H E N C A L D E R E V E R I R I H G .

F r om a por tr ait by himself: As I/ze Sun colour s t/ze ow er so A r t colour s lz fl , fe.

TH E LITTLE M ASTERS

B Y WI L L I A M B E L L !C O TT

A ullz or o Lectur es on Mr Fine Ar ls é‘ c f , .

L O N D O N

M ON L W MARS T N S E ARLE RI N S A PS O , O . , VIN GTO ROWN B N GS E ET STREET C UILDI , FL 1 8 8 0. All r i hts re ( g ser ved.

LO N N O : R. CLAY D , BO NQ , AND TAYLO R B READ 9TRE ET B I LL. L C. P RE F A E C .

H E qualifications of the author for the task of writin g this short Treatise are rather artistic than

e i lit rary . It is both biograph cal and critical in the

Ar tists notices of the , but in the historical portion he

E n has bee n mainly a translator . ve the facts of the

life of Albert Diirer have only of late years been fully

u d i the el cidate , wh le the lives of group of younger men,

The L M called ittle asters, who surrounded him , and con

r t n r i tinned his p ac ice in painting and e g aving un ted ,

were very imperfectly kno w n t ill Adolf Rosen berg pub

lished his Sebald and Bar t/4d Bdrm ; z w ei M olar der

Deane/ten Renaissan e 18 75 Die Deane/ten c , ; and Klein

”mister in t n Dr R , the four eenth and fiftee th parts of . obert ’ Dohme s Kim“ mi d Karistler .

e m him e m Other authoriti s also ca e before , but thes ono graphs revealed many interes ting particulars of the ver y P E A E vi R F C .

r u to Dr . R e t he emarkable men nder review , and os nberg

e author is bound to acknowledge his indebtedness. H

Mr G WR i B M has also to thank . . . e d, of the ritish useum ,

Pr s o i i readinm i and ofes or C lv n, for the r in aid ng him

a s with det ils regarding some of the work .

The critical opin ion expre ssed of the productions of

h L M The t ese beloved ittle asters is another matte r. y

to have been long known me for the most part, as well

P c l e as those of their contemporaries . racti al y acquaint d — — with both the arts painting an d engraving practised m in unison by the , the reader must receive the estimate s

c x and des riptions as exclusively mine, e cept when other

stated .

WB S. . . C O N TE N TS.

PTER 1 CHA .

INTRODUCTORY

CHAPTER ll .

TUE YORE RUNNRRS OF TH E LITTLE H ABTERB

TER Ill CHAP .

DURER THE RB PUTED EACH E R OF TH E I “ , T L TTLE “ASTE R.

C TER IV HAP .

ALBRECHT m uoam

T CHAP ER V .

' aw as cnr aurnom a s w oax s

CHAPTER V l .

HANS S EBALD HERA! AND BARTHEL B EHA M H PTER VII C A .

TH E WORKS OF THE BEHAN S

CHAPT R V I E II .

H E IXRICH ALDEGREV ER

H T X C AP ER I .

GEORG P EXCZ

PTER X CHA .

JACOB B INCK H ANS BROSAM ER

’ T r r e 2 2 a ences he e e t . on a e er fl, f nces o (B . 92) (B 75) p g , nd similar r ef " o n s ubse uent a es a o B ARTSCH Ls m r as aav aua q p g , re t , G , ‘71 ol v s. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE ' REVE R B Y H I E L F r ontier z ece PORTRAIT OF ALDEG . MS F p

N B ALDEGREVE R O RNAME T. r

ORNA T B Y ALDEGB EVER MEN .

ORNA ENT B Y SE AL B EII AM M . B D

ORNAMEN - T. B Y SEEALD B EIIAM

ORN AMENT BY E AL B EHA . S B D M

AD ORA IO B r ALT ORFE R double late T N OR THE MAGI . D ( p )

ORNA ENT BY SE AL B EHA M . B D M PORTRAITS OF SEBALD AN D B ARTII EL B ER AM

UN BY SE AL B EHAM THE S . B D

P ER OR H B Y B ARTE EL B EHA TEE EM C ARLE S V . M

N E NT B E OR AM . Y S BALD B EHAM ” DI SSIP AVIT SU STANTIA UA E AL B F HA M B M S M . B Y S B D

B E AL E ORNAMENTS . Y S B D B E AM

E N'I‘O ORI B Y E AL MEM M . S B D B EH AM

TIIE MA ON NA OF THE WIN O ARTII EL B E II AM D D W. B Y B

RN A E NT B Y E O M . S BALD B ER AM

MA O NN A or THE CRE CENT MOON ALDE GREV E R D S . B r

JOIIN OF LE EN B Y DE YD . AL GREVER

WE N ' DDI G GUE STS . B r ALDEGRE VE R

JOSEP H OL ms B RETE REN Y P E c S D BY . B

S OP II ONI SDA . B Y PEc

PORTRAIT OF JA O 131 HI E C B c . B ! MS LF

TH E L I TTLE M A S TE RS .

H E R C A P T I .

I N OD ION TR UCT .

H E group of artists to which this short treatise is t e o devo ed is associat d t gether, not only in time and c but i lo ality, also in the more important character stic of t G employing, not the pale te and brush , but the raver and

P - of T . r rinting press, as their means expression hey we e all truly in harmony with the spirit of the age in which they lived ; the majority of them restless intellects as w ell e a e as gift d p int rs , thus they adopted the new art, then im n mensely popular, of e graving and in their works, and in those of the other painter engravers immediately pre c e eding them, we recognise the gr at change and develop ment of northern art in the e arly part of the sixteent h T century. his great change was from medimvalism t o a a l re lism, from h gio ogy and clerical mythology to poetry For and genr e. some years past the writer has been a 2 II E IT E MAsTERs T L TL .

te an d attrac d to the subject , has found the period extra ordinarily rich in invention and interesting in relation to

h he hO es the entire history of modern art, so t at p to a make his readers share in s ome me sure this interest, ma s n e w to which y be pos ibly them . M II . uch has been written lately on the r evival of classic thin gs which changed t he motives and tastes of E l e urope, main y at first in lit rature, but very quickly in n n t all the arts , especially architecture, but begi ni g wi h

. E G r sculpture In ngland , and in e many especially, this period of Renaissance has employed t he pens of able and

learned inquirers, but the actual movement, slow but the T irresistible, took place not in eutonic division of our L c continent, but through the atin nations, as we all ' them : mai nly and first in I taly ; the n in France ; and S G feebly in pain . In ermany, indeed, although lite ra u h as ff ture was to c ed by the e thetic spirit, a quite di erent

e influence was at work, penetrating, like the pow r of i the spr ng, to foundations of society and of all thought,

c o R whi h br ught about the eformation, coincident, or

a t - The ne rly so , wi h the spread of our plate printing. f di ference of the two movements is total and absolute . In Italy the higher clergy became essentially free of medimv al l t n Christianity, but the intel ec ual obedie ce of the com munity remain ed as it was centuries befor e whatever the mor al character of the priest might be his authority was

u l s unq estioned , painters , ike the re t of the community, showing no incli nation even to entertain the great ques

We v tions that were agitating the northern mind . ha e scarcely any evidence that any one of the great Italian r masters, except such as we e monks , had any ideas what

v or . e er touching religion , morality, the conduct of life The Italian nature left these matters to the delegated I N OD ION 3 TR UCT .

Th authorities, and did not trouble itself about them . e painter remain ed the servant of the Church till he became the servant of the prince : even portraiture busied itself i r E only with the llust ious . ngraving never seemed worth

r cultivating as an original art : the e was no public for it .

III . Unti l the time immediately preceding that with t to which we have to deal , hat is say, until the end of the h w as fifteent century, everywhere the art of painting bound exclusively to the service of the Church ; it took o l no c gnisance of the aspects of contemporary ife, and without any canon or other law to tie the hands of the e m l painter, he continu d to e p oy himself exclusively on

- n altar pieces and other devotio al panels, with an occasional th e m h Of excursion into ec anic work heraldic decoration, or gave his aid to the transcriber for missal adornment . I V The i i in . earl est b rth of the new taste was Italy, o o e th ugh the spread of the classics, and its c mplet r de velopmen t founded largely on the dis covery of ancient h l “ ” sculptures, broke up t is exc usive use of images,

a h c p inted or sculptured, w i h had descended from the period of the great fight between the Eastern and Weste rn

' ecclesiastical powers ; and brought about the reign of the of G e R naked gods and goddesses re ce and ome, and this for the first time raised into existence the private pur

c c h haser , and arried the picture (ot er than portrait) within l Of r the wal s of the household . course there were p ivate i cla mants for the possession of these, otherwise they would T i i of never have been painted. his innovat on , ndeed, m l i painting e ploying itse f on such unholy th ngs , and not M nl exclusively on adonnas , u ovely enough before the i Old natural stic period , and on wretched saints beating s o themselves with stone , or y ung ones tied up with arrows i fl stick ng in their ash, or female saints sentimentally B 2 w hich npr ead iu p odmb abr md in hm dmda to cmne

to t he u m home b siness and boso of the general public, h and this we shall see the painter e ngrav er s accomplish. T e number of these pictures Of classical mythology may not h n i ave been very great until a ge erat on or two later, at all even ts w e find few are left to us ; one happily we have ' u M L V inval able in the edusa s head by ionardo da inci , P still preserved in the itti. V G t his n m th . In ermany change in painti g from the y o logy Of the Roman Catholic Church to that of the Greek a n d L W atin poets never took place. hen it was attempted n i nl of it was by means of e grav ng, and mai y at the hands M L a i L e . L h s the ittl asters uc s of eyden tried it, and o i n of curi usly na ve re dering classic things, in the absence c of tea hing through classic remains, is very apt to raise

i . B ut A a sm le painting remained immobile . We find lbert Diir er the im , even at t e when the implicitness of his faith

Old t - in the Church was giving way, painting al ar pieces, o d and c mplaining that he did not get a equately paid , pro testing that he would have been soon a rich man if he had spent his whole time in the comparatively new miniature ' of . art. graving Until the private purchaser entered the

0 m s u r ns: m ar i nas .

i n T sion with n the regio of taste. his is no doubt a great

deal to say, and admitting, as we must of course do, that

the ablest and greatest artists have, at least of late years, h u given t eir labour to easel pict res , it looks like an over e stimate of the painstaki ng but excursive and daring early

- B ut o artist engravers . let us c nsider for a very few sen aca ff r i ten the di e ence between art with and w thout colour. Wherever colour appears all other qualities become subor dinate i m , and yet it is s ply an impression on the retina. O I I ver and over have found the friends most respect , a t critic lly perceptive men and poe s , entirely irresponsive m to the char s of an exhibition room they found nothing, x the e cept perhaps among landscapes, that answered to their desires ; receiving a pleasant impression of prismatic n f B ut brightness being i su ficient to them. the same men set down before a portfolio and presented with Schongauer’s

Wise and Foolish ir i ns o L L V g , s me of ucas of eyden and ’ ’ A Diire r Alde r ever s Di ves mad lbert s best works, and g

m e , let us say, have been , as it were , electrified , and have expressed themselves as Keats did on reading ’ Chapman s H omer :

Like some watcher of the skies When a new planet sw ims into his ken : Or like st out Corte s w hen w ith eagle eye s H e stared at the Pacific —and all his men Looked at each other w ith a w ild surmise Si e n u on ea of Darien l t p a p k .

Th e charm of colour is the vulgar, or rather universal ai charm , and if the reader has any acquaintance with p nters or collectors of pictures he will readily acknowledge that it a m n I i s rather needless to spe k to the of anythi g else . may relate again an anecdote which has already been in '

i The see M r . S n pr nt . writer of this was taken to heepsha ks s N N I TRODUCTI O .

pictures at the time he proposed to give them to the nation . Struck by the mi xture of comparatively common with r e

i e to remark fined works hang ng side by sid , we ventured on his r the variety of taste ; he eplied, as for that he did e t be not know tone and colour wer wha valued himself,

h i as H e t ough he bought occas onally he was recommended . c i u a an d had ceased to colle t p ct res at that tim , led us in

n front of a new cabi et made of beautiful wood , touching n the shini g panels of which lovingly, he explained that he now enjoyed rare specimens of fine woods more than any

. B The P R. thing . . movement had just then attracted e att ntion , and the works of the new school were much S m canvassed. o e one of the party asked him what he h r An d t ought of them he had not seen any such pictu e s . h E t is is the typical lover of pictures, especially nglish h be st s pictures, whet er they be by our men and posse sed

i the - of noble qualit es of design , or merely chromo litho

The graph for the Christmas number of the journal. l co lector is a luxurious person, he hates sculpture because L M are it is white, and the ittle asters because they B u t troublesome to examine. the lover of the early painter - en gravers is more an imaginative than a luxuri ous s individual ; he receives a new sugge tion at every turn, a e fresh aesthetic motive is exhi bit d by every print, he is ' interested by the sense of beauty struggling through the a hardness of early modern life , and he part kes of the pleasure of these artists in an ungenial but ex citin g time i expressing their fancies in a new med um, sure of popular

V I We in fav our . have further claims to make of our

- A The painter engravers north of the lps. principal of h l a e d t ese c aims has been alre dy indicat , but is still worthy of being a little fur ther in sisted on. It was through them 8 THE m u n m u s s . that the art of the middle ages first interested itself with the life of the day, first left the bondage of the Church ; so that they are to be considered the originators of modern The art . mass of the people were for the first time ap i pealed to , and all that interested the public dep cted. The Re n re aissance sulted in Italy, as far as painting is con cerned, in the direct importation of subjects from the ancient poets, and with the representation of the nude, a fi G m widening of the eld that was but feebly felt in er any, but instead we find commence the direct repr esentation of ’ th e scenes passing before e paint r 8 eyes ; the merry making ,

’ Sittenbildlzclw Dar stellu n en and many other scenes g , ” - e n manners depicting r presentatio s, as they have been c l n alled , never seen til then, but which once see have become more and more studied and en joyed from that day till now. This development somehow or other was te al connec d , or at least it proceeded par lel with the prin ci le r p of liberty, social and religious, rep esented by the R eformation , then stirring the hearts of northern men and women in a way that no influence ever touched Italian m G w as life . It must be reme bered, too, that ermany the i e r b rthplac of p inting, and, as is now generally conceded , of every form of engraving for the purpose of being multi b F plied and circulated ythe press . irst of all , woodcut

c s n pi ture , generally ste cilled , that is to say , stamped with

i efi ies colours added to the first pr nting, were either g of V S on c the irgin and aints on the e hand, or playing ards ’ t he —on t he P devil s books other . resumably these wer e not produced by trained artists, but by goldsmiths

when worked on metal plates, and by rubricators, or block — n th book makers this last a trade which or igi ate—d e name mc der to o - n r of for nwal i , applied the wo d e g aver when cut ' 9 mr aonucn os .

B ut fl i on wood . very soon the in uence of pr nting was wholly on the side of the Reformation movement ; the number of portraits of Luther that appeared during his f r h li etime was eno mous, and t ese were done by artists of x every shade of e cellence. In a few years, as the move m d ent sprea , the democratic art of engraving spread with it : design apart from the sen suous element of colour and i apart from its assoc ation with the altar and the missal , i i in design as convey ng ideas, tell ng stories, or laden with iirn ber F struction, took root, first in the free cities , N g , rank L G H l F fort, eyden, then all over ermany, ol and, landers, S z F wit erland, rance, and lastly in our own country, where unhappily every form of pictorial art remained exot ic for

u ofE For a cent ry and a half behind the rest urope. nearly a century the illustration of books was the exclusive pro

- n vince of wood engravi g, the block being the height of the type and therefore capable of being set in the same form .

Thus the painter - engraver sold separately the impressions r from his plates, howeve small, resorting to themes of ” - n i popular interest, manners depicting represe tat ons, a e u c ll goric figures of the virt es and vi es, the planets and

se mi ' o tical days of the week , and a hundred other p e H B devices , the labours of ercules being included, and ible i h stories represented dramatically in successive scenes. H APTER C II .

TH E FORERUNNE RS O F TH E L ITTLE HASTE RS

v en . Martin Schongnuer lsrahe l an Mechencu. Lucas ofLe yd

r lowing pages treating, as al eady said, of artists by their almost excl usive employment of w e to engraving, ought give a short sketch of that art its elf e e h previous to their app arance . In n arly all books hit erto treating of the origin and early history of printing from ' e V n n designs cut on metal plat s, asari s i ge ious account of — the Florentine niello worker who made the discovery of the possibility of takin g impre ssions on paper inste ad a d of casting in sulphur, has been repe te , and until very b lately, in spite of a hundred evidences and pro abilities to in the contrary, Italy has retained the honour of the n k ve tion. An d not only of engraving proper, but of bloc H l e printing as well , ugo da Carpi having c aim d the credit of being the first to produce ckiar oscur o pr ints by re peated am ping in the application he made to the Senate of V enice c T for a monopoly in practising that devi e. his prejudice has mainly resulted from the general fact that early Ger

e r man art has been until lately discredited , and such writ s as Cumberland could not entertain any evidence in its as r E 11 r m: re s ur ance o THE L ITTL n am e.

The t Ra i favour. chance, too, hat phael h mself aided ’ Marc Antonio with his engravings gave the very mi se sl l e ucous productions of that copyist such an ascendency in the eyes of collectors that the entire inferior ity of Italian

n in engravi g in manipulation , and the fact of its being ‘ t followed , not by original artists , but only by copyis s , was V ’ entirely overlooked . asari s date for the invention , which

o 1460 the w as never t ok place, is , but even in Italy art probably practised earlier than this ; Baldini and others

were certam practising at that time, or a very few years l 1465 l i ater ; the date has been found on an Ita ian pr nt,

one of a set of the months. B ut the number of German copper engravings still existing bearing internal evidence of Fla being even earlier is very considerable, one of which , a e llation n g , formi g part of a series of seven prints of the P 1446 h l e assion , bears the date , w i e the unknown mast r of 1466 E o h Van E o ( . pr bably of the sc ool of yck , sh ws that the practice of minature engraving on copper was in

r 200 full operation in his locality at that date , mo e than i H e engravings by him hav ng now been catalogued . must n l have had an atelier with ma y pupi s, and as the prints he ar i ul that his mark are not rude ncunab a, but are , in a

d r c m i s m consi erable deg ee, a co pl hed works , he ust have had a re n a master . We not aware that iello was gene in G as w rally practised ermany, therefore this master, ell as the S h c master of c ongauer, must have pra tised engraving

The only painte r of original power w ho engraved in Italy w as Man e n hose r n ts are e er w a of h h e ce llence and im rt t g a, w p i v y y ig x po anc He has be n c ed on the author t of Lom o the n en or e. e all , i y azz , i v t of en r n on c er Boti elli is s d to h ve s n much me in g avi g opp . c ai a pe t ti en r in but if ao he us have f d Tw o of g av g ; m t ound the task too har . ’ the o illustrations to N cho e dell Ma n s d on of Dan te 1481 are i l a g a e iti , , sa d to h e be n cut b h mse lf bu t I confess I can see no diffe ren i av e y i , ce in st e b tw n th se and the o he s b Ba n yl e ee e t r y ldi i. 12 m s E m ama LITTL s.

i for other purposes , most probably print ng, although by i i hand , be ng the princ pal.

T - V . III his last mentioned artist, the greatest name in Ge A Dilrer early rman art, except that of lbert , left about 13 0 a 100 engravings certainly from his hand, ne rly . besides e bear his mark, but are without his distinctive xcellence ; i also many paint ngs, the majority of them however more l than doubtfu . H e is supposed to have been born about 1420 i his portraits about the age of th rty, of which there r the are three of a contemporary characte , bearing name and ‘ l‘ i sch M Schon auer M aler date, p artin g , , while the i e reg ster of his death at Colmar, whith r he went from his A him 1488 native ugsburg, proves to have died in . So ' Diir er w hen n Wol emuth that , out of his appre ticeship to g 1490 be r Al o in , when repai ed to the satian t wn, was dis

d - The of 1466 appointed to find him dea l master , besides t he m G a ochr hal scenes fro the ospels, canonical and p yp ,

G s el M ar n the o p of y bei g the favourite , and innumerable ma saints, gifts we y suppose given to children on their

r r e birthdays , left seve al imp oprieti s of a decided sort, h n ew and a pack of cards , the suits not t ose in use, of S course, but birds , helmets , flowers, and shields . chongauer, h being evidently of a pious disposition , left none of t ese l i last , but almost entirely emp oyed h mself on pious i as themes , the sentiment of his drawing be ng pure as that of B oticelli and his pr in ts have been amaz ingly well

The old fo m of the ord habsch H ubsc Maler The Be u i fu r w h , a t l

Painter . h e t Her is t e ntr in the re s er of the church of St. M ti n his e y gi t ar ,

- n ame sai n ill be bs r ed found b M. B u ot of Colmar t, it w o e v , y g , : M nus Schon awer Pictorum lor lo . . 8 0. le a arti g , g ia v ( g vit quinque s lid s ro n n i e rsar suo ct addidit 1 sol dum 1 ad a o e ) p a v io i d. n niversari um ater num uo h bu t m n s n n e um Obi die p a q a i i u a iv rsari . it purificati onis ” M r a et Lx x x vllI a i ) c. .

14 r m: I n L TTL E asr s as.

Isr ahel M h n en Th m ec e . o ra as birth, is van e c pa tively small town of Bocholt was a considerable school of e ngraving i F z B h at this early t me, ran van oc olt being the maste r,

I srahel W s i and ence laus the pup ls, the former of whom

to Malin ss Oelmut z All went live at , and the latter at . these men retained in thei r style of drawing a great deal ” the G the of othic, no influence from south seems to have ever touched them but I srahel was certainly an artist of

i Le t hi great powers , and versatile in their applicat on. m i ” ii s . We H bsch M who is merry s ng p alms h n artin unbent, he designed censers and other clerical furniture ; but Meche nen began the practice that seems to have furnished these primitive artists with a considerable part of their in u come, of designing pages of p re ornament to be applied

o as - by artisans , arm urers c ket makers , principally in iron, v a considerable trade ; gold and sil ersmiths ; and others .

Besides, and much more intere sting to us and to history, he was almost the first to turn to ordinary life for his ' Le t I srahel s su bjects . me describe one of little prints of

t he . this character, perhaps most pleasing he has left X T h I . his is about five inc es by four, representing an

The an ist The r Or . interior, and is called g chamber o gan , e St a small kind of which we oft n see in the arms of .

o medisev al Cecilia, stands upon an oaken table of s lid i des ign ; the music an, a spare, amiable young man, sits

- B i i before it on a fald stood playing . eh nd the nstrument,

a te with her hand on the h ndle of the bellows that infla s it, v sits on the table a girl, in plain attire, her head co ered

- o by a large head dress, smoothly ir ned, of a shape which prevailed with slight variations from the days of Van 1500 O her the r o Eyck till about . ver head in backg und

l - are open doors of wa l presses , giving us peeps of hand and u w some meta l cups and platters, f rther a ay is a large, s: r r r u n u s 15 m oans uw s ns o r n n am e s .

the m opening in the wall of roo , revealing the next apart

i r ment, wh ch is a bedchamber, barely and neatly ar anged. At the head of the bed are two little cushions as if for r l two heads, a mat imonia arrangement ; but the singularly quiescent expr ession and vacant peacefulness of the two

e d peopl , and their resemblance to each other, lea us to e is suppose them brother and sist r. It a charming picture tw o n ot h of daily artistic life, very handsome and altoget er Of unexcitable young people practising music. course l 1503 t Iarabel , who lived ti l , issued many pious subjec s, s but he also engraved a number such as we have de cribed, still memorable after three centuries have passed . X II T a a the . his mightily import nt ch nge from sacred to n l a n ow the profa e, from the theo ogic l, or, as we may say, t is im from the my hological , to the secular and real , so o n p rtant, we will further illustrate it by describi g a pair of b not o prints y an artist therwise to be alluded to, perhaps, T M h Zaz in r . at eus ge hese prints, somewhat larger than

500 T The eat B all 1 . Gr usual , are both dated hey are

The Pr actisin or t T -n The T ur ne he ow e . and o y, or rather, gf g In the fir st the guests promenade in pairs in the ir tight

- os an d i . h e doublets , their long sk rts and fine head dresses D I V B uke Albert . of avaria sits in a bayed window i play ng at cards with a great dame , marking their score on the table as we see the players do in the cabaret interi ors Osta de The l l e by . musicians are in two ittle ga leri s , with long wind instruments an attendant brings in the loving

l r n cup ha f cove ed by a cloth , and a porter keepi g the door is freely using his stick to repress the in quisitive crowd

O n who push in their heads at the peni g. '

X . The Pr a tisin or the Tow me III other design , c g f y, is

u l u o nd eq ally re iable as a page of act al hist ry. In the gra

laee t he Au r p , centre of a town, presumably gsbu g, the 6 r 1 s s LITTLE mam as .

th e eu nesse dar es ambitious youths, j , practise with the large lanes m The for the co ing tournament. ground is thickly w stre n with rushes, and their horses are covered, head

e . On and all, with plain whit surcoats these blindfolded

h ac The chargers they run toget er and unhorse e h other. armour worn by these youths is of course the solid plats

i bw r on et armour of t me, the helmet being the g with a . the i eflectuall pointed beak from the ch n , y preventing damage the to the face, and without great plumes of feathers so r L surprising in the g and tournaments of ucas Cranach . li e pub shed a few years lat r, when we see the horses are h clothed in t eir gorgeously embroidered heraldry . In ’ Zasin er s r g scene there is no crowd, no spectato s at all but e c indeed , the streets are accurately depict d in the ba k ff o ground, every house di erent fr m its neighbour, some ’ O h having pen shops, among w ich an apothecary s is recognisable by his pestle and mortar and other belong We n ings . may suppose this rehearsal we t on for weeks ’ preparatory to the great day shown in Lucas Cranach s m woodcuts, before the court and the people , like the onths

h - of exercise and training before a modern orse race . IV T to X . hese men lived see the culmination of the art ' e h to h in its most legitimat and primitive p ase, that is say, t e n quite masterly rendering of form and texture by means of m the graver, the absolute com and of expression and free

Du L c Le dom of design by rer, u as of yden and others ; the full development of light - and - shade being left for i ra a etch ng and other processes , which g du lly superseded

M lici t the noble p y of the earlier workmanship, the exclusive use of the graver. E I I CH APT R I .

TH E EP ED EA E OF TH E E MAS E S . DUB ER, R UT T CH R LITTL T R

I A D B .

- ac b s Albe iner. J o Wal h. rt D

HERE still inte rvenes between the man hood of A Diir e r h u lbert and the more or less primitive , t o gh ro sive u p m , experts j st named, an artist of extraordinary l in u abi ity the new art, witho t whom , indeed , the appear ’ ance of Albert s Adam an d E ve in 1504 would have be en Th c l little short of a miracle . is was the painter a led by “ Ge J W Wa J the rmans acob alch , or lsch , acob the l " J B Ita ian , and by the Italians, acopo di arbari, or Ba rbarino, which may have been a colloquial form of a term applied by self - conceited Italians to any people or t T s Al J e . per on beyond the ps, acob h barbarian his interpretation has at l east been v entured in the ce ntre s v rs J e y regarding the native country of acob , who has been t G ve r late l es eemed a erman till y, y, but who is now made

V n T d over to . the e etians his is quite certain, he resi ed in

N iir nbe r t he t e u e g at end of the fif eenth c nt ry as a paint r, i e o and no doubt acqu r d his pr ficiency in engraving there, 0 18 THE I E mam a L TTL s .

r S t Sebas tian and most probably produced the e his . , the most skilful piece of elaboration of the huma n face and n The n r aked body with the graver seen until then . e g av ings of Jacopo seem to have been entirely unknow n in Italy : they are printe d on paper with the northern water m an d V d arks, though he returned to enice for a perio , when he made for a N iir n be rg merchant there resident a ’ -e e w i z bird s y vie of mmense si e of that city. It is true ' t he M A n some of early and best engravings of arc nto io, before he took to manufacture by the employment of various hands, show a refinement which may have been m h v J . T e deri ed fro acopo very rare early print, for

a t me c u etit l e S . Jer d ion c instanc , c lled p , probably exe uted V r B li i in enice f om a drawing by el ni, is not l ke his later

J . T work , bWut much more like that of acopo hat he studied alch is however only conjectural , while we know

m n Diirer for certain he was im e sely influenced by , and spent years in copying him . X V I Wh J W h . ether acob alch, who is ot erwise called the te n mas r of the Caduceus, had any share in educati g Ma ’ A rc ntonio, who was not so much a great craftsman with the graver as an excellent draftsman able to render he i sissima line s ma t p , if we y use the term , of the greatest h can be of painters , I think t ere no doubt of his having to A Diir er We shown the way lbert . should remember that the last - named must have acquir ed his extraor dinary skill by having been suddenly induct ed into the myste ries of the We e craft . have nothing from his hand of an arly time, as L c Le hi s we have by u as of yden , who dated works, and thus gave incontestable evidence of having begun at the age of twelve to pr oduce curiously skilful re nderings of his

Diire r t Wol emuth boyish inventions . was in the a elier of g

l 1490- 1 him til , and that his master, as far as we know . n ear s m s s s b r s n r n s r L LE a a 19 , u sac a o m e I TT m sr s s.

was something of a painter, and a productive draftsman on “ G ” wood of the old school, and othic to a degree , we

Nilmber Chr mzi cle see by the cuts in the g , but not an ’ An d A engraver on copper at all . we know lbert s thoroug h th J W acquaintance wi , and high estimation of, acob alch , H expressed in his letters and Journal. e mentions Jacob i d s n eed exclu ively as a painter , but we have only to com ’ Diire r s l n t A llo and Diana The pare sma l pri s of po , and ' S al s a il h VValch gp y, with t ose of the same subjects by , he him to see that did not scruple even to imitate , by ’ JacO o s adopting his subjects . p design and style are

t n thoroughly Italian, and show an intima e acquainta ce R with the antique and obedience to enaissance tastes , but to A s t he lbert the e subjects were quite foreign, he being to his l G x c last drop of b ood thoroughly erman , though e ep t ion all an d y so, both in person and in mind handsomer h h nobler t an either burg er or patrician moving about him . ' W A nde w a alcr e hen lbert in his q went to Colmar, he found S r re W chongaue dead , so that the is no other but alch to d an d in W whom he needed to be indebte , alch we have no

s to H e P h im r he itation find him a master . informs er k e e from Venice in 1506 that he finds there are better painte r s in the J w ho m city than acob , had by that ti e gone to the P B H ad north in the train of hilippe of urgundy . V asari t t he h ever met ei her of them in fles , we should have had a

h m As his document wort every other regarding the . it is ,

u Niir nber acco nt of the g master, whom he always calls a

Com are the or ra ts of B ii rat th t h se of Pirkheimer Duk p p t i wi o , e Fr ederic o!Sa on Johan n Paum rtn e r b Bur kmair Lucas Cransch k x y, ga y g , , e uine Frankon ian or S on his c n tem or r es : the or any othe r g n ax , o p a i artlin ! E er head it has be n said belon s to its M arcu s is st g v y , e , g a no other but that of A b is certa nl an e ce t on own time nd to , l ert i y x p i u to the r le. m'r'rt s r ss s 2 0 r un m s .

“ H ad man Fleming, is interesting . this , he says , so s nobly endowed by nature , so a siduous , and possessed of so T n many talents, been a native of usca y instead of F n r Ro landers, had he bee able to study the t easures of me h h and Florence as we ave done , he would ave excelled us

ri e m n ow n all, as he is ow the best and most est e ed amo g his ” ! H e countrymen says further, speaking of the terrible

St . J P visions of ohn in the Island of atmos, so adequately Diir e r The A t drawn by , variety of the forms which lber has imagined for all those visionary animals and monste rs , to has indeed been a beacon many of our artists , who have largely availed themselves of the fancies and inventions ” F a of the l emish m ster. V We w X II . must al ays remember that there were

i t A s several dist nc schools of engraving north of the l p , although it is not necessary to go into their minute dis t in ct ion s S D iir e r h here . uddenly by the influence of , t at N um be r of g eclipsed all the others . and even when the L L n A fame of ucas of eyde almost equalled that of lbert,

e m he had little or no influ nce in di inishing that supremacy .

We know of no pupils or scholars , or aids of any kind he

him his ts drew about , and certainly prin show a perfect unity of manner along with the progressive development

ar of his genius and amelioration of his style , while we e h Diirer h well assured t at had the elp of several able hands . N ot that we see any marks of these in the execution of hi s

n copper engravi gs , but in those primitive times, as the o e painter prepared his own c lours, the engraver print d his ' V M A hi s own plates . asari says of arc ntonio , that works were soon mor e highly esteemed than those of the F R ’ lemings, because of the greater amenity of aphael s i t n i des gn , and hat the merchants, drawi g large ga ns by the

s R a to k his o - sale of them , cau ed aph el ma e c lour grinder, a

' a 2 2 m s e ms m am s .

s Al s were native of the city, but tdorfer was from a di tance,

Alde rev r W a B rosame r F . Th g e was a estph lian , of ulda is

i l t he kind of man pu ative skill was , as it were , in the air at m re Al Diirer ti e , and the atmosphe round bert and his h T G N iir n be r w establis ment at the hiergarten ate of g, here Adam Kraft was still working on his sculptured Stations '

G St . J between the ate and ohns, and whence was annually issuing such exhaus tless wealth of design so skilfully ren o

u s to s dered, may be easily s ppo ed have been more in piring a than that of any other loc lity . I Th fe w t b Diir er h ma X X . e prin s , y to w ich we y apply ' m The ild M a n r W n B . 92 the term juve ile or i pe fect , ( ) s excepted, are not so rude as to suppo e them to have been d ' i h one in boyhood under his father s eye, who, as a goldsm t ,

i u would be to some extent acqua nted with engraving . B t

f 1500- 1 the number supposed to have been produced be ore ,

Jac W h ii r n ber while ob alc was resident in N g , extends to

The F ou r N a ed twenty, among which are to be found k

l n n T e n W n B A l a d Dia a B . h Mad na ome ( . po o ( o on t P di al he al n B The r Son B . H fmoo ( . o g ( and a very fe w m l years after we co e to his most accomp ished work, the

t 1504 the a v it Ada and E ve B . N ti B m ( da ed , and y ( . ’ while the S hield with t he Death s H ead bears date t he

A i L M t r year before . gain , at the t me when the ittle as e s l A wou d be , all except ltdorfer who was older than the others by twenty years, commencing their pupilage , and i s e ' asp ring to ma t rship , his greater works were presumably

The Kn i ht and Death 15 13 accomplished g is dated , the

M el l Jer me in hi ell 15 14 Th t an h s . e Gr a c o y and o C , e

F or t H u ber t ossibl une and S t. were p y the productions of t h t Alde r v an d e . e e r three succeeding years If, herefore , g

Be hams ur e the , who would then be fo te n to seventeen years n fin sa m s as em sn r mcn s a or w e LlTTLE MAS E S 23 , T R .

G Pencz of age, and eorg also , all of them having been born

n ot c l close to the beginning of the century, were a tual y t h his apprentices, they mus have watc ed the appearance

ne w r e e u s of every p oduction , and emulat d th ir T l to hey would , most probab y, be all known each other ; they would have their rivalries and their mutual encourage m s as s t ent , well as jealousie ; a recognisable co erie m l Nii r n ber t m . the busy, free, but s il i perial city of g E ALBRECHT ALTDORF R.

E l M er e now come to the Litt e ast s themselv s, and A A we must begin with lbrecