes
afford an opportunity for the exhibition of the greatest skill, in
foreshortening especially. Pirkheimer and the artist are uncon-
cerned spectators ; the latter dressed in black holds a flag with
the inscription, " Iste faciebat anno Domini 1508 Albertus DiLrer
Alemanus."

On the 24th of August, 1508, Diirer writes to Jakob Heller :
" I beg you will offer the picture of the Virgin which you saw
here to anyone whom you know requiring a panel. If a suitable
frame is put to it, it will be a pretty panel, for you know it is
carefully done, and you shall have it cheap. If I had to do it
for anyone I would not take less than fifty gulden, but as it is
finished it might be damaged here. Therefore I authorise you to
let it go for thirty gulden, but it should go for twenty-five rather
than remain unsold. I have spent much upon it, and have lost
many a meal through it." Later he withdraws his offer in these
words, " You need not look for a purchaser for my picture of the
Virgin, for the Bishop of Breslau has given me seventy-five

THE CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN. 41

gulden for it ; I have sold it "well." This was prohahly the
Madonna with the Iris in the Prague Gallery.

But this picturo will not bear comparison with another to
which he next devoted his attention, the Coronation of the
Virgin, an altar-piece which he executed for Jakob Heller.
It was to be set up in honour of St. James and St. Catherine,
the patron saints of Heller and his wife, in the Dominican
Church at Frankfort. Heller had much intercourse with
NUrnberg, and found Durer after his return from Venice eager
to undertake such a painting. The design originated with
Heller, and the work was undertaken for 130 Rhenish gulden.
The painter spent so much time over the centre picture, that he
felt compelled to ask two hundred gulden. The merchant had
made his bargain, however, and was not disposed to alter it, and
wrote to reproach Diirer with not keeping his word. Diirer
replies that of course he had rather hold to the contract than that
any ill-feeling should arise, but he says that all artists value it
at three hundred gulden, and that he would not take even three
times that money to paint such another picture. He pledges
himself to do every stroke of it himself, and was more pleased
with his work than any he had done before, and he had rather
it should go to Frankfort than any other place in Germany.
So it was finished and sent off in August, 1509, done with the
best colours he could get, and painted in some parts many times
over so that it might last for a long time. " I know," he says,
" if you keep it clean, that it will be clean and fresh for 500
years, for it is not done as people usually do their work, so take
care of it, and don^t let people touch it or sprinkle holy water
upon it." The picture remained in the church for a century,
and brought the monks a goodly income, and then Maximilian
of Bavaria became its possessor. It perished in a fire at the
Munich palace in 1674. A copy done by a good Niimberg artist,
Paul Juvenel, took the place of the original; it gives an idea
of the loss sustained, but there are evidences in Durer's own

42 ALBRECHT Dt^RER.

hand of its character. He made more numerous studies for it
than for any other picture. Every hand and head and every
piece of drapery was a study from nature. Diirer meant to com-
plete his reputation as a painter by it. He seems to have left
the side-wings to his pupils, among whom was his brother Hans,
for Heller gave him two gulden for Trinkgeld. The inner wings
represent the martyrdom of the Saints James and Catherine,
and in the lower parts of the panels beneath their respective
patron saints are likenesses of HeUer and his wife. The frame
as well as the picture was from Dilrer's designs, and it was
constructed under his direction.

When the Heller altar-piece was furnished, Diirer set to work
upon the All Saints picture, which is now in Vienna in the
Belvedere. It has survived, while the Frankfort picture, whose
immortality the artist foretold, has perished. The colouring is
still bright and the leaf-gold untarnished, but the precious
ultramarine, which was Durer*s favourite colour, has suffered.
The first sketch for this picture was done in 1508. The paint-
ing, an altar-piece, was destined for the chapdl of " The House of
the Twelve Brothers," or Landauer Monastery, an almshouse
for aged citizens of Numberg founded in 1501 by two benevo-
lent burghers, Schiltkrot, and Landauer. The All Saints
picture, or as it has commonly been called, the Adoration of
the Trinity, like KaphaeFs Dispnta del Sacramento of about
the same time, is a glorification of the Eoman Church, and the
last from a German hand before the Eeformation. It is in-
teresting to note the different methods in which these two
renowned painters have treated the same subject. In the centre
of both paintings the Trinity is the object of adoration, in the
first place by the Blessed Virgin and by Jdin the Baptist ; but
Eaphael has in view simply the idea of the Eoman Church as
the spiritual head of the whole Church on earth. The apostles
and saints are seated in dignified oonclave around the throne of
the risen Christ, the theologians and fathers form a lower circle,

THE TRINITY. BY ALBRECHT Di)RER.

In the Bdvalere, yiciiim.

THE ADORATION OF THE TRINITY. 43

and are disputing with regard to the Holy Sacrament. Diirer's
painting, on the other hand, for the ahnshouse founded by the two
!Niirnberg coppersmiths, has for its object the revelation of the joy
in heaven over the redemption of the creature by the mystery of
the suffering of the sinless One. God the Father is enthroned in
Majesty, and holds forth the Cross on which the Saviour hangs
to the gaze of an adoring multitude of martyrs of the New Testa-
ment, chiefly women, at whose head is the Virgin ; while on the
other side John the Baptist leads the host of Old Testament
worthies. The Church militant and suflering is depicted with the
pope at its head. One cardinal is turning to encourage the modest
founder Landauer to come forward, who is humbly kneeling
with his household in his train. ^ The opposite side of the
picture is made up of other classes of men — emperor, burgher,
and peasant with a flail in his hand. There is a lovely coast-
scene. On the right Durer has put in a portrait of himself
holding a tablet, with the inscription that Albertus Diirer of
NUrnberg did it in 1511. He sketched a frame for this altar-
piece, too, rich in detail and ornament, and of antique design.

The picture remained in Niirnberg for nearly a century, and
then like the Adam and Eve became the property of Eudolph 11.,
who obtained it from the Eath.

In this series of Durer's great paintings we must include a
small but perfect one, the Madonna with the Pear, dated 1612,
which hangs in the Belvedere at Vienna. The Virgin, in blue
dress and white veil, is gazing with motherly tenderness upon
the Child in her arms, which has a piece of pear in its little
hand. This is one of the most perfect of Durer's Madonnas,
and exhibits clearly his idea of the Virgin. Unlike the Italian
masters, who always depicted a maiden in the graceful beauty of
eternal youthfulness, he delighted in her relations to the Infant.
She is generally occupied with Him. She is not so much an

1 A pencil-sketch of Landauer's profile marked with Durer's hand,
Landawer styfter, 1511, is in the coUectioQ of Mr. W. Mitchell.

44 ALBRECHT Dt^RER.

ol^ject of adoration as a Numberg mother full of natural instincts.
As we saw in the Life of the Virgin, she is born amidst the
prattle of NUrnberg gossips, dresses like a burgher's wife, and
rocks the cradle or sits at her work as any other matron. She
knows but one feeling, her love for the Child which grows with
His growth, and feels the burden of sorrow which increases with
the development of His destiny. The angels about the Child
are as natural as Himself — little children full of fun, and always
busy at their play.

After 1512, the careful style which Diirer had adopted was
abandoned, and he gave up with a sense of disappointment
the practise of panel-painting for some time. It was only after
his Netherlands journey in 1520 that his ambition was again
aroused to emulate the wonderful colouring of the Flemish
School. To that period belong many carefully-painted like-
nesses and the large picture of the Four Apostles which was
done for his native city.

We are brought now to consider the numerous works ascribed
to Diirer in hone-stone, ivory, and other materials, most of
which bear his monogram, but nothing more. They are crea-
tions of a much later date, and designed only to fill up the
collections of the curious. It is true that Diirer had a reputa-
tion as a sculptor even among his contemporaries, and so he
had as an architect, but we have seen how little remains which
can enable us to form an independent judgment. So is it in the
matter of sculpture. The most famous works, and those which
bear marks of the greatest authenticity, are the high-reliefs in
hone-stone representing events in the Life of John the Baptist.
They are the Visitation, which is in the episcopal seminary at
Bruges ; the Birth of St. John, in the British Museum, dated
1610, and having the monogram; and the Preaching in the
Wilderness, in the Brunswick Museum.

There are four similar reliefs in Vienna, representing events

SCULPTURE IN BRONZE. 45

in St. John's life, but marked with a monogram S and G
intertwined — that of Georg Schweigger, a sculptor and metal
caster of considerable repute in Niirnberg in the seventeenth
century. Three of these reliefs certainly are of the Diirer
type, and derive their character from his woodcuts. And
in Berlin there are portraits of Pirkheimer and Melancthon,
done in metal by this same Schweigger from Diirer's engravings.
These carvings are in strong contrast to the perfect execution
of a small silver plate, which bears marks of being really
Durer's work. It is a low-relief of 1509, cast in silver, repre-
senting a female figure, and exhibits many points peculiar to
Diirer. It is on one of the corners of a satchel, and appears
to have been a present from Diirer to Helena Imhof on her
marriage. The work may have come from his brother's work-
shop, and may have been done from a design which he
supplied, for he could not have imdertaken such a commission
himself, interested though he was in metal-work, and familiar
with it from the time which he spent with his father.

Whether Diirer tried his remarkable skill in the production
of other plastic works must be left undecided. The authorship
of many medallions which bear his monogram is still more
questionable. The most valued are a portrait of his father, which
is said to have been done in 1514, another of his wife, and a
profile of Wolgemut. Towards the end of the 16th century, the
practice of coin-collecting came into vogue in Niirnberg, and it is
not surprising to find that Durer and his friends were favourite
subjects. The idea that he interested himself in such work is
refuted by an answer which he gave in 1509 to the Elector
Frederick, who sent to him for advice upon the casting of some
coins — " he did not trouble about such things, and could give the
Elector no satisfactory information." There are many evidences
that he was good-natured enough to supply all sorts of designs
to goldsmiths and others, and his brother Andreas's workshop
was open to him if he wanted to try Ms hand, but no actual

46 ALBRECHT Dt^RBB.

encroachment upon the rights of the Goldsmiths' Guild would
have been permitted, and metal-working was subject to special
superintendence. In his Netherlands Diary he speaks of draw-
ings for a woman's frontlet which he made for an Antwerp
goldsmith; at another time of designs for dagger-handles.
There are also goldsmiths' designs in Bremen and in the British
Museum, but there is no need to add anything doubtful to a
list of works which he actually performed, so numerous and
so varied as to excite the greatest wonder.

In Vienna there is a memento of his skill in painting on
glass; it represents the Holy women imiling over the body of
Christ. Durer never gave up miniature painting in tempera
upon parchment and paper, but he used it chiefly in copying
plants and flowers and animals from Nature, in which he tried
to rival her. It is difficult to draw a line between his genuine
yfoik and the multitudes of pieces attributed to him in the
Albertina Collection at Vienna, in Bremen, and in England. In
the Albertina Gallery there is a master-piece, The Dead Roller
(corracias garrula), a bird of most beautiful plumage, and a second
drawing of one of its wings. These are dated 1512. There are
also in the Berlin Museum the wings of a Nut-pecker, and single
feathers of the same bird, together with other drawings which
exhibit a beauty of execution beyond description.

The Wing^ of a Jay — a tempera drawing signed and dated
1524, the property of Mr. Alfred Morrison, is another mar-
vellous example of Diirer's powers of miniature painting. It
attracted much notice at the Exhibition of Works by the Old
Masters in 1879.

A remarkable specimen of Diirer's exquisite fineness of paint-
ing is a grey diptych for a private altar, dated 1510. It repre-
sents CJirist leaving the tomb, and the parallel of Samson
slaying the Philistines with the jaw-bone. It is first mentioned
among the pieces in the Imhof collection, and appears to have
been sold to Eudolph II. It was in the Imperial Gallery at

DIPTTCH, 47

Yienna in 1783, but soon after that the one part, depicting the
Besurrection, eeema to iLave been separated from the rest. It is
now in the AJbertina GaUery ; the other half ia iu Paris, in M.
Hullot's possession. Each of the sides consists of three divisions,
bordered by Renaissance devices. The uppermost part contains
the principal subject inclosed in an arch springing from pillars.
The inscription on the tablet, " Albertus Diirer Norenbergeasis
faciebat post Yirginis partum 1510," and the monogram are an
evidence of the value which the artist put upon this, the finest
specimen of his linear drawing. He ouly used this form of
marking for his best pictures.

^iS^j-^^fi^-

CHAPTES VII.

OOPFER XHORATIHO THE COPPER PASSION — BTOHINQ UPON IRON

— DBOBNKNOPF — DCRBR PUBLiaHEB HI8 BOOKS — RAPHAEL'S
LETTER — KDNICH PORTRAIT OF DURBR — MONOGRAM — CAMBRA-
RIDS,

DUKER was not yet content with his achievements in the
art of copper-engraTing. He devoted himself to obtaining
a atill finer and freer use of hia graviog-tools, and at the aame time
Bought out every method of peifectii^ his work. After his
return from Venice, as we have aeen, he partially laid aside the
graving-tool, and occupied himself with panel-painting, thinking
thereby to improve his position la 1507, however, he com-
pleted only the first plate of his Copper Paseion, the Desffnt
from the Cross ; two others followed in the nest year. Ten of
the sixteen plates of which it conaists are dated 1513; the last,
Peter and John healing thi Lame Man, was added the next
year. This, as distinct from the Great and the Little Passion,
is less known perhaps, but is in no way inferior to them. The
frontispiece represents the Man of Sorrows standing by a pillar
with his arms crossed upon his breast, and holding in the one a
aconite, in the other a reed. Through an arch upon a distant
hill are seen three crosses. It is followed by The Agony ; The
Betrayal; Christ before Caiaphas ; Before Pilate ; Scourged;
Mocked; The Ecce Homo; Pilate washing his Hands; Christ

ETCHING ON IRON. 49

hearing the Cross ; The Crucifixion ; The Descent from the
Cross; The Entombment; The Descent into Hell, In this
grand plate, as Mrs. Heaton beautifully describes it, he "has
entirely departed from the conventional method of representing
hell." He is releasing " not disembodied spirits, but real men
and women, . . from the chain of their sins. . . The figure of
Christ here is very grand. . . The principal idea that this figure
conveys to the mind is that of help — power to help — help to
ascend from the underground abodes of doubt, darkness, and
despair towards the blessed light of God's love." He is
" preaching to the spirits in prison,** as S. Peter describes
him. This plate is followed by the Resurrection y and the last
plate Peter and John, which is mentioned above.

In 1510 Diirer made many experiments which were destined
to be of great importance in the future of the art of engraving.
His first attempt at a lighter and freer style is the 8, Veronica
with the handkerchief ; the Man of Son^ows; S. Jerome with
the Willmo ; the Holy Family by the wall, all executed with
the dry point.

Etching upon iron was by no means unknown to DUrer, and
in the growing taste for ornamented armour he found a rich
field for its employment. This may be assumed from three pen
and ink drawings for armour, dated 1517. So far as we know he
was the inventor of the art of etching with aquafortis. Professor
Thausing is of opinion that he employed it on copper-plates in
1510-14, but finding that the acids were not strong enough, and
that the plates required so much labour in touching up with the
dry needle, he gave up and tried etching upon iron, which suc-
ceeded perfectly. The brittleness of the metal, however, did
not admit of the delicate perfection which would satisfy Diirer.
Moreover, it was liable to rust. About 1514 he seems to have
adopted a method which combined the old style of working with
a dry needle and graving tool only, and his later discovery of the
use of acid. He at first lightly etched the plates with the aid of

D B

50 ALBRECHT DtRER.

aquafortis, and finished them stroke by stroke with the graving-
tool, a system which has lasted for centuries. The engravings
which were completed by this method were not disfigured by the
harsh contrasts observable in his earlier works, but were of a
soft, silver grey. They comprise among others the celebrated
works, the Melencolia; the 8. Jerome ; and The Knight, Death,
and the Devil,

Among Durer's special triumphs in the art of engraving was
the Degenknopf, a gold plate, which contains in a circle of little
more than an inch in diameter a representation of the Ci'ucifixion.
A few impressions of it were taken, though it was not intended
for engraving, but as an ornament for the handle of a present-
ation sword to the Emperor Maximilian, The sword itself is in
the Ambras Collection in Vienna, but the gold plate is missing,
and its place is filled by a silver one of inferior workmanship.
It is the smallest of Durer's engravings, and the only one done
on gold. It was seen at Innsbruck, and again in 1556 by one
Daniel Specklin, an architect of Strasburg.

Durer's wealth of imagination, however, was expended rather
upon wood-cutting than engraving. The great wood-cut of the
Trinity (1511) is only a differeut rendering of part of the All
Saints painting, but surpasses in careful and delicate execution
all that had before been achieved. About the same time appeared
a series which approached more or less nearly to this great work.
The Man about to be scourged, of which the first sketch is in
the British Museum, the Beheading of John the Baptist, and
Salome bringing S. John's head to Uerodias ; the Mass-book of
S, Gregory, dated 1511, and S, Jerome in the Cell, a worthy
forerunner of the celebrated engraving of 1514, and others.

In 1511 Durer concluded the great series of wood-cuts upon
which he had been at work for so long, and issued them as
books. He prepared a new edition of the Apocalypse, and
added the title-page ; he enlarged the Life of the Virgin to twenty

A POET. 51

cuts with a vignette ; and brought the series of the Greater Passion
up to twelve wood-cuts, adding the Last Supper, the Betrayal^
the Mocking, the Descent into Hell, and the Resurrection to the
seven which we mentioned before. He also treated the same
subject, The fall of Man and his redemption through Christ, in
a series of thirty-seven wood-cuts and called the Little or the
Lesser Passion, — the best-known, perhaps, of all his works.

The improvement in his circumstances since his second
residence in Venice enabled him to undertake the serious
expense of publishing these works. He had a printing-press
and all necessaries set up in his house, and no doubt was assisted
by his godfather Koburger, the great printer. His illustrated
books obtained a great sale in every direction.

He was not, however, content with all the different characters
which he had assumed ; he would also be a poet. In a charm-
ingly simple manner he tells us how in 1509 he made his first
rhymes. " There were two," he says, " and had each the same
number of syllables, and I thought I had done them well." It was
no wonder that Pirkheimer laughed as he did at them, as well as
at the fresh attempt which the painter made upon " Eight gifts
of wisdom " which he implored of God in very homely rhymes.
His verse-making, which was perhaps not far below the standard
of that day, did not last beyond 1510. By a curious coincidence
Eaphael seems to have been the subject of a like poetical fervour
at about the same time, and to have cooled as speedily. He was,
like many other of the Italians, an ardent admirer of Diirer, and
is even said to have adorned his workshop with the German's
drawings, engravings, and wood-cuts. He became acquainted
with them no doubt through Marc Antonio, who copied the whole
Life of the Virgin and the Little Passion. We mentioned above
that Raphael copied in his Spasimo di Sicilia, figure by figure
from the Christ hearing the Cross in the Great Passion, His
admiration for DUrer naturally gave rise to the desire to know
him j and in order to establish friendly relations between them

E 2

62 ALBRECHT DORER.

Eaphael sent several of his drawings in 1515 *^to show him his
hand." One of these, the Naked Picture^ is in the Albertina
Collection at Vienna. In return he received a life-size Portrait
of Durer by the artist's own hand, which increased his aston-
ishment at the skill of the Numberger. He bequeathed this
portrait to his favourite pupil Giulio Eomano, but it has dis-
appeared.

To the portraits of himself of 1484, 1493, and 1497, must now
be added the celebrated one in the Pinakothek at Munich,^ dated
1600, by which DUrer lives in our thoughts. A magnificent man
he is, with rich brown hair falling in a profusion of well-ordered
curls from his uncovered head ; he looks at us with that rapt
but inquiring expression so peculiarly his own. His hand, which
was of remarkable beauty, holds his "fur coat in a peculiar and
not pleasing manner across his breast. The self- consciousness
which all his portraits of himself exhibit must not be attributed
to more than a legitimate vanity. He belonged to an age in
which no light value was set upon personal appearance, and it
was only consistent with his lofty sense of his own greatness that
he should desire the honour of immortality, for he had a right
to feel that such men as he should not sink into oblivion.

At first, from 1485 — 1496, he used to put only the capital
letters of his name to his works, and then he adopted the mono-
gram, a large A with D enclosed. From 1503 he also added
the date, and finally, to ensure the authenticity of his four
greatest works, and to transmit his likeness, he adorned them
with his portrait as well as the monogram, date, and inscription.
In two of them he stands alone, but in two he associates his
friend Pirkheimer with himself and his fame, and does not
forget to let the world know that he is a German, and a citizen of
his beloved Numberg. His friend Camerarius, a favourite of
Melanchthon, and Eector of the High School in the city, speaks
in his preface to Durer's * Four books of Human Proportions,'

^ See Frontispiece.

BEPRESENTATION OF CHRIST. 53

of the noble form well adapted for the abode of so glorious a
spirit, of the charm of his language in conversation, of the
greatness also of his mental and moral qualities, and extols him
as " the truest preserver of modesty and chastity." No painter
ever more fully realized the twofold character of the greatest
event in the world's history, the Life and Passion of our Lord.
He seems to have had a special revelation, and to have accepted
the Divine mission of proclaiming the power of Christ in elevat-
ing the every-day life of man ; and accordingly he depicted Him
with all the realism of Schongauer and Wolgemut, as if He were
living in the NUrnberg of his own day. But more than this, he
grasped the idea of the redemption of man by the sufferings of
Christ, and hence the marvellous conception and impressive
treatment which the Passion pictures display.

" Every mother is pleased with her own child " he used to
say, and so he transferred his own features to his representation
of the Eedeemer, while he threw his whole force into the pro-
duction of a form which should present to the world the image
of Christ which had appeared to his own soul, not an undefined
approach to a heavenly shape, but an embodiment of that which
is perfect in humanity. This is the highest effort of art.

CHAPTEK Vni.

UAXIUILIAN — THB TKIDMPHAL ARCH — BTABIUa — MAXIMILIAN'S
PBATEB-BOOK — THB TRIUMPHAL CAB — THE RATHHAU8 WALLS.

SO long as Diirer was occupiod in the pursuit of fame, or in
the struggle for wealth, he had little time to devote to the
interests of his city or to the glory of hia Emperor. But when
his reputation was secured, and his position established, be had
better opportunities for following his inclinations. In the year
1509, he hecame possessor by purchase of the house near the
Thieigarten Gate, in what is now called Albrecht Diirer-Straaae.
The outside of the house has undergone but little alteration since
hia day, though the interior has been re-arranged by successive
owners. It is now the property of the city. In this same year
he was made a member of the Eath, which increased his reputa-
tion among his fellow-citizens and was a suitable acknowledgment
of his merits. Soon after this, the Council gave him their first
commission to paint two large panels with the portraits of CJiarle-
magne and King Sigismund for the relic-chamber in ITumbei^.
This chamber was ia the house of a citizen, and was used to con-
tain the insignia and coronation ornaments during the night at
the time of their annual exposure to public reverence, which was
at Easter. These insignia, richly adorned with I'elics, had been
in Niimberg since the days of Sigiamund, who brought them

ALBRECHT DCRER'S HOUSE IN NURNBERG.
From Iht Engraving in Diidin's " Btograpkieal Tour"

THE TRIUMPH. 55

there, and they usually hung in a shrine in the dome of the
hospital church.

Maximilian's short stay in Numberg during February of th©
year 1512 was important to Diirer, as it gave him the opportunity
of establishing relations with " his king," as he always called
him. Up to this time his Majesty's interest in the city did not
go beyond a requisition of valuable lime of which the city had a
monopoly, and which was used for making the crucibles employed
in his brass foundry ; this was in constant work under Peter
Vischer on the designs for his tomb at Innsbruck. The new
town of Vienna, however, and not Innsbruck, was destined to be
his final resting-place.

The head of the Eoman Empire in Germany had no settled
abode, but, when not actually engaged in war out of the country,
travelled about from place to place. Maximilian wanted to have
a printed record of his travels, and being a man of poetical
nature, and having a childish delight in self-glorification, he was
never weary of dictating verses or suggesting sketches, which
described or illustrated the events of his life. In Diirer he
found just the man for his purpose, and accordingly gave him a
large part of his commissions. The book which received the
name of The Triumph was to surpass in size and magnificence
all that had preceded it, and was to consist of two parts : The
Triumphal Arch and Tlie Triumphal Car. The designs for the
first part were entrusted, in 1512, entirely to DUrer. It con-
sists of ninety-two separate blocks, which when put together form
one colossal wood-cut, ten feet six inches high by nine feet wide.
In 1515 it was ready for the Formschneider, the celebrated
Hieronymus Andreae, who executed the designs with the same
precision as Diirer sketched them with his pencil or pen. The
arch itself has three gates, the centre one of Honour and Power^
and on either side those of Praise and NohUity, Above the side
arches are towers, and over the central one a large panel — ^the
principal part of the design, containing Maximilian's great genea-

56 ALBRECHT DORER.

logical tree, which rises to the top of the wood-cut. The events in
the Emperor's personal history are detailed in twenty-four blocks
in the space between the top of the side arches and the towers,
each one of which is in itself a work of art. A guide to the
sketches is supplied in verse by Stabius, the royal poet and his-
torian, a man of extraordinary ability, who had been the com-
panion of his Majesty for sixteen successive years. DUrer dis-
played such remarkable zeal in this work that the Emperor, as a
mark of his favour, requested the NUrnberg Eath to exempt him
from all taxes, a ready method of payment without diminishing
the royal resources. The request, however, was not complied
with, and DUrer had to expend his strength apparently for
nothing. Hieronymus also, to whose delicate cutting the perfec-
tion of the wood-engraving is due, was obliged to be content with
the favouring presence of the Emperor in his workshop, and thus
it came to pass that at his Majesty's death, the artist and Form-
schn eider were compelled to avail themselves of the permission
which had been granted to them to make the most that they
could of their work. They published in one lai-ge wood-cut
twenty-one of the historical series as a memorial of the late
Emperor, with a notice of his titles and death, which rapidly
went through four editions ; the blocks for the entire work
still remaining in the possession of Hieronymus.

The intercourse between Stabius and DUrer during the resid-
ence of the historian in NUrnberg was both agreeable and pro-
fitable to each. Stabius secured the assistance of the artist in
the preparation of his charts and maps, the blocks for some of
which are in the Cabinet of Engravings in Berlin, while DUrer
obtained from the Emperor, through the intercession of Stabius,
an annuity of 100 gulden which was chargeable upon the city
taxes due to his Majesty.

In 1515 the artist published a drawing which is now one of
the great treasures of the British Museum. It was the likeness
of a Rhinoceros which was brought from India to the King of

PRAYER-BOOK OF MAXIMILIAN. 57

Portugal The animal, the first of its race to appear in modern
Europe, created such a sensation that a drawing of it was sent
to DUrer, who forthwith made it public in a wood-cut, which
until recent times was the received representation of the strange
creature.

The celebrated Prayer-book of Maximilian claims our notice
at this time ; in it Diirer revelled unrestrained in the domain of
fancy, if it is fair to speak of his quaint illustration of suggest-
ive thoughts in such language. There are only three copies of
the book known to be in existence ; one is in the Munich
Library ; a second in excellent preservation and a marvel of typo-
graphy is in the Vienna Library ; and the British Museum pos-
sesses a third. The Munich copy, which is now very imperfect,
is the one intended for the Emperor. The text was composed
for his special use and given to Diirer to illustrate. He filled
the parchment margin with pen-drawings (in different-coloured
inks), which have been censured severely, though they are only
an evidence of the liberty which the sense of the ridiculous takes
with the gravest thoughts and most solemn language. Branches
and leaves are intertwining, birds are singing, apes are climbing,
snakes are creeping, and gnats are buzzing ; in fact, almost every
living thing seems to be displaying its special gift, while the
words of the prayers follow upon one another. The royal
Psalmist is charming a listening stork with his harp ; the battle-
prayer is enriched with scenes of combat ; a fox playing on the
flute to fluttering poultry is illustrative of the wiles of the
tempter ; and a group of village musicians is playing the * Can-
ticum novum * with all the strength of their bodies. S. Anthony
is exposed to the lures of an old woman with a high cap, and a
wretched little devil in a picture of the Annunciation tears his
hair and screams from the effect of the heavenly rays which are
pouring upon him. So closely does the profane tread upon the
heels of the sacred ; so readily does the ludicrous intermingle
with the sublime. The delicate composition of the Christ on

58 ALBRECHT DCRER.

the Cross with John and Mary and the four angels which adorned
the Eichstadt Missal, and afterwards Luther's Old Testament,
was designed at the same time as these marginal drawings.

The more the Emperor employed Diirer in wood-cutting the
more the artist neglected his painting. So it is not surprising to
find that the feeblest of his works date between 1513 and 1520 :
those which do exist having little title to be considered authentic.
The best among them are the Lucretia of 1518 and the Portrait
of Wolgemut of 1516, both of which owe their merit to their
having been sketched some years before. DUrer was as anxious
as the Emperor himself for the success of the Triumph, of which
the Arch was only one-half. The other part is called the
Triumphal Procession, or, from the central object in the series.
The EmperoT^s Triumphal Car. The design for this work was
not confided to Diirer alone, but to many other masters, and
especially to Hans Burgkmair, who is responsible for sixty-six of
the wood-cuts. Pirkheimer drew the plan of the car ; it is now
in the Frankfort Museum. It is adorned, he tells the Emperor,
" not with gold and precious stones, which are the property of
good and bad alike, but with the virtues which only the really
noble possess." The Emperor is seated in the car accompanied
by Truth, Clemency, and other Virtues ; the driver, horses, reins,
and wheels are Virtues too ; but the merit is not the allegorical
design. The drawing, which was carried out in DUrer's workshop,
is now in the Albertina Collection. Pirkheimer sent it to the
Emperor, explaining the causes of the delay in its execution, and
commending the industry which DUrer had displayed. Among
Diirer's special wood-cuts in the series are the Spanish Marriage,
the Burgundy Marriaxfe, and the Small Triumphal Car,
Altogether there are twenty-four cuts in the Triumphal Pro-
cession, which are received as his. The wood-cutting was not
finished during the Emperor's life-time. During the sitting of
the Augsburg Diet in 1518 DUrer was permitted to take the Por-
trgiLof Maximilian. The charcoal drawing, full of life, and of

r OF THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN.
Fram a Drawing by DUrer in the Albertina GaUtry in Viama.

PORTRAIT OF MAXIMILIAN. 59

life-size, bears the marks of hasty execution, but exhibits to
advantage the noble head, the laughing eyes, and strongly-marked
features. It is in the Albertina Gallery. The two wood-cuts taken
from this sketch are of the same size. In one which DUrer pub-
lished after the Emperor's death as a memorial, the portrait is set
in a handsome frame of ornamental columns on the tops of which
are griffins holding the Imperial arms and the order of the Golden
Fleece. Beneath is the inscription : " The dear Prince, the
Emperor Maximilian, departed this life happily on the twelfth
day of January, a.d. 1519, in the fifty-ninth year of his age."
The fine oil-painting in the Belvedere at Vienna is taken from
the same sketch.

The story of the Emperor's attempt to sketch with Diirer's
charcoal which kept on breaking in his hand is attributed to the
time of the Augsburg visit. Diirer had to finish the sketch, and
the Emperor asked how it was that the charcoal did not break
in his hand. " Gracious Emperor, I would not have your
Majesty draw as well as myself," the artist replied with a laugh ;
" I have practised the art and it is my kingdom, your Majesty
has other and more difficult work to do."

Another celebrated portrait, that of the young Cardinal
Albrecht of Brandenburg y dates from the time of the Augsburg
Diet. The engraving called the Little Cardinal was finished
in 1519 ; the Large Cardinal, done on a larger scale, was
sketched during the Netherlands journey or during the Diet at
Numberg in 1522—1523.

In Augsburg DUrer became acquainted with Cardinal Mat-
thaus Lang, afterwards Archbishop of Salzburg, who was a
patron of art, and knew the artist from his relations with
Stabius. The beautiful Christ bearing the Cross in the
British Museum, together with other drawings which bear the
Cardinal's arms, are proofs of the commissions which he gave to
Diirer. His month's residence in Augsburg must have been a
pleasant one, and it was no wish of the Emperor that he should

60 ALBRECHT DtJRER.

come away empty-handed, but alas ! gold was scarce with his
Majesty at all times. There was a prospect, however, of a sum
of money that Diirer was to have due the following year from the
Niirnberg taxes, irrespective of his income. Maximilian wrote
upon the subject from Augsburg in September 1518 to the Rath,
and begged them to pay ** to our and the nation's dear and loyal
Albrecht DiLrer, our painter, those 200 gulden in return for his
faithful and willing services given to us at our command for the
THumphal Car, and in other ways." Diirer bore the order
home with him, but the Emperor's death made him fearful about
the money, lest the new emperor should not acknowledge his
claim. Accordingly in 1519 he offered to mortgage his newly-
acquired house to the Council in consideration of their paying
the sum in advance, but he was unsuccessful, and had to be
thankful for the continuation of his pension.

A change of government in the old German Empire was a
matter of no small moment. Every one hastened to secure the
favour of the new sovereign, and with it the privileges which he
had enjoyed. "When therefore Diirer knew that Charles V. was
to succeed his grandfather and to be crowned at Aachen, he
determined to go to the Netherlands to meet him and obtain a
confirmation of the pension which Maximilian had bestowed
upon him. This was his chief reason for the Netherlands
journey, in 1520, of which we are about to speak.

There is some work from Diirer's designs on the Niimberg
Rathhaus walls, but he had no share in carrying it out. The
long wall of the old Gothic hall is divided by two doors into
three unequal parts. For these divisions Diirer furnished
sketches, illustrative of the three ways in which the immense
hall was used ; for the Council Meetings, for the Administration
of Justice, and for Social Festivities. The centre space is occu-
pied by the allegorical subject, which originated with Apelles and
had been attempted by a long list of celebrated artists, in which
an incompetent judge is represented with large ears, into which

THE NORNBERO RATHHAUS.

Suspicion is whispering, ivhile Ignorance stands on the right
side : at a sign from the judge, Calumny drags forth Innocence
by the hair despite her appeals to heaven. The main space
hetween the doors is occupied hy the Piper's Stool ; and Maiei-
milian's Triumphal Car, painted on a la^e scale and corre-
sponding with the grand wood-cut, fills the third. In the car
the emperor sits alone. These are the only known frescoes in
which Diirer had a share, even to the providing designs.

^^^f^^^ ^ -ra ? \f^{

CHAPTER IX.

THB NM'HBELARDB JOURNEY — ANTWERP — QUINTBK HATSTS —
KB ATZBR— ERASMUS — BKU88EL8 — ROGER VAN DBR WEYDBN —
AHOHDirCHESa MARGARET — PRESENTS — COLN — ZEALAND —
NARROW BSCAFB OF SHIPWBEOK — BBUQES — GHENT — JAM VAN
ETCK — MADRID PORTRAIT.

ON" the twelfth of July, 1520, Diirer set out on his interest-
ing journey, the chief object of which we have mentioned.
The plague, however, was raging at N'Umbei^ at this time, and
everybody who could possibly leave the city did ao. He took
with him his wife and her maid Susanna, who was more of a
humble friend than servant. His journal is a strict aud amusing
account of his travels, and throws more light, both upon his
personal habits and reputation as well as upon the conditions
of art and the manners of his time, than any other source of in-
formation which we poaaeas. The first edition of it was brought
out in 1799, and was followed by another, more complete,
in 1B28. The original is probably hidden away among some
family papers in Nurnbei^. It seems to have been a small
book chiefly intended for entering his receipts and expenditure.
He was a careful man, and put down every penny that he spent
at each place that he came to, with a note of any important inci-
dent of the journey. The diary was only intended as a help to

ARRIVES IN ANTWERP. 63

his memory, so that he might tell his friends at home all the
wonderful things that he saw. He first made for Antwerp, where
art industry was beginning to develop itself, carrying with him a
good supply of his woodcuts and engravings, for which he hoped
to obtain a ready market in a city of such reputed wealth. By
the sale of these he looked forward to defraying the expenses of
his journey, and to obtaining any introductions which he wanted.

In passing Bamberg he presented the bishop with a painting of
The Madonna, a Life of the Virgin^ an Apocalypse, and engrav-
ings to the value of a gulden, which procured him episcopal
hospitality, and a 'ZoUbrief,' or letter of exemption from customs
for his works of art, together with three letters of recommenda-
tion to some men of influence. All honour was paid him by the
Bamberg painters. Passing on to Frankfort and throughout the
bishop's jurisdiction his *Zollbrief' was of the greatest value
to him. He met his friend Jakob Heller, for whom he had
painted an Altar-piece, but he makes no mention of the picture,
only of receiving some wine at his inn from the merchant.
At Mainz, people strove for the honour of entertaining him, and
laden with presents he started by the Rhine-boat for Cologne,
and eventually arrived in Antwerp, and put up at the inn of
Jobst Plaukfelt, whose portrait in pen-and-ink exists in the
Stadel Institute at Frankfort, with an inscription in the artist's
handwriting.

Jobst Plankfelt was a man of importance in Antwerp, and of
great service to Diirer, who stayed some time, and arranged to
take his meals with him, leaving his wife and maid to cook
theirs in their own room for the sake of economy. On the
evening of his arrival he was entertained " at a costly meal,'*
by Stecher, the factor of the celebrated merchant house of the
Fuggers, who were the Eothschilds of that time. The head of
the house, Anton Fugger, lived in Augsburg in such royal style
that once when he was entertaining Charles V., to whom he had
advanced large sums of money, he threw all the bonds which

64 ALBRECHT DtJRBR.

the Emperor had given him upon the fire to make a blaze after
dinner. The Fuggers were however distinguished not only for
their enormous wealth, but for their employment of it in found-
ing charitable institutions and schools, and also for their services
to literature and science, in which many members of the family
achieved considerable reputation.

On the next Sunday the painters invited Diirer with his wife
and maid to a banquet at their Guildhall. Everything there
excited his admiration, from the costly viands to the silver plate.
All the wives of his entertainers were present, and the whole
company received him standing as if he had been a lord. There
were many people of distinction there who showed him the
greatest respect, and expressed their anxiety to do him honour.
The Antwerp Eath sent two servants with tankards of wine as
a mark of their goodwill and esteem. The feasting was kept
up far into the night, and at length the guests were escorted
home with torches. These manifestations, occurring likewise in
other Ketherland towns, are a proof of the reputation which
preceded him, and which, together with his personal recommend-
ations, procured for him patronage and friendship everywhere. He
was overwhelmed with invitations and presents, which he acknow-
ledged according to his means. At Antwerp he called upon
Quinten Matsys, but makes no remark upon his visit; and here
too he became acquainted with the celebrated Erasmus, who gave
him presents and allowed him to draw his portrait several times.
He also took the likeness of the astronomer, Nicolaus Kratzer,
whom he met at the house of Erasmus, and who was useful
to him in many ways. He was a native of Munich, but lived
at the court of Henry VIII. Diirer found many valuable patrons
among the foreign merchants, and received from the Portu-
guese consul presents of foreign wines, sweetmeats of all sorts,
iand some "sugar-cane just as it grows." His principal friend
was the Genoese Tommaso Bombelli, with whom he constantly
dined. He was particularly struck with a grand procession on

AT BRUSSELS. 65

the Sunday after the Assumption, when the whole town was
assembled, every one dressed in the most costly manner. It
was headed by German pipers and drummers, and consisted of
representatives of all classes of tradespeople, each with a special
badge; merchants and shopkeepers, soldiers and civilians, priests
and scholars, and twenty persons bearing " our Lady with the
Lord Jesus ornamented in the most splendid manner to the
honour of the Lord God." Then followed representations of
characters and scenes from the Old and New Testament, and the
history of some of the saints, the whole procession occupying
more than two hours in passing his house.

On August 20th he went with Bombelli to Brussels, and there
met with a deputation from his native place, who had been sent
to Aachen with the imperial crown for the coronation of Charles
v., which was kept at NUmberg with the other crown jewels.
The names of these Rathsherren were Ebner, Groland and
Haller. There was much to interest DUrer in Brussels, especially
in the Hotel de Ville, which contained four paintings by Eoger
van der Weyden (these were destroyed during the French siege
in 1695). His curiosity was excited by "the things which
people had brought to the king from the golden land" (Mexico);
a golden sun, a silver moon, two rooms full of armour, and " all
kinds of wonderful things for man's use, that are as beautiful to
look at as they are wonderful ... I have never in all my life
seen anything that hsis pleased me so much as these things, for I
saw among them wonderful artistic things, and was astonished
at the subtle ingenia of men in foreign lands, and I don't know
how to express what I think about them."

While in this city he was honoured by a summons to the
presence of the Archduchess Margaret, who was remarkably
gracious to him, and promised to use her influence on his behalf
with her nephew Charles. She had inherited a love of art, and
found, in cultivating her taste for it, some alleviation from the
monotony of her otherwise cheerless life.

D F

66 ALBRECHT D^RER.

On September 2n(i Diirer returned with his friend Bombelli
to Antwerp. A crowd of artists and other distinguished men
was assembled there to be present at the State entry of Charles
V. Here Diirer received the intelligence of the dispersion of
BaphaeFs works, in consequence of his death in April of this
year, 1520, from Tommaso Vincitore of Bologna, who had come
to the Netherlands with an urgent letter from Pope Leo X. to
superintend the production of the tapestries after Eaphael's
cartoons. Vincitore, who had been a pupil of Eaphael, pre-
sented Diirer with a gold antique ring, in return for which Diirer
gave him all his " best things, worth six gulden." He after-
wards gave Vincitore a whole set of engravings to be sent to
Rome in exchange for some of Raphael's works.

The number of presents of his works which Diirer made
during this tour is astonishing. Every page of his diary contains
a note of something which he gave away and the value of it ;
but the repetition of the things which he received and their
price, with the return which he made, is too tedious for repro-
duction in full. Tommaso of Bologna painted Durer*s portrait,
and an engraving was made from it by Stock in 1629. He has
on a wide hat and fur mantle. The hair is not so long as it
appears in the earlier likeness, still it falls luxuriantly on the
shoulders ; the beard is short, but thick and strong.

In order to urge the confirmation of his pension Diirer fol-
lowed the Emperor upon his coronation tour. On October 7th he
arrived at Aachen, where he again met the " lords of Kiimberg,"
as he calls them, and drew the portraits of Ebner and Groland's
son. On the 23rd the coronation took place, when he saw " aU
kinds of costly splendour " past description, such as no one
living in his part of the country had ever seen.

But his object was not yet attained, and his Journal con-
tinues : " I had lodging, and eating, and drinking at Brussels
with my lords of Niimberg, and they would take nothing for it,
and I had the same at Aachen. For three weeks I had my

IN COLN. 67

meals with them, and they brought me to Coin, and would
take nothing for that either. I have bought a tract of Luther's
for five white pfenning. ... I have given two white pfenning
for the opening of the panel which Maister Steffan of Coin
had done." This brief remark of DUrer*s has led to the dis-
covery of the painter of the celebrated Dombild, namely, Stephan
Lochner, who lived in about the middle of the fifteenth century ;
it was previously attributed to Meister Wilhelm, the earliest
painter of the Coin school.

He goes on : "I have seen the princely ball and banquet given
to King Charles in the banquet-hall. It was very wonderful.
I have sketched for Stabius his coat-of-arms on wood. I have
given a young Count in Coin a Mdancolia, and the Duke
Frederick the new Madonna. ... On the Monday after Martin-
mas, in the year 1520, I obtained my Confirmatia from the
Emperor with great trouble and labour through my lords of
Numberg." This document is still preserved among the archives
of Numberg. " I have given Kiclas's daughter (this is his
cousin Kiclas) seven whjte pfenning as trinkgeld, one florin to
McWs wife, and also an orth to the daughter as a parting present,
and then I set out from Coin.''

After an absence of seven weeks IHirer returned again to
Antwerp, and to his old quarters at Plankfelt's. He had scarcely
arrived when the news came of a whale being cast on shore in
Zealand, which he at once hurried off to see. At Bergen-op-
Zoom he bought the Flemish head-dress in which his wife
appears in the HuUoi portrait, the one with the inscription :
" This was taken by Albrecht Diirer from his wife at Anttorff
(Antwerp) in ^Netherlands' -costume in 1521, after they had been
married twenty-seven years." Age had made her a stout,
matronly person.

On this voyage he had .a very narrow escape, which he
describes with great minuteness. They were landing at a small
town called Armuyden on the island of Walcheren, and he says :

F 2

68 ALBRECHT DORER.

" When we were just going to land and had thrown out our rope,
a large ship that was near came against us. We were just landing,
and in the confusion I let every one get ashore before me, until
there was no one but myself, Georg Kotzler, two old women,
and the Master, with a little lad, remaining in the vessel And
just as the other ship came upon us, and I, with those named,
were on the ship and could not get away, the strong rope broke ;
and added to that there was a great gust of wind which drove
us hard astern. Then we all cried out for help, but no one
dared to come. Then the wind carried us out to sea ; the Master
tore his hair and wept, for all his men had landed and the
vessel was unmanned. There was anxiety and distress, for the
wind was high, and there were not more than six people on
board. Then I spoke to the Master and told him to keep up his
spirits, put his trust in God, and think what was best to do.
He said if he could hoist the small sail he would try if he could
not get to land. So then we all helped together, got it up, and
again moved on. And when the men ashore, who had already
given us up, saw how we helped ourselves, they came to our
assistance and we got to land." When DUrer got to his journey's
end he was disappointed, for the whale had been washed away,
and he had to return to Antwerp bearing with him the seeds of
the disease which was eventually to carry him oflF. To make up
for his disappointment he received some additions to his store of
curiosities, in the shape of fish-scales, snail-shells, and coral from
one Lazarus Eavensburger, whose portrait he painted.

On Carnival Sunday the goldsmiths invited him and his wife
to a banquet. There was an assembly of distinguished people,
and Diirer was treated with much respect and honour. He was
likewise entertained by the chief magistrate of the place, and he
assisted at the Carnival festivities.

A proof of the esteem in which his work was held is furnished
by a commission which he received from the wealthy Meersche
Guild. They wanted a cloth for the altar of their patron saint,

IN ANTWERP. 69

which was to be the most beautiful in the Cathedral. Designs
were furnished by other artists, but Diirer's was accepted.

During his residence in Antwerp he was far from idle, and
occupied himself with small pictures for presents, none of which,
strangely enough, seem to be in existence now. Several paint-
ings, too, he executed, and mentions " a good Veronica," which
he did in oils, and presented to Francisco of Portugal, and also
another, " better than the first,*' for Factor Brandan, a Portuguese
also, who gave him *' two white sugar-loaves, a dish full of sugar-
candy, two green pots of preserved sugar, and some black
satin." Of the portraits which he did at Antwerp one at least
remains, which he mentions early in 1521 : "I have taken in oils
Bernhard von Ressen ; he gave me eight gulden for it, my wife
a crown, and Susanna a gulden."

He drew innumerable likenesses in pencil, on separate pages
of his sketch-book, and also made several studies from the life ;
one of an old man, above which he has written, " This man was
ninety-three years old, and still in good healtL" It is probably
the sketch for the celebrated drawing in the Albertina Collection.
His work was not all profitless, however, for as the circle of his
friends enlarged so the sale of his productions increased, and if
he did make presents he was disappointed if he did not receive
an adequate return for them.

As spring came on he began to think of home, and prepared
a number of gifts, the list of which is interesting, as it shows
that his friends in Kiimberg were all people of importance, and
moreover that he was on very intimate terms with them. There
were pieces of lace for " Caspar NUtzers wife," some for " Hans
Imhof's wife, to Strauber's wife two, to Spengler's wife and to
Loflfelholz's wife." He bought a pair of gloves too for each
of them, and gave to Pirkheimer " a large cap, and other pre-
sents," appropriate gifts to the husbands of the ladies mentioned
above, and an exceedingly large horn to Hieronymus Andreae.
He despatched a large bale of valuable things to the care of

70 ALBRECHT DtJRBR.

Hans Imhof, and then set ofiF for a hasty visit to the old art
cities, Bruges and Ghent, in company with Jan Proost, whom
he calls Ploos, the painter of the Last Judgment in the Assize
Hall in the former city. Proost took him home with him and
entertained him hospitably, and had a number of people to meet
him. Another day he was the guest of the goldsmiths, who
took him to see the old residence of the dukes of Burgundy,
where he saw " the chapel painted by Eudiger (Eoger van der
Weyden) and pictures by a great old master." Then they took
him to St. James's Church, where he saw more paintings by Roger
and by Hugo van der Goes — " they were both great masters."
After that he saw the alabaster Madonna of Michelangelo. It
is remarkable that he makes no mention of Memling's pictures
which are side by side with Jan van Eyck's in the hospital of
St. John, and still more strange as there is a Memling Madonna
on a leaf of his sketch-book, now in the Hall of Arts in Bremen.
Of all the treasures which Diirer saw in the Painter's Chapel,
there only remains Van Eyck's portrait of his wife. ** Then," he
says, " they prepared a banquet for me, and I went with them
to their guild-chamber. There had met together several honour-
able people, merchants as well as goldsmiths and painters. I
must sup with them, and they made me presents, sought to make
my acquaintance and did me much honour. And two brothers,
aldermen, presented me with twelve measures of wine, and the
whole company, more than sixty persons, escorted me home with
torches."

He was received with the same distinction in Ghent. The
Decanus, the president of the Painters' Guild, with all the prin-
cipal artists of the town, met him and received him nobly, never
leaving him during the whole time of his stay in that city.
They took him up to the top of the belfry-tower, and then to
see the great Van Eyck altar-piece, The Adoration of the Lamh,
He specially admired the figures of Eve^ of the Blessed Virgin^
and of God the Father, which are the work of Huibrecht van

IN ANTWERP. 71

Eyck. He saw the lAonSy too, and made a drawing of one, which
has been engraved by Hollar, and is now in the Albertina Gallery.

Early in April he returned to Antwerp. He speaks of his
acquaintance with Joachim Patenir and calls him '* the good
landscape painter." He painted his portrait several times ; one
excellent likeness dated 1521 is in the Weimar Museum. He
was an honoured guest at Patenir*s wedding-feast. Farther in
his Journal he notes : " I have heightened four ^S^. ChrisUfphers
on grey paper for Maister Joachim. ... I have taken the por-
trait of an English nobleman in charcoal ; he has given me a
gulden for it, which I have changed for living expenses. Item,
Maister Gerhard, the illuminist, has a daughter eighteen years
old called Susanna, and she has illuminated a plate, A Saviour,
for which I gave one gulden. It is wonderful for a woman to
do so well." These were the Horebouts, who afterwards were
distinguished for their illuminations at the Court of Henry
VIII. of England.

" I have sketched some Flemish costumes. ... I have done
the Englishman's coat-of-arms for him in colours, for which he
has paid me a gulden. ... I have over and over again done
sketches and many other things for diflferent people, and for
most of my work I have received nothing at all. I saw the
great procession which took place in Antwerp on Corpus Chiisti.
... To the monk who confesses my wife I have given eight
stiver. . . . On Wednesday after Corpus Christi I gave up my
great bales at Antwerp to a waggoner to be taken to Niimberg,
and he is to be responsible to Hans Imhof for them."

Eight days after the festival he went to Mechlin to see the
Lady Margaret. The painters and scidptors entertained him,
did him great honour, but the archduchess dismissed him un-
graciously after showing him " all her beautiful things ; " amongst
them some paintings of Jan van Eyck and Jakob Walch.

On his return to Antwerp there is an entry referring to Lucas
van Leyden. "Maister Lucas, who engraves in copper, has

72 ALBRECHT Dt^HER.

invited me; he is a little man, and was bom in Leyden ;" and
another to the effect that in all his transactions in the !N'ether-
lands with people high and low, and in all his bargains and
sales, in all his doing and living he had come oflf the worst, and
he was particularly unfortunate in his relations with the Lady
Margaret, who gave him nothing at all for all he gave her, and
all that he did for her.

He was just starting away from Antwerp on the second of
July, when Christian II., called the Bad, King of Denmark,
sent for him in haste to come and take his portrait. Christian
had come to visit his brother-in-law, Charles V. He was in the
eyes of the Antwerp people a marvel of manliness and valour.
He was very gracious to DUrer, and had him to dine with him.
By the wish of the king, the artist followed him to Brussels and
was a witness of the splendid reception which the Emperor and
the Eegent Margaret gave him, and was himself a guest at the
banquet which Christian gave to his royal relatives.

At length, on the twelfth of July, 1521, DUrer set out from
Brussels on his journey homewards. With his arrival at Coin
the journal comes to an end. From his manner of living in
Antwerp, his liberality with his works, and the numberless pre-
sents which he made, we are not unprepared to find that he was
obliged to draw upon Hans Imhof for an increase of his liability,
which he promised to discharge with thanks in Nurnberg.

We possess a portrait by Diirer of the date 1521, painted in
oil on wood, which is one of the most beautiful of his known
portraits. It is in the Madrid Museum — the bust of a stout
man in a black dress, edged with fur, and wearing a hat with
broad brim. It is evidently not done with foreign colours nor in
haste, but is the result of quiet work in KUrnberg, no doubt
after his return home. There is a strong similarity in position,
dress, and the occupation of the hands between this and an
engraving of Hans Imhof, so that it is possible this may be a
portrait of Diirer's honoured friend and banker.

DORER's FOaiTION IN NORHBEBO RBFOBMATIOH — PIRKHEIHBB

SPEHQLBR — FOUR lEMPERAUENTB — MELSHCOLIA — B. JBROHE

KNIGHT, DKATH AND THE DBTIL — SFALATItf — DURER'S RE-
LIGIOUS BELIEF — UELANCHTHON — EBASHCB — FODK APOSTLES.

THE evidence wliidi Durer's list of presents affords us of
his intimate relation witli people of eminence in Ifiim-
berg is interesting, inasmuch as it throns light upon his pre-
dilections for the reformed doofiines which were rapidly gaining
ground in the city, as it also reveals the social position which he
enjoyed. Yet the love of this true child of Sumberg — evidenced
by his refusal, first of a lucrative offer from Venice, where he
had lived the life of a gentleroan, and secondly, from the city of
Antwerp, where he had been received with so mnch honour —
was but imperfectly reciprocated. In 1524 he wrote a touching
letter to the Bath, urging them to grant him a yearly interest
of 50 gulden upon 1000 which he had earned by " long years of
work and extraordinary labour," so that he and his wife, who
were beginning to fed the inconvenience which increase of
years and toil bring with them, might have a moderate pro-
vision gainst want. During thirty years' residence this was all
that he had saved. He had not received more than 500 gulden
for work in his native town, and " not a fifth part of this was
profit." What he possessed and had expended there he had

74 ALBRECHT DtJRER.

earned " from princes and foreigners." He had declined all
emoluments out of love for his town and Fatherland, and " chose
to live in a moderate manner in Numberg " rather than **' to be
rich and great in any other place." The most beautiful of his
emblematic designs had been the arms of the city supported by
two angels, with the national arms above a double eagle sur-
mounted by the Imperial Crown. Figures of Justice and
Abundance adorn the upper part, with an inscription — " Sanda
Justicia,^* 1521. The wood-cut appears in the title-page of the
* Reform of the Town of NiLrnberg,' a book of laws which was
published in that year, and merited the patronage of S. Justicia.
He had moreover exhibited his devotion to S. Sebald, the Niim-
berg tutelary saint, in one of his finest wood-cuts, in 1518.

Still, if he lacked substantial possessions, he enjoyed all else
which the city had to offer to him. He was admitted to the
most intellectual and distinguished society, and the intimate
companionship of the wealthiest burghers. He could reckon as
a well-tried friend, the playfellow of his infancy, Wilibald
Pirkheimer, the principal man in the State. The very diversities
of their natures seem to have attracted them mutually. The
pompous and headstrong scholar felt the gentle influence of the
contemplative painter, while he accorded to him that amount of
patronage and aid which elevated him into the higher regions of
the nation's intellectual life. Another important ally of Diirer's,
who lived near him, was the Niirnberg Reformer Spengler, one
of the directing powers of the city. When Spengler brought
out his translation of S. Jerome's life, Diirer adorned it with the
charming wood-cut of the saint, and received as compensation
the dedication of Spengler's 'Exhortation and Direction ta
Virtuous Conduct,' as his "particular, trusty, and brotherly
friend." Spengler assures him, that " he knew him to be, with-
out flattery, a man of intelligence, and disposed towards honesty
and virtue, who in their daily and intimate companionship had
often been to him in no small degree an incentive and a pattern."

MELENCOLTA. 75

He begs him to amend the work according to his judgment, and
to consider him as ever " his friend and brother."

Pirkheimer's literary and scientific work often required the
help of art, and Dtlrer was at hand to supply it. He provided
many of his books with ornamental designs, and when, in 1525,
the translation of Ptolemaeus appeared, he furnished those sphere-
drawings which Tscherte mentions in two letters to Pirkheimer
as being ** drawn by our friend Albrecht Diirer."

In 1514 Diirer had commenced a series of apostolic figures,
which occupied him for ten years, but were never completed,
though in combination with that other conception of the same
date, the Four Temperaments , it was the origin of his last and
greatest work of art. Diirer adopts the received theory respecting
the Temperam&rits without reserve, and on one occasion explains
minutely the outward manifestations of their existence and the
necessity of considering them especially in relation to the suit-
ability of youths dedicated to the service of art.

He devoted himself to the investigation and illustration of the
theory, and the result was the production of those copper-
engravings which exhibit the fulness of his creative power,
and the perfection of his skiU, Melencolia; S. Jerome in the
Cell; Tlie Horseman^ known as Tlie Knight^ Death and the Devil,
The first two date from 1514, the last 1513, though the
study for the Knight — the figure and armour of a Niirnberg
warrior — was made 15 years before, and that for the horse some-
what later. These leaves from DUrer's art history have chal-
lenged the admiration of the critic and baffled the investigation
of the speculative for ages, and are still as hard as ever to read.
"All that we know is, nothing can be known;'* is not this the
feeling which possesses the soul of that unsatisfied woman, who
sits with her cheek resting on her left hand, while the right
falls upon a closed book hardly retaining its hold of the com-
pass which has measured out nothing for her] Her hair is
unbound, though it just keeps up the laurel crown upon her

76 ALBRECHT DtRER.

brow. Every imaginable implement of art, of lawful and of
unlawful science, lies about her, — each has been used in vain ;
the magic crystal has disclosed nothing ; the figures on the wall,
each row ever exhibiting the mystical number 34, have been
reckoned over and over again to no purpose ; the heavens show a
comet and a rainbow, but no more ; the bat which hovers over
the water holds outstretched a scroll on which is written Melen-
colia I. By her side there perches upon a grindstone the form
of a winged child, like a desponding Cupid whose frolics are
over. Sphinx-like she sits ever, a woman disdaining her woman-
hood, weighed down with thought, yet restlessly looking into
the unsolved mysteries of existence, while the great wings which
she bears seem eager to essay another flight into the darkness of
the inscrutable.

The number I. upon the scroll seems to show that this plate
is the first of the series of the Temperaments which begins with
Melancholy, and there is little doubt that the beautiful S,
Jerome in his Chamber is another. The motive of it is calm
repose and peace obtained by a solitude occupied with holy
employment. The room is a convent-cell, but appropriately
furnished and sufficiently lighted. The grand, old man sits at
one end of the room writing at an oak table. On the wall
behind him hangs a cardinal's hat by the side of an hour-glass,
and the white glory beneath brings out the fine head of the
saint as he writes. Before him at the other end of the table is
a crucifix, upon which his eye may rest when he looks up from
his work. In the window-sill is a skulL A huge pimipkin
with a leaf and stalk breaks the lines of the oaken beams in the
ceiling. The feeling of repose is increased by the blinking lion
and a watch-dog stretched out and fast asleep in the foreground.
There are wooden benches and cushions lying here and there
upon them, there is a shelf upon one wall for articles of domestic
use, and a strap nailed up beneath it to hold his papers and a
pair of scissors. S. Jerome is entirely engrossed in his work — ^a
type of the Phlegmatic Temperament.

THE KNIGHT, DEATH AND THE DEVIL. 77

The third plate, of the same size as the other two, which
has always been held to be one of Diirer's finest works, is an
illustration of the tendency of the Grerman mind at this time.
It is 27ie Knight, Death and the Devil ; it is also called The
Christian Knight, and The Knight of tJis Reformation, A
knight is riding alone through a gloomy defile. He is in full
armour, and bears a lance in his hand. A little in front of
him on a lame horse goes the grisly form of Death with an
hour-glass in his hand, the sand almost run out, which he
holds up in face of the knight. On the other side of the horse-
man is a horrible fiend, who stretches out his hand ready to
clutch his prey. But the rider goes straight forward, with a set
look of determination upon his face, not heeding his unwelcome
companions. He is ready for combat with any enemy who
comes direct in his way, but has no eye for those by his side.
Death cannot daunt him nor Satan lay hold of him as he goes
right on towards " the prize of his high calling." Some have
recognized in him Franz von Sickingen, and others the artist's
friend Stephan Baumgartner, simply because of the letter S.
which stands before the date, but if we are right in the inter-
pretation of the other pictures this S. may well stand for San-
guine (Sanguinicus), as Thausing appropriately suggests.

It is not difiicult to trace again in this last plate the effect of
the religious spirit which came over the Humanist society at
Niimberg under the influence of Lutheran teaching. Among
the first to declare for the great Eeformer were many of DUrer's
friends, Pirkheimer, Spengler and others, and with the move-
ment he himself had the warmest sympathy, though still a
member of the Eoman Church, and a participator in the benefits
of her sacraments. In his journal there are several records of
money paid to his own confessor, and to his wife's. Yet even
in 1518 Luther had received presents of Diirer's work, which
he warmly acknowledged, and in the same year Christoph
Scheurl tells Staupitz of the congregation which enjoyed the
preaching of "Wenzel Link, mentioning by name Diirer himself

78 ALBRECHT DtJRER.

and many whom we know as his intimate friends, " all longing
for a greeting from Luther."

In a letter to Georg Spalatin, chaplain to the Elector Frede-
rick, at the beginning of 1520, Durer says, " As you mention the
little book in defence of Martin, you must know that there are
no more ready, but they are in print at Augsburg. I will send
you some as soon as they are ready, but this little book, though
it has been done here, has been decried from the pulpit as
heretical and fit for the flames." Still more significant of his
state of mind are the passages in the same letter in which he
sends his thanks to the Elector for Luther's book which he had
sent him, and begs his Grace to submit to the teaching of the
Reformer "for the sake of Christian truth, which is of more
importance to us than all the riches and power of this world, for
all that perishes with time, truth alone abides for ever."

When abroad he was always eager for Luther*s writings, and
was on intimate terms with the priests of the Augustine monas-
tery in Antwerp, of which Erasmus writes to Luther : — " Li the
Antwerp monastery is a prior, a pure Christian, who loves you
above measure, and was, he says, your pupiL" The prior and
monks of this monastery were imprisoned in 1522 for dissemin-
ating reformed doctrines.

DiLrer's friends Pirkheimer and Spengler, were among the
boldest to espouse Luther's cause, and consequently among the
first against whom a blow was struck from Rome. The former
had been the apologist of Reuchlin, and the latter, in 1519, had
upheld the Christian character of Luther's teaching against the
attacks of the Church party. After the dispute between the
great Reformer and Dr. Eck at Leipzig, Pirkheimer held up the
champion of the Roman faith to ridicule, and when Eck returned
hom Rome with the Bull against Luther he had the satisfaction
of knowing that the names of his two bold supporters were
inserted in the terrible document.

Diirer's own confession of faith appears again in those passages

LUTHER. 4 y

from his journal which we purposely omitted in their proper
place in order to insert them here.

"On the Friday before Whitsuntide (May 17) in the year
1521, the tidings reached me in Antwerp that Martin Luther
had been treacherously taken prisoner. For as the herald of the
Emperor Charles had been added to the Imperial escort con-
fidence was placed in him. But after the herald had brought
him to an unfriendly place near Eisenach, he said he required
him no longer and rode away. Immediately ten horsemen
appeared, and treacherously carried off the man thus betrayed,
the pious, the Spirit-enlightened one, the follower of the true
Christian faith. Does he still live, or have they murdered himi
This I know not. But he has suffered for the sake of Christian
truth, and because he has'punished the unchristian papacy, which
opposes its great burden of human laws to the liberty of Christ ;
and for this we are robbed of that which our blood and sweat
has won, that it may be shamefully consumed by idle people,
while the thirsty and the sick are dying of hunger in conse-
quence. And especially hard it is to me that God will perhaps
leave us under their false, blind teaching, which men, whom they
call Fathers, have invented and set up; whereby the precious
word of God is in many places falsely explained or not set forth
at alL Ah ! God in heaven, have mercy upon us ! " and so on
in the ordinary style of the time ; but we get an insight into the
life of a soul which dreams of Christian union not even yet
realised.

Farther on in the Journal he bursts forth, " Ah I God, is
Luther dead ] Who will henceforth expound the Holy Gospel
to us so plainly ] Ah, God ! what might he not have written
for us in the next ten or twenty years. Oh ! all good Christian
men, help me to bewail the God-inspired being, and to pray that
he will send us another enlightened man. Oh ! Erasmus of
Rotterdam, where wilt thou tarry] See what unrighteous
tyranny, the power of the world, the power of darkness, can do !

80 ALBRECHT DtRER.

Hear, Christian knight, ride forth with the Lord Jesus, defend
the right, obtain the martyr's crown ! — thou art abeady an old
mannikin, and I have heard thee say that thou givest thyself
only two yeai-s longer in which thou wilt be able to work.
Dedicate these years to the cause of the Gospel and the true
Christian Faith."

Diirer identified in his mind the Reformers with the Human-
ists. When he was calling upon this little great man of Rotterdam
to come to the help of Christ, he knew nothing of the divisions
which were going on, and certainly mistook for a hero the man,
who two years afterwards at Basle, fearing for his own reputation,
refused an asylum to "Ulrich von Hutten, when under the ban
of the Pope — the man whom Luther in his own manner once
called, " an enemy of all religions."

At the time of Diirer's return from the Netherlands, the contest
between the extreme religious parties was not so great. The
Rath decided in 1524 to establish a High School, and to make
Melanchthon Rector, but he declined the post and named Joachim
Cammermeister (or Camerarius) in his stead, though he often came
to Niimberg to supervise, and was the centre of a pleasant society
which assembled in the evening, and included such men as Hesse,
Roting, Spengler, and the priests Venatorius and Wenzel Link.

A letter from Nicolaus Kratzer shows that Diirer kept up the
friendships which he made in the Netherlands. In his answer
to the Astronomer he speaks of two portraits, dated 1524. They
were masterpieces of art, the likenesses of his oldest patron the
Elector Frederick, and of Pirkheimer, He has rendered his
friend immortal in all the greatness of his energy and philosophic
character before physical pain had damped his ardour, and the
tumult of Reformation controversy had agitated his mind. He
had almost withdrawn from society, when in 1524 he dictated
the inscription for his portrait : vivitur ingenio, ccetera mortis
erunt. The Humanist in his declining years was troubled with
a vision of the overthrow of knowledge which was threatened
by the Reformation, and as a statesman he was terrified by the

PIRKHEIMER AND MELANCHTHON. 81

violence and confusion about him which followed upon the
promulgation of Lutheran doctrine. He felt the eflfects in his
immediate family, for the convent of which his sisters were at
the head became a mark for the insults of the citizens. He
hated such expounders of Church guidance as the preacher
Osiander, and even his friend Spengler incurred his indignation.
Thus, gradually, the brilliant and wealthy Pirkheimer assumed
towards the Reformation the attitude of Erasmus of Rotterdam.
It is not, however, fair to assume that Dtirer followed blindly in
the footsteps of his patrician friend. True it was that " they
were closely united even to being indispensable to each other
and even unto death," true that DUrer's praise was " like music "
to the ear of his friend, as Ulrich von Hutten says, yet each was
too self-sufficient to allow himself to be drawn along helplessly
by the other.

Melanchthon, who, when a visitor at Pirkheimer's house, often
met Diirer and spoke of him as "a wise man, in whom the
artistic element, prominent as it was, was still the least," throws
much light upon the mutual relations of the two friends. When
the scholar, by a pamphlet against QEcolampadius, took part in
the quarrel about the Lord's Supper, there were often disputes
between them in which Pirkheimer repeatedly used to retort to
Diirer's attacks, " That cannot be painted ; " and the artist would
reply, " And what you say should not be said or even thought."
If Diirer could not adopt Pirkheimer's opinions, still less could
he attach himself to the revolutionary party in the city, and he
must have been deeply moved by the part which was taken by
three of his best pupils, Georg Pencz, and the brothers Sebald
and Barthel Beham. These " three godless painters " were
banished from the city for their dangerous opinions. His wood-
cutter, too, Andreas, was a source of great trouble to the Rath.
This man had obtained such celebrity that he adopted the name
of his calling, " Formschneider," instead of AndreaB.^

^ Among Diirer's drawings in the British Museum is a portrait of a
joung woman, Fronica 1525, Formschneiderin.

D G

82 ALBRECHT Dt)RER.

The terrible eflFect of passing events upon Diirer is evidenced
by a vision which he had on the 30th of May, 1525, which
he transferred to paper in watercolours the next morning. The
sketch is in the Ambras Collection in Vienna. He describes it
thus : " Immense volumes of water kept on falling from heaven,
but as the first drops reached the ground, it fell with such force,
and then came on a wind and a rushing noise, and I was so
terrified that when I awoke my whole body trembled and for a
long time I could not come to myself. However, when I arose
in the morning, I painted it here above as I saw it. May God
iirect all for the best."

Between Melanchthon and Diirer there was naturally the
deepest sympathy. They probably met first in 1518 at Pirk-
heimer*s house, and the friendship which began then was more
closely cemented during the reformer's subsequent visits to
Nurnberg in 1525 or 1526. "We have to thank this friendship
to which Camerarius was admitted for the most trustworthy
accounts of Diirer. liUther says of Melanchthon, "Magister
Philippus goes softly and quietly, builds and plants, sows and
waters with joy, as God has given him his gifts richly ; " and
such a man appears in Diirer's portrait of 1526, bareheaded, with
a lofty brow and gentle smile. The plate bears the inscription :

Viventis potuit Durerius ora Philippi,
Mentem non potuit pingere docta manus.

His feelings while working at the portrait of his friend were
widely different to those which he felt for Erasmus, whose like-
ness he engraved on copper in the same year. Diirer had taken
sketches of him in Brussels in 1520, and in the interval Erasmus
had repeatedly urged the completion of the picture in letters to
Pirkheimer, which abounded in praises of the artist, but the
recollection of the philosopher's features had become faint, so
that the truthfulness of the likeness is unequal to its merit as a
work of art. It is half-length, and Erasmus is sitting in a satin

PORTRAITS. 83

robe writing at a desk surrounded by ponderous tomes. These
portraits are the last of Diirer's engravings, but we must mention
among his latest achievements the celebrated portrait of his
** single friend *' Ulrich Varenbulery dated 1622, the largest and
greatest of his wood-cuts in that style. The Imperial Councillor
was a valued friend of Erasmus and Pirkheimer, and his name
appears frequently in their letters. There is an inscription by
Diirer, to the eflfect that he desires to render those whom he
specially loves famous to posterity. In 1525 he displayed his
own coat of arms, the same as those which his father bore, in a
large wood-cut; and probably to 1526 must be assigned the
likeness of his friend Eohan Hesse, His last religious represent-
ation in wood-cutting is of the same date, the Holy Family, with
the children playing m the foreground. In the same year he
painted the Madonna once more, the picture in the XJfl&zi, in
which the Virgin holds an apple in her hand, and likewise three
life-sized portraits, one of Kleherger who afterwards married
Pirkheimer*s favourite daughter, the widow of Hans Imhof , and
deserted her, but who subsequently merited the name of " bon
Allemand," and a statue in Lyons. The second portrait was
that of Jdkoh Mitssel, and the third that grand portrait of
Hieronymus Holtzschuher which is still in possession of the
family in Niimberg, one of the most valuable memorials of the
artist's power. It is now, on loan, in the Germanic Museum.

Now towards the close of his art-life he seems to have been
possessed with that desire to perpetuate the recollection of his
friends before his hand had lost its cunning, but there was yet
another ambition, to bequeath to his native city a memorial of
his genius and of his faith. The thought of the Four Apostles
or Four Temperaments had been growing in his mind for ten
years, and at last revealed itseK in those two panels in Munich
which display the perfection of art. His studies for this picture
had been his great delight; witness the water-colour sketches
of /SL Philip and S, James in the Ufifizi, the S. Mark in the

G 2

84 ALBRECHT DtRER.

Hullot collection, and the S. Peter in the marvellous pencil-
drawing in the Albertina Grallery. Each of the panels is occupied
by the full-length figure of an apostle and his companion. Diirer
took the greatest pains with the drapery, for no artist ever knew
better how much the character of a figure may be indebted to
the fold of a garment.

It is a contemporary of the artist and a man who personally
knew him, Johann Neudcirffer, who first mentions that the four
figures meant the four temperaments — S. John the type of the
Melancholic, and S. Peter of the Phlegmatic, occupying the one
panel ; S. Paul, type of the Choleric, and S. Mark of the Sanguine,
occupying the other. It is worthy of remark that the prominent
figures in either panel are S. John and S. PauL The beloved
disciple is lost in contemplation, not looking into the open Bible,
which he holds in his hand ; but S. Peter bends forward as if
with the desire to read. There is said to be in the S. John a
likeness to Melanchthon.

On the other half is depicted Diirer's special hero, the apostle
to the Gentiles, one of those figures so grand as only to bear
comparison with the artist's idea of the Christ. He is the
warrior ready for battle, the man whose seK no longer exists,
but the Christ lives in him and fiUs his whole being, whose
whole energy is devoted to the task of apprehending Him by
whom he is apprehended. That there might be no mistake as to
the meaning of his paintings, Diirer appended texts from the
writings of each of the apostles with an introduction of warning :
" All temporal rulers in these perilous times must take care not
to accept human misleading for the Divine word, for God will
have nothing added to His word or taken away. Then listen to
the warnings from these four excellent men, Peter, John, Paul,
and Mark." The texts refer to false prophets, and perilous times,
to Antichrist, and those who " were ever learning but never able
to come to a knowledge of the truth,'* to the men who " devour
widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers." Here is

ST. JOHH AND ST. PETEK. ST, PAUL AND ST. MARK.

BY ALBRECHT DORER-
In the Finaiothtk, Munkli.

THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS. 85

a distinct protest against the new sects, the Anabaptists and
Deists, which Diirer puts in the mouths of the more contem-
plative of the apostles, while the men of energy are ready to do
battle with older enemies, the followers of a world philosophy,
and with immoral priests.

Diirer placed this distinct warning under each picture because
he intended the panels to remain for ever in his native town.
In the autumn of 1526 he sent them to the Rath with a letter,
saying that he had long wished to send some painting of small
merit as a remembrance, but that he had been deterred from
doing so from the " defects of his works," for he knew that he
should not appear with credit before them. " But as I have
during this past time painted a panel, and have been more
diligent over it than over other paintings, I consider no one
more worthy of receiving it than your honours."

The Rath accepted his pictures, and presented him with 100
gulden. For a century they remained in the Rathhaus till the
Elector Maximilian coveted them too eagerly. Copies of them
• were made by Georg Gartner so good that when they were sent
to Maximilian, it was hoped that he would choose them instead
of the damaged originals, to which also were affixed the inscrip-
tions so distasteful to the priests at Munich.

Maximilian, however, chose the genuine paintings, but cut off
the inscriptions and sent them back with the copies to Niirnberg
where they still hang in the Rathhaus.

CHAPTER XI.

DORER'B illness and DKATH — TOMB — TBBTIllONT TO HIM FROM
LIITHBR AND OTHERS — HIS UTERART PRODUCTIONS — IN8TRDC-

nON IN UBNBURATION — FOBTIFICATIOH — ART OF FENCING

HUMAN PROPORTION — FOOD FOR TOUNO PAINTERS — (JUOTATIONS

THE later part of Diirer'a life was full of the vearineas
which continued sickness causes. Though nover apparently
a strong man, and ever liable to attacks of illness, he vas unspar- *
ing of himself, and his constitution was no doubt impaired by the
extraordinary demands which be made upon his powers. It was,
however, the Netherlands journey which permanently destroyed
bis health, and laid the seeds of disease which carried him off
prematurely. We call to mind the hardships, the exposure and
the fatigue of his joomeyinge, the irregularity of the life which
he led, and the excesses to which, almost despite himself, he gave
way iu ac«epting,the hospitality which was offered to him. The
costly feasts and the tankards of wine, so frequently mentioned
in the Journal, could not have been good for a man of such a
delicate oi^auization. His first serious illness happened during
that dangerous Zealand journey in search of the whale, and when
at Ghent he notes : "In the third week after Eastei a hot fever
attacked me, accompanied with feintness, and uncomfortable feel-
ings and headache. And when I vas in Zealand, some time

DEATH. 87

back, I was overtaken by an extraordinary illness, the like of
which I have never heard of from any one, and this illness I have
stiU."

There is a coloured sketch of himself by his own hand in the
Hall of Arts at Bremen, half -naked, and the right hand pointing to
a roAnd, yellow spot on his left side. Above he has written the
words, " Where the yellow spot is on which I put my finger, there
it pains me," no doubt for a consultation with hisdocto;: by writing.

Diirer's illness did not entirely keep him from work, till just
before his death ; but he was obliged to abstain in part from
social intercourse which involved indulgence in eating and
drinking, too common at that time in Numberg, especially at the
house of such a man as Pirkheimer. We get an idea of his
emaciated appearance from a large profile portrait which was pub-
lished after his death in a woodcut (1528). It is the portrait of
the master at 56, prematurely aged, and much changed. The nose
and cheek-bones are strikingly prominent, the hair and beard no
longer retaining their luxuriance, the fine head of former years
is bent forward, and exhibits little sign of the power which has
departed. The likeness is that of a feeble, worn-out man, sinking
into his grave before his time. The sketch was no doubt taken
after his death, and probably from a cast, for, according to an
existing manuscript in the Numberg Museum, his grave was
opened by some artists the day after his burial in order that a
cast of the face might be taken.

1^0 record of his last moments has come to us from any one
who was present ; but we remember the prayer which he uttered
at the time of his mother's death, — " The Lord God grant that I
also may have a happy end, and that God, with His heavenly
host, my father, mother and friends, wiU be present at my
death," and we feel sure that his prayer was granted. He died in
Passion- week, on the 6th of April, 1528, in his 57th year, and
was buried in the vault of the Frey family, in the quiet cemetery
of S. John outside the 'city walls. The simple inscription upon

88 ALBRECHT DtRER.

his tombstone was placed there by Pirkheimer, who, a few years
afterwards, was laid to rest in a grave almost by the side of his
friend " even unto death."

ME . AL . DU

QUICQUID ALBERTI DURERI MORTALE

FUIT, SUB HOC OONDITUR TUMULO .

EMIGRAVIT . VIII . IDDS APRILIS.

M.D.XXVIII.

He died so suddenly and unexpectedly, that not even Pirk-
heimer had time to hasten as he would have done to his bedside,
for " that tender farewell on the shore of this rude world," and
bitterly he bewails it — " Thou who for so many years wast so
closely united to me, Albrecht, my souFs better part, with whom
I enjoyed dear discourse, who didst treasure my words in a faith-
ful bosom ! Why, unhappy one, didst thou hurry away with
swift, never-returning step. I was not allowed to touch the
dear head, to clasp the hand, or say a last farewell to the de-
parting one, for scarcely hadst thou entrusted thy weary limbs
to thy bed, than death snatched thee away in haste."

There is preserved in Niirnberg a skull, which was found
early in the present century, and believed, but on no reliable
ground, to be Albrecht's; for when the Prey famOy became ex-
tinct the vault was at the disposal of the hospital, and received
several inmates, till Joachim Sandrart bought it in 1681, and
decked it with an inscription, intended to be a contribution to
the glory of Diirer, bequeathed it to the Academy which he
founded, and it became a resting-place for foreign artists. There
is, however, a sacred relic in Vienna, the wrapper of which at
least is genuine, for it has the signature of each successive

HIS FRIENDS. 89

owner. It is said to be the lock of hair which was cut off after
Diirer's death and given to his friend Baldung.

The testimony of men whose names are known to fame, to the
universal regret which the death of Durer caused, makes his
historical position undeniable.

" You may count him happy," says Luther, " that Christ so
enlightened him and took him in good time from stormy scenes,
destined to become still stormier, so that he who was worthy of
seeing only the best should not be compelled to experience the
worst. So may he rest in peace with his fathers. Amen."
Melanchthon would not at first believe the sad news, and when
he was able to doubt no longer, he could only say to Camerarius,
" It grieves me to see Germany deprived of such an artist and
such a man." On the other hand, Erasmus, in a letter to
Pirkheimer, contents himself with such words as these — "What is
the use of lamenting Durer^s death, since we are all mortal?
There is a memorial to him existing in my little book ; " and then,
after immortalizing him in this way, proceeds with some amusing
reports which were being circulated. His indifference is in
marked opposition to the manner in which Pirkheimer had
poured out his heart to him in the midst of the desolation
which the loss of his friend had created. Camerarius says of Durer
in the Preface to the * Lessons in Proportion,' which has been
mentioned before; "If there were in this man anything ap-
proaching to a fault, it was simply the endless industry and the
self-criticism which he indulged in, often even to injustice."

When death found DUrer he was occupied no longer in the
production of art results, but in a search after its fundamental
principles, by which means he hoped to render his last days
serviceable to his country and to posterity. To this end he
devoted himself to collecting and publishing the thoughts which
had been growing from his childhood, and the lessons which
careful study and long experience had taught him. "An
unlearned man is like an unpolished mirror," he once said to

90 ALBRECHT Dt^RER.

Melanclitlioii ; and he has left abundant evidence that he spared
no pains to keep his brightness untarnished. It was not in his
later years alone that he began his theoretical studies. As far
back as the year 1500, we may remember that he was interested
in this subject when he speaks of the information which he had
obtained from a certain Jacopo.

The first book which he published was the * Instruction in
Mensuration, with compass and rule in lines, planes and solids,
compiled by Albrecht Diirer, and printed, with illustrations, for
the use of all lovers of art, in the year 1525.' It consists of a
course of lectures in geometry as an appendix to Euclid's Elements.
He explains in the preface that those who understand Euclid had
no need of "the following written things," for they are only
written for the young and those who had no one to instruct them
carefully. Many young painters, he remarks in the dedication,
grow up without a knowledge of the art of mensuration, though it
is " the true foundation of aU painting." He illustrated this book
richly with wood-cuts, for he said, " Anything which you see is
more credible than what you hear ; but when it is both seen and
heard, we comprehend it more perfectly, and it remains with us
more durably ; therefore I will construct the work so that people
may be able so much the better to keep it in memory." In it he
describes an instrument which he invented for taking portraits
by rule, to assist those who were not sure of the accuracy of their
drawings. In 1538 a second edition was printed, with additional
wood-cuts from Diirer' s collection, and several editions of the
Latin translation have appeared. In 1527 Diirer appears, like
Leonardo, as a writer upon the art of fortification in his book en-
titled * Instructions in Fortifying Cities, Castles and Towns.' It
is dedicated to Ferdinand I., from whose grandfather Maximilian
he received so many marks of favour. The work is divided into
six parts. The first three contain plans for building bastions, the
fourth treats of castles, the fifth of forts to command a Pass, the
sixth exhibits the method of rendering open towns secure. The

ON FORTIFICATION. 91

work is adorned with excellent wood-cuts, among which, on the
title-page, appears the arms of King Ferdinand. His theories were
by no means universally accepted by his contemporaries, though
here and there were found supporters. Some of the fortifications
of Strasburg were built according to his instructions, and the
celebrated architect, Daniel Specklin, adopted his ideas, and
made them the basis of a system of fortifications which has been
more or less recognized by all German engineers. A Latin
translation of his book by Camerarius appeared in Paris in
1535, a copy of the original in 1603 at Amheim. In 1823 an
edition, with valuable commentary, was published in Berlin, and a
splendid book, a translation into French, appeared in Paris* in
1870. At the same time he executed the wonderful wood-cut
which is sometimes called, without regard to chronology, Durer^a
Vienna. It represents a view of a fortified town, which is being
besieged, and, apart from its value as a work of art, must be
taken with his book as illustrative of his theory.

The above are the only two out of 150 books or pamphlets
which Camerarius assures us Diirer wrote, and which were fully
prepared during his life-time.

A work on the art of Fencing has come to light in late years,
containing a series of sketches illustrating various attitudes and
positions, together with a code of laws to be adopted by those
who cultivated the arts of fencing and wrestling.

The work of the greatest importance, and the one which had
occupied his mind for many years, seems to have been inspired
by Pirkheimer, to whom it was dedicated. The title of it runs
thus : — " Herein are contained four books of Human Propor-
tion, invented and described by Albrecht Diirer of Niirnberg,
for the use of aU who love this art." MDXXVIII. The
author only lived to see the first book in the press, and the
inscription on the manuscript in the Dresden Library, " 1523,
at Niirnberg, this is Albrecht Diirer's first book, which he
himself has made," is a proof that it was written earlier than

92 ALBKECHT DtRER.

the other books; and some of the sketches for it date back even
to 1500.

The entire work was published after his death, under the
editorship of Pirkheimer. DUrer appears to adopt two separate
systems in measuriDg the human body. The one was by division
of the whole length of the body into certain fractional parts, the
other by a scale of 600 parts, similar to that employed by Leo
Battista Alberti, whose manuscript work DUrer is said to have
seen in Venice. In the third he altered, according to fixed
rules, the measurements which he had obtained from experi-
ment ; and by increasing or diminishing certain of the propor-
tions he obtained ludicrous figures, which were thinner or stouter
than they should naturally have been. These alterations he
classified and arranged in pairs, — ^great and small, young and
old, fat and thin, — and calls these epithets " expressions of dis-
tinction." In the fourth book he treats of the difiFerent move-
ments of the limbs and of the principles of fore-shortening.

Diirer contents himself solely with that which is outwardly
manifest, and refrains from entering upon the wonderful con-
struction of the limbs and joints, and the arrangements for their
motion, because " this is known to those who study anatomy, and
I will let them tell about it."

The work which Hogarth alludes to in his 'Analysis of
Beauty * as calculated to puzzle the man who attempts to follow
the elaborate rules laid down, is still of value to those who have
the patience to read it. That it was appreciated in its day is
shown by the numerous editions and translations which appeared.
The Latin one by Camerarius (1532-34) is most interesting from
the biographical sketch contained in the preface, from which
we have made extracts, and which was translated into Italian and
Spanish. A French translation appeared in Paris (1557), and
Dutch translations in 1622 and 1662, and a curious English
version in London (1666) called * A. DUrer revived : or a book
of Drawing, Washing, or Colouring of Mapps or Prints.'

ON PROPORTION. 93

For some time Diirer had entertained the idea of a large
encyclopaedic work, which should be a sort of complete art-
educator. The two books which we have mentioned are really
fragments of it. The work was to be entitled * Food for Young
Painters.' The materials for it he was collectiug in 1512 and
1513, or even earlier, and he proposes to treat of the "propor-
tions of man, of the proportions of horses, of the proportions of
buildings, of perspective, of light and shade, and of the colours"
such as nature employs. In his preface he says, " By the help
and grace of God for the use of all little ones, who are willing to
learn what they must do, all that which I by my experience
have found to be of use to painters," and so on. Doubtless this
was the great scheme which he had in view, and partly completed^
and among his papers are numerous notes of sketches for all that
he proposed to accomplish. ^

He made careful studies too in the proportions of the horse,
as we can judge from the origin of the celebrated Knight ; and
from Camerarius's preface we learn that Diirer had commenced a
treatise upon the subject, but that it was lost through the faith-
lessness of certain people, and that he did not care to write it
again. Durer knew well who these people were, but for peace
sake he would not proceed against them. The suspected men
were Sebald Beham and Andrese, and evil reports of them
became current directly after the master's death. The latter
misused the power entrusted to him in the printing of the work ;
and when it became known that, in conjunction with Beham, he
would also publish a work upon " Proportion," the Rath forbad
its publication, "on peril of life and property," until DUrer's
work was completed. Beham accordingly produced only a little
work upon the proportions of the horse in 1528, which he
judiciously altered so that it should not betray its origin ; and
aho in the treatise, which he published in 1546, upon human
proportions he is careful to avoid all the suspicions of DUrer's
friends to which he and Andrew had laid themselves open.

94 ALBRECHT DORER.

The greater part of the manuscript of this work is in the
British Museum, along with other volumes of Diirer's writings,
notes and sketches upon a variety of subjects — ^writings which
are interesting in their relation to his productions. This indeed
is the character of all writing from his hand which has come
down to us in its disconnected form, all full of that interest
which must attach to a figure of such distinct historical import-
ance. His life is revealed to us by the flashes of mental and
spiritual light which was ever shooting forth in the midst of
his labour. His thoughts are rather suggestions for an art
system than the system itself; they are springs from an inner
foimtain, supplied from the source of all that is highest and
noblest in man, — gleams of light which flash only upon the soul
that is ever turning towards its God.

With a profound veneration ^f or the art and wisdom of the
ancients, he regrets the period of decline, and hails all the efforts
which were made for their revival. " In what honour and dignity
this art was held by the Greeks and Eomans is satisfactorily
proved by ancient writings, although in course of time it was
lost and hidden for over a thousand years, and only two hundred
years ago again brought to light by the Italians." These words
occur in his dedication of the mensuration book ; and again in
1513 he writes, "The great art of painting was held in high
respect by the powerful kings of many hundred years ago ; for
they conferred wealth upon their artists who excelled, and held
them in high esteem, for they thought that their wealth of fancy
was an endowment common to them and God. For a good
painter is within full of forms, and if it were possible that he
could live for ever, he would have, from his innermost ideas, of
which Plato writes, at aU times something new to pour forth
through his works."

But it was from nature, that Diirer sought the fountains of
the beautiful, and the limits which she set he would have no
one overstep. " Let every one take care to make nothing which

IDEA OF BEAUTY. 95

is impossible to nature and which she would not endure. If all
beauty is enclosed in nature, the greatest difficulty is for human
power to recognize it and to reproduce it in a picture, for it is
no small art to make different human shapes ; the stubborn will
of itself entwines itself into our work. To make a beautiful
picture, you must not take from one man alone, for no man
lives on earth who possesses all that is beautiful; he might
always be much more beautiful. Also, there lives no man on
earth who can say conclusively what the most beautiful form gf
human being should be like. "No one knows that but God
alone ; '' and later on he adds, ^^ To whom He has manifested it,
he will know it,"

But DUrer will only allow to exceptional men the power to
form an aesthetic judgment, which he in itself regards as a
special gift, requiring to be cultivated by reference to the observ-
ations of others. " Let no one trust himself too much, for the
many see more than one, possible as it may be that for once one
man sees more than a thousand ; still it rarely occurs." " One
often searches through two or three hundred people, and hardly
finds two or three things in them which can be used. Therefore,
if you want to make a good picture, you must take from several
the head, from others the arms, hands," and so on.

Very early in the sixteenth century Diirer had grasped the true
idea of beauty, beyond which it was impossible for him to go ; so
that in this respect his speculations made no advance, nor could
years of reflection present to his mind anything superior. He
argues then, that the growth of a nation'&art is like its system of
laws, which developes as circumstances create necessity for fresh
legislation, or as new light dawns upon specially gifted minds.
Just as the idea of the good is gradually revealed and matured,
so also the conception of the beautiful is not a revelation to a
single individual mind, but the result of a succession of re-
velations to men endued with energy of soul, communicated
either to many, or, as is rarely the case, apprehended in all its

96 ALBBECHT DtBEB.

perfection by a solitary genius. Sucli a genius was Diirer himself.
Yet with all his delight in speculation, and with his marvellous
creative power, the simplicity and freedom both of his thoughts
and of his works were constantly increasing during his later years.
Melanchthon, in one of his letters to Camerarius, says, that he
remembers how conscious Durer himself was of this. In his
youth he says he was fond of a florid style and variety of colour,
and found an unfailing pleasure in this diversity ; but in his
mature years he recognized that simplicity was the perfection of
art. It is curious to compare the perfect harmony of colour and
simple greatness of his works when, abandoning theory and
imitation, he puts himself into competition with nature, and gives
utterance to such thoughts as these : " The life in nature makes
known the truth of all these things ; therefore gaze upon her
intently, and do not deviate from her to follow your own opinion,
as if you could imagine that you could find out better for your-
self, for you would be misled. For truly art lies in nature ; and
he who can draw her out obtains her, and once obtained she
will move many defects from your works. . . . The more exactly
your work is conformable to life, so much the better will it
seem. And this is true : therefore never imagine that you can
do, or desire to do, something better than what God has given his
created being the power to do, for his capacity is powerless
against the creative power of God. So it is decreed, that no
human being can, of his own* imagination, even make a beautiful
picture, and so he must fiU his mind full of beauty by many
an imitation ; and then it is no more called his own, but has
become art, which has been mastered and acquired, which sows
itself, grows, and brings forth fruit of its kind. Thereupon the
collected and secret treasure of the heart becomes manifest through
the work, and the new creature which is created in the heart is
the form of a thing."

No artist, save only Michelangelo, has given utterance to
thoughts more beautiful than these in reference to the power

Christ driving; uut the Muney-chaneers.

from iht " Little Passion. " Fritiledfrom a cast of thi origiiuU

tuaad-lilork in tki British Maseum,

ALBRECHT DORER, ► 99

with which he feels himself endowed — a power which he
humbly and yet proudly recognizes as something akin to Divine
inspiration. His marvellous knowledge of forms was to him
a "secret treasure of the heart," and the figures which he
produces in such abundance are " new creatures," conceived in
his own mind, products of a seed divinely sowed, not mere
copies of shapes which have been presented to his eye and per-;
feeted by his skill. Hence he goes on to say, that an expert
artist does not need to make special studies for each individual
picture, "for he can pour out sufficiently what he has been
collecting within himself from the outside ; such an one can
fashion well in his own works, but very few arrive at such an
intelligence."

These words are in perfect harmony with the productions of his
later years. While he sees in the work of his art life a reflect
tion of the power of God, which exalts his calling, he discovers
in it only grounds for personal humility. He was as dissatisfied
with the completeness of his theories as he was with that of
his productions, and had always before his mind, and in his
dreams, more beautiful pictures than he was ever able to execute.
" Ah ! how often," he exclaims, " do I see in my sleep great art
and good things, the like of which do not come to me when
awake; for when I awake my remembrance of them is goue.'^
Still he was not discouraged in his search after truth, though
conscious that, with our limited understanding, we can never
come to a full knowledge of it ; "if we cannot attain the very
best, are we to leave off studying 1 We will not accept that
brutish idea, for men have the bad and the good set before them,
and it is becoming to a reasonable being to prefer the better."

As to the future of art, the effort of his life was to contribute
what he could, however imperfect, towards its perfection, though
conscious of many difficult problems which he was unable to
solve ; still he hopes " that every one will, according to his
power, try to make up my deficiencies." He looked upon

H 2

100 ALBRECHT DOBEB.

himself as in no way at the head of an art-movement, but only
as a man who could not refuse to fulfil some great purpose in its
development. He was content to be a precious corner-stone in
the edifice of German Art, the future grandeur of which he
could only foresee ; and little did he dream that the completion
of the structure would be delayed, even for centuries, by the
great religious and political struggles which Germany was destined
to witness, and of which he only lived to see the beginning.

It is chiefly in DUrer's engravings that we are able to get an
insight into the depths of his character. Perfect in detail and
marvellous in execution, each one conveys a lesson often too
deep for minds unaccustomed to introspection, unmoved by
the questionings and doubts, the hopes and the despair, which
afflict a nature dissatisfied with the conditions in which it exists,
and striving ever to fathom the surrounding mysteries. Given
to melancholy thoughts from his earlier years, and seldom able
to divest himself of them, restless in the pursuit of knowledge,
his mind was full of the fantastic shapes which appear in the
creations of his pencil. Humble and faithful in his search after
good, he was rewarded by revelations which he strove to com-
municate. The more subtle and diversified his fancies, the more
careful is he in giving them expression, lest any fragment should
be lost. Hence the strange variety of forms, the wonderful
mixture of the sublime and the homely, the real and the imagin-
ary, which crowd upon a single picture — legends from those
shadowy lands reserved for the visits of genius, relieving the
monotonous story of every-day life.

PRINCIPAL WORKS OF ALBRECHT DURER.

I. PAIHTINGS.

BsBbiH. Miu. Virgin and Child. (Purc/uued in 1880 from the
MaTcheie Gino Capponi, ' ' A eometehat poor work,
but believed on. good authority to be auth^ntK."
'Academj,' No. 446.)

CAsaBL, GidUry. Portrait of Elizabeth Tucher. Elbpet Niclab Td-

Dbebdbk, G<d. Christ on the Cross. 1600, Fateb I Manvs tu

OaHHENPO BPIRITU HBU.

Christ bearing the Cross, MDXXVII.

Portr^t of Bemhard von Ikssen. 1521. (Pairded

ATUieerp.)
Madonna and sleefnng Child

v>iiig» S. Sebastian and

only are by DUrer.)
Flobenob. Uffiii Portrwt of Albrecht Diirer.' 1498.

Portrait of Albrecht Diirer the elder. 1490 {or 1498).

{See foot-note ' on p. 103.)

(A« centre; on the tide
Anthony, (The ^rnngt

■ A similar painting is at Madrid : Waagen is in favour of the Ufiizi one
bdog the original ; on the other hand, Miindler declares for the Madrid

; rPAJNl'lNQS. 103

Florence. 77^21. ^. Philip. 1^16. /. •

S. James. 1516.

Madonna and Child. 1526.

Adoration of the Magi. 1504. {Painted for Frederick

the Wise.)

Pitti Palace, Adam. ) ,« ^ ^ ^ ^ ^r-

Eve \ {See foot-note^ on this page.)

Frankpoet. Job. {See foot-note on p. 104.)

Stadel. Portrait of Albrecht Diirer the elder. 1494. Albrecht
Thurer der Elter und alt 70 Jor. {See foot-
note^ on this page.)
Portrait of Katharine Fiirleger. 1497. (Another por-
trait of this girl, also hy Diirer, was formerly in
the possession of the late Mr. Wynn Ellis.)
Town Gallery, A copy hy Paul Juve^iel of a triptych — * The Coronation

of the Virgin,' with ^ The Martyrdom of St. James '
and *The Martyrdom of St. Catharine' on the wings.
Albertu Durer faciebat post Virgixis partu
1509. {The original, which loas painted in 1507-09
for Jakob Heller of Frankfort, was burnt in the old
palace of Munich in 1674. It is thought by some
critics that the portraits of Jakob Heller and his
wife on the wings are the original work of Durer,
and it is presumed that they may have been sawn ojff
the painting before it went to Munich.)

Isleworth. Six)n Portrait of his father, Albrecht DUrer the elder.
House. 1497. Albrecht Thurer der Elter und alt
70 JoR.i

N^Zuil Gal. 1 ^^* P^^'^* ^^ ^ ^^'^^^^^^ l^l*-

}

1507. Replicas are in the Pitti Palace,
Florence, and copies in the Museum at Ma inz. ^

Madrid. Mus. Adam. \ On the ^ Eve* is inscribed Albertus Durer

Eve. J Alemanus faciebat post Virginis partum.

* Similar pictures are in the Uffizi, Florence ; the Pinakothek, Mimich ;
and the Stadel, Frankfort. Much discussion has taken place as to which
is the original of the four : Passavant is in favour of the Frankfort one,
Mrs. Heaton of that of Sion House.

2 Passavant thinks that the Madrid pictures are the original, but Mr.
J. A. Crowe is decidedly in favour of those in the Pitti Palace.

104 THE WORKS OF ALBRECHT DORER.

Madrid. Mus, Poi-trait of Albrecht Durer. (^e^/oo^-notoonp. 102.)

Portrait of a Man.

Milan. Christ crowned with thorns. 1514. (See Burckhardt's

Trivulzi Coll. * Cicerone/ 1879.)

MuiriOH. The Birth of Christ (2), tinth S. Eustace (1) on the left

Pinakothek, wiivg, and 8. George (3) on the right, (Painted
for the church of S. Catharine in Nurnberg. S,
George is a p&rtraii of Stephan Baumgdrtiier :
S. Eustace is his brother Lucas. Kugler and Von
Eye think that this work belongs to about the same
time as * The Knight, Death and the Devil,* i. e.
1513 ; but Mrs. Heaton is of opinion that it is to be
ascribed to his * early time, before his visit to Venice.')

B. John and S. Peter (71), and 8. Paul and 8. Mark
(76) (sometimes called * The Four Temperaments ').
(Copies by Georg Gdrtner are in the Germanic
Museum at Nii/rnberg.)

Lucretia. 1518.

Portrait of Oswald Krell. Oswolt Krel. 1499.

8. Joachim and 8. Joseph.^ 1523. (Cabinet 7, No.
123.)

Portrait of Albrecht Diirer. Albebtus Duberus
NoBicus IPSUM me pbopbiissio effingebam oolobi-

BUS iETATIS ANNO XXViii. 1500.

Simeon and the Mitred Abbot Lazarus.^ (Cabinet 7>

No. 127.)
Portraitof Albrecht DUrer, the elder. 1494. Albbeout

Thubeb deb Elteb und alt 70 Job. [See foot-note

on p. 103.)
Portrait of Michel Wolgemut. 1516.
Portrait of a Young Man. 1600.
Rest on the Flight into Egypt. 1624.

Naples. San^ A Woman tying a garland at a Window. 1508. (See
Angelo Coll. Burckhardfs 'Cicerone/ 1879.)

1 These formed the interior of the wings of an altar-piece which Diirer
painted, probably for a member of the Jabach family at Coin. The exterior
of the wings are the one in the 8tadel at Frankfort, and the other in the
Wallraf-Richartz Museum at C61n. The centre-piece is lost.

PAINTINGS.

105

NuBNBERG. Portrait of Hieronymus Holzschuher. 1526. ^

Germanic Miis, Hercules.

Portrait of the Emperor Charlemagne.
Portrait of the Emperor Sigismmid.
Moritz Kapelle,^ The Body of Christ taken down from the Cross and

mourned by the holy women and His disciples.
{Painted for a member of the Holzschuher family :
a copy is in S, Sebald's Church, whefi'e the original
once hung, Kugler attributes it to the time 1515-18.)

Pbaoue. Abbey Feast of the Rose-garlands. Exeoit quinque Mestbi
of Strahow. Spatio Albebtus Dubeb Gebmanus MDVI.

{Painted for the Fonda/io de* Tedeschi, Venice:
contains portraits of Diirerj Pirkheimer, Fugger,
Maximilian I., and Julius II. An old copy is
in the Museum at Lyons.)
Gallery, Madonna with the Iris.

Rome. Bwghese* Portrait of a Man. 1505.
Barberini, Christ among the Doctors.

Vienna. Portrait of Maximilian I. 1519. (A replica was in the

Belvedere, possession of the late Lord Northwick. )

The Martyrdom of the ten thousand Saints. Istb
faciebat anno DOMINI. 1508. Albebtus Diibeb
Alemanus. {Painted for Frederick the Wise: con-
tains portraits of DUrer and Pirkheimer. An old
copy is in the Schleissheim Gallery. )

The Adoration of the Trinity. Albebtus Dubeb
NoBiJCus faciebat anno a vibgjnjs pabtu. 1511.
{Painted for the * House of the Twelve Brothers : '
contains portraits of DUrer and Landaiier.)

Madonna and Child. 1503.

Madonna and Child with the pear. 1512.

Portrait of a Man with red hair and a black cap. 1607.

Portrait of Johann Kleberger. 1526.

Madonna and Child with the lemon. 1520. {By some
critics ascribed to DUrer, but Mr, J: A, Crave says
it *'' bears a false signature and date, and is by a
Fleming imitating DUrer :^^ it is registered in the
official catalogue as * Netherlandish School.*)

* The property of the Holzschuher family. * Now used as a picture gallery.

106 THE WORKS OF ALBRECHT Dt)RER.

11. ENGRAVINGS.

Coat of Arms, with Death's Head. 1503.

Adam and Eve. 1504.

The Nativity, of the year 1504.

The Prodigal Son.

The Penance of S. Chrysostom.

The Penance of S. Jerome.

The Family of the Satyr. 1505 .

The Oflfer of Love.

A Man and Woman struggling.

A Prodigious Hog.

Justice {cUso called The Nemesis).

The Little Fortune.

The Great Horse. 1505.

The Little Horse. 1505.

The Passion in Copper. {Never puUished in hook form-)
(1) The Man of Sorrows. 1509.
(ii) Christ on the Mount of Olives. 1508.
(iii) The Betrayal. 1510. ? 1.508.
(iv) Christ before Caiaphas. 1512.
(v) Christ before Pilate. 1512.
(vi) Christ Scourged. 1512*
(vii) Christ Mocked. 1512.
(viii) Ecoe Homo. 1512,
(ix) Pilate washing his Hands.. 1512.
(x) Christ bearing the Cross. 1512.
(xi) The Crucifixion. 151 K
(xii) The Descent into Hell. 1512.
(xiii) Christ taken down from the Cross. 1507.
(xiv) The Entombment. 1512.
(xv) The Resurrection. 1512.
(xvi) Peter and John healing the lame man. 1513.
S. George. 150a

Christ with Bound Hands. 1512. {Dry point. )
S. Jerome. 1512. {Dry poirU.)

The Holy Family, with Joseph and three otlier figures. {D)^ point.)
S.Veronica. 1510. {Etching.)
A Man bearing oft' a Nak«d Woman on a Unicom. {Etching,)

EN^IIAVINGS. 107.

Christ Seated, Crowned with Thorns. 1515. {Etching.)

Christ on the Mount of Ohves. 151 6^ {Etching.)

An Angel bearing the Sudarium. . {Etching.)

T?he Great Cannon. {Etching,)

Study of some Naked Figures. {Etching,)

The Little Crucifixion.

The Small St. Jerome. {Bound.)

The Knight, Death and the Devil {or The Horse of Death, or The

Christian Knight). 1513.
Si Jerome in his Chamber. . 1514.
Melencolia. 1514.

The Virgin as Queen of Heaven. 1514.

The Virgin as Earthly Mother {or, The Virgin by the Wall). 1514.
g. Paul. 1514. '
S. Thomas. 1514.
A Dancing Boor and his Wife. 1514.
The Bagpipe Player. 1514.
S. Eustachius {frequently called S. Hubertus).

The Great Fortune (" probably the one called by Diirer^ The Nemesis ")•
The Coat of Arms with the Cock.

The Virgin on the H^lf Moon, with Crown and Sceptre. 1516.
The Virgin Crowned by Two Angels. 1518.
The Virgin Suckling the Child. 1519.
S. Anthony. 1519.

The Virgin Crowned by One Angel. 1520.
The Virgm with the Child m Swaddling Clothes. 1520.
S. Christopher. J 521.
S. Bartholomew. 1523.
S. Simon. 1523.
S. Philip. 1526.

DOUBTFUL. (Perhaps by Wolgemut.)

The Four Naked Women {or " The Pdur Witches "). 1497.

Amymone {(yr " The Sea-Rider ")•

The Dream of Love.

The Promenade {or Knight and Lady).

The Great Hercules (or Jealousy).

The Virgin with the Monkey.

The Lady on Horseback {or the Little Amazon).

1G8L THE WORKS OF ALBBECHT DGBKR.

III. WOOD-CUTS.

The Apocaljrpse. {The first and second editions appeared in 1493, the

third in 1511.)

(i) The attempted Martyrdom of S. John.

(ii) The Vision of the Seven Golden Candlesticks.

(iii) The Throne of God with Twenty-four Elder? and the Four Beasts.

(iv) The Opening of the First Four Seals. (The Four Riders.)

(v) The Opening of the Fifth and Sixth Seals. Martyrs clothed in white.

(vi) The Four Angels holding the Four Winds, and the Sealing of the

Elect on their Foreheads.

(vii) The Elect with Palm-branches glorify the Lamb.

(viii) The Sounding of the Trumpets.

(ix) The Four Angels of the Great River Euphrates killing die third

part of Men.

(x) The Angel with the column Feet.

(xi) The Woman clothed with the Sun.

(xii) Michael and his Angels fighting the Great Dragon.

(xiii) The Worshipping of the Dragon.

(xiv) The Babylonian Woman.

(xv) The Binding of Satan for a thousand years.

(xvi) The Vision of the Virgin to S. John. (Added as a vignette on the
title-page of the third edition)

The Life of the Virgin. {The first edition appeared in 1611, the later
editions are vnthout text. )

(i) The High Priest refusing the Offering of Joachim in the Temple,
(ii) The Angel appearing to Joachim in the Wilderness,
(iii) Joachim embraces Anna at the Golden Gate,
(iv) The Birth of the Virgin,
(v) The Purification,
(vi) The Betrothal of the Virgin,
(vii) The Annunciation,
(viii) The Visitation,
(ix) The Nativity,
(x) The Adoration of the Kings,
(xi) The Circumcision of Christ,
(xii) The Purification in the Temple,
(xiii) The Flight into Egypt,
(xiv) The Repose in Egypt.

(xv) Christ found by his Parents disputing with the Doctors,
(xvi) Christ taking leave of his Mother,
(xvii) The Death of the Virgin. 1510.
(xviii) The Assumption of the Virgin.

WOOD-CUTS. 109

(ziz) The Virgin and Child adored by Saints and Angels,
(xx) The Virgin on the Crescent Moon. ( Vignette on the title-pctge)

The Great Passion. {Published f/rat in hook form in 1611.)
(i) The Last Supper,
(ii) Christ on the Mount of Olives,
(iii) The Betrayal of Christ,
(iv) The Scourging of Christ,
(v) Christ Mocked,
(vi) Christ bearing the Cross,
(vii) The Crucifixion,
(viii) The Descent into Hell,
(ix) The Body of Christ mourned over by the Virgin and the Holy

Women,
(x) Christ laid in the Grave.
(xi) The Resurrection,
(xii) Christ Mocked. ( Vignette on the title-page.)

The Little Passion. (The first two editions appeared in 1511, in
Niirnberg ; a third in 1612, in Venice ; and a fourth in 1844, in
London; and a fifth — imperfect^ and from casts— in \^6Q,
(i) Adam and Eve in Paradise,
(ii) The Expulsion from Paradise,
(iii) The Annunciation,
(iv) The Nativity,
(v) The Entry into Jerusalem.

(vi) Christ driving the Money-changers out of the Temple,
(vii) Christ taking leave of His Mother,
(viii) The Last Supper,
(ix) The Washing of the Feet,
(x) The Prayer on the Mount of Olives,
(xi) The Kiss of Judas,
(xii) Christ before Annas,
(xiii) Caiaphas rends his Clothes,
(xiv) Christ Mocked,
(xv) Christ before Pilate,
(xvi) Christ before Herod,
(xvii) The Scourging.
^ (xviii) The Crowning with Thorns,
(xix) Christ shown to the People,
(xx) Pilate washing his Hands,
(xxi) Christ bearing the Cross,
(xxii) The Veronica,
(xxiii) Nailing Christ to the Cross,
(xxiv) The Crucifixion,
(xxv) Descent into Hell.

110 THE WORKS OF ALBRECHT DORER.

(xxvi) Descent from the Cross.

(xxvii) The Weeping of the Maries,
(xxviii) The Entombment,

(xxix) The Resurrection,
(xxx) Christ in Glory appearing to his Mother. '

(xxxi) Christ appears to the Magdalen,
(xxxii) Christ at Emmaus.
(xxxiii) The Incredulity of St. Thomas,
(xxxiv) The Ascension.

(xxxv) The Descent of the Holy Ghost,
(xxxvi) The Last Judgment,
(xxxvii) Christ Seated, with a Crown of Thorns on His Head {on the title) .

Samson killing the Lion.

The Beheading of S. John the Baptist. 1510;

Death and the Soldier. 1510.

The Trinity. 1511.

S. Christopher. 1511.

The Mass of S. Gregory. 1511.

S. Jerome in his Chamber. 1511,

S. Francis receiving the Stigmata.

The Holy Family with Three Hares.

The Holy Family with the Guitar. 1511.

The Virgin Crowned by two Angels. 1518.

Salome giving the Head of the Baptist to Herodias. 1611.

The Adoration of the Kings. 1511.

The Bath. '

The Rhinoceros. 1515.

The Great Head of Christ.

Coat of Arms. 1523.

The Triumphal Arch of Maximilian. 1512-1515. {Composed of. ninety-

tioo separate hlocksj which^ when put together , form one cut %ft. Qin.

high by 9ft. wide. The complete design was first published in

Vienna in 1559.)
The Triumphal Car of Maximilian. {Composed of eight blocks, forming

one cut 1ft. 6in. long by \ft. 6m. high. The first edition appeared

in 1522, the second in 1523. )
Maximilian's Prayer-Book. {Drawings.)
The Great Column. 1517.
The Eight Patron Saints of Austria.
The Apotheosis of the Emperor Maximilian.
Portrait of Maximilian. '

S. Christopher. 1525.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

IMPORTANT MODERN WORKS.

Heller, Joseph. Das Leben und die Werke Albrecht Diirer's.
Vol. ii. only " Die Werke." Bamberg, 1827 and 1831.

Eye, Dr. A. von. Leben und Wirken Albrecht Diirer's.
Nordlingen, 1860 and 1869.

Scott, William B. Albert DiLrer : his Life and Works,
•including Autobiographical Papers and complete Catalogues.
London, 1869.

Schmidt, Dr. Wilhelm. Albrecht Diirer. In the " Kunst und
Kiinstler des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit." Edited by
Dr. Eobert Dohrae. Leipzig, 1875.

Thausing, Moritz. Diirer. Geschichte seines liebens und
seiner Kunst. Leipzig, 1876.

Heaton, Mrs. Charles. The Life of Albrecht Diirer of
Niirnberg, with a translation of his Letters and Journal,
and an account of his works. Second Edition. London,
1881.

112

CHRONOLOGY OF DURER.

Pitge

1471 Bom at Karnberg, Maj 2Ut 5

1486 Apprentioed to Wolganut 11

1490 Started OD hiB Wndrasdiaft 13

1-^2 Wait to Golmar 13

1494 Returned from his Wanderschaft 13

1494 Married Agnes Frey, Jolj 14th 17

1502 His Father died, September 20th 7

1505 Went to Venice 35

1507 Yisited B<dogna aS

1507 Left Venice 38

1509 Purchased a hoose in Niimberg 54

1514 His Mother died, Maj 17th 8

1518 Visited Aogsborg 58

1520 Set out for the Netherlands, Jolj 12th 62

Went through Bambo^, Frankfort and Mainz ... ... 63

Arrived at Antwerp 63

Went to Bnusels, Auguitt 20th ... ... ... ... 6o

Retomed to Antwerp, S^tember 2Dd ... ... ... 66

Visited Aachen ... ... ... ... 66

Went to Cohi ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 67

Obtained his Confirmatia ... ... ... 67

Agam in Antwerp 67

Keariy shipwrecked at Ammijden ... ... ... ... 68

1521 ... In Antwerp, Bruges and Ghent 70

Returned to Antwerp 71

Went to Mechlin 71

Went to Brussels 71

Left Brussels to return to Numberg, July 12th 72

1528 Died at Numbeig, April 6th 87

Alberti, L. B.

Drawings—

Alexander VI.

Fortran of Andreas Darer...

Andresa ... 65, 56, 89, 81

Portrait ef hit Mother

„ „ Maximilian ...

BalduDg 21

BaUflr, Heinrich Jet

Bubari, Jacapode' ... 15

„ „ Pirkheimer ...

„ „ Wolgmut
FTm/er-hmk of Maximilitm
Pupitla Augusta ...

BatUDgSrtner ... 22

Beham, B.

BehMD, H. a ... 81

nsion.D6rer',

Bellini, G. ... 14

tfelKh Srhloss

Bombelli 84

tfouum toith Falcon

Bnindan

Diirer, Alhrecht, the elder 4, S
„ Albrecht. (S« Clirono-

Celtes

logy,p.ll2.)

Charles V. ... 60

Diirer, Andreas ... 9,

„ Barbara ■ 7

„ Hans ... 8,9,

CamerariuB ... 80, 89

Drawings—

Ebner

Chnct blaring the Cntt ...

F^k

FauditT Klm<!!xn

Engravings—

GriBt Fmtion

AdamandEve

fftado/UuDtadSavimr ...

Apollo

Intpnm, W™ o/(AIb«rtiDa)

Copper-Famoa ...

Lion

Degenknopf

Mt^mna. 14S5

Gnat Horse

Fmtrait of Agati Frty

Knight, Death and the Devil 76,

(Albect^na) ... ...

FoTtrait of Aqnit JVw

Zo™ Cardinal

UtUe Cardinal

(Bremen) .,

Uttlt Hors,

Fin-trait of Agnes Freu

Melencolia ... 75,

(150S)... ... .i

Portrait of Erasmus

Fertrait of Albrsrht Darer

S. Eustarhita {S. Huhertua)

(Albertioa)

S. Jerome in the ail 75,

PoTlrait of Albncht Barer

Satyr Family

(Bremen)

Eramnoa 63, 81,

114

INDEX.

Etchings (dry point)
„ (on iron) .,
Eyck, Jan van

49
49
70

Fencing, Book on ... ... 91

Food for Young Painters ... 93

Francisco of Portugal ... 69

Frey, Agnes ... 17, 18, 19

Hans ... ... 17

Sebald

Fugger

Goes, Hugo van der
Groland

6
•. 63

.. 70
,. 65

Haller ... ... ... 65

HeUer, Jakob ... 40, 41, 63

Hesse ... ... ... 80

llieronymus, the architect ... 36
Holbein ... ... ... 2

Holper ... ... ... 4, 5

Horebout ... ... ... 71

Human Proportion, Book on 91, 92
Hutten, Ulrich von 80, 81

Imhof, Wilibald 22

Imhofs wife ... ... 69

Instruction in Fortification ... 90

Instruction in Mensuration ... 90

Journal of Netherlands trip ... 62

Koburgcr ... ... 2, 5, 51

Krafft ... ... ... 3, 5

Kratzer ... ... 64,80

Kulmbach... ... ... 21

Landauer ... ... ... 42

Letters from Venice ... 38

Leyden, Lucas van ... ... 71

Link ... ... ... 80

Loffelholz's wife ... ... 69

Luther ... ... 78, 79,89

Marcantonio ... 35, 51

Margaret, Archduchess 30, 65, 71
Maximilian 24, 54, 55, 60

Medallions attributed to Diirer 45

Melanchthon 18, 19, 80, 81, 82, 89, 96
Memling ... ... ... 70

Michelangelo's Madonna of
Bruges ... ... ... 70

Neudorffer
Nutzel's wife

0.siander ...

84
69

39
31
42
22
60
46
37
41
20
36
44,83

Paintings—

Adam and Eve

Adoration of the Mayi

Adoration of the Trinity

Baumgdrtner Altar-piece

Calumny^ Design for

Christ leaving the Tonih

Christ on the Cross

Coronation of the Virgin

Dresden Altar^ece

Feast of Rose Garlands

Four Apostles

Four Temperaments 75, 83, 85

Hercules fighting with the

Stymphahan Birds
Holy Women wailirtg over the

Dead Christ
Jesus (on parchment)
Jesus among the Doctors
Jjucre^ia ... ...

Madonna (UflBzi) ...
Madonna with the Iris
Madonna with the Pear
Madonna (Vienna)
Martyrdom of the 10,000

Oc*Z7l»v ••• ••• •••

Portrait of Cardinal Alhrecht
Portrait of Charlemagne ...
Portrait of the Elector Fred-

^fZCfC •«• ••■ •••

Portrait of Eoban Hesse
Portrait of Alhrecht Diirer,

the elder (UflBzi)
Portrait of Alhrecht DUrer^

the elder (Sion House) ...
Portrait of Alhrecht Diirer

(Madrid)
Portrait of Alhrecht Diirer

(on parchment)
Portrait of Alhrecht Diirer

(1493)

46
14
36
58
83
41
43
31

40
69
54

80
83

INDEX.

115

»> >»
»> >»
>» »»

»»
»»
»

»»

Pamtings —

Portrait of Albreckt DUrer

(sent to Baphael) ... 52
Portrait of Albreckt D&rer

(Munich) ... ... 52

Portrait of Holzschiiher ... 83

Kleherger ... 83

Krell 23

Mussel ... 83

Maximilian ... 59

Melanchthon ... 82

Patenir ... 71

Pirkheimer ... 80

Fon Eessen ... 69

Sigismund ... 54
Wolgemut 12, 58

4^. F«ft«s Altar-piece ... 21

Salvator Mundt ... ... 31

Samson slaying the Philistines 46

Papst-Eiael of Wolgemut ... 24

Patenir ... ... ... 71

Pencz ... ... ... 81

Philip of Bui^ndy .,. ... 30

Pirkheimer 3, 4, 18, 19, 20, 29, 62,

69, 74, 81, 89

Plankfelt ... ... ... 63

Proost ... ... ... 70

>» »»
»» »»

•»

>»

Raphael ...

... 51, 52, 66

Ravensburger

. 68

Reuchlin ...

... 78

Rhymes by DUrer

... 51

Roting

... 80

Schaufeleiu

> . . • . . ^1

Schedel

Scheurl

... 13, 14, 38, 77

Schiltkrot...

• • • • • • 4^

Schongauer
Schonnofer

... 12

... ... o

Schweigger

... 45

Sculpture —

Female Figure (in silver)
I^fe of John the Baptist

hone stone)
Seven Falls of Christ (in
ver) ...

Sickingen, Frau

Signature on works ...

Spalatin ...

Specklin ...

Spengler ...

Spengler's wife

Stabius

Stecher

Stoss, Veit

Strauber's wife

Susanna (Diirer's maid)

Tscherte ...

Venatorius
Vincitore ...
Vischer
Vitruvius ...

(in

• ••

8il-

... 10
... 77
... 52
... 78
... 91
74,80
... 69
.. 56
63
... 4
... 69
... 62

18,75

... 80

. • . o

... 30

W, the monogram ... ... 13

Wenzel ... ... ... 13

Werthaimer ... ... lo

Weyden, Roger van der ... 65

Wolgemut ... 5, 11, 12, 13

Woodcuts —

Apocalypse 23, 25—29, 33, 50
Babylonian Woman ... 25

Great Passion ... 33,50

Holy Family ... ... 83

Life of the Virgin 21, 33—35, 50

Little Passion
Portrait of VdrenbUler
Ehinoceros
Sancta Justitia
Trinity ...

Triumph of Maximilian
Triumphal Arch ...
n Car ...

Vienna ...

83
56
74
60
55
65
68
91

THE END.

LONDON :

R. Clay, Sons, and Taylor,

BREAD 8TRBBT HILL, E.O.

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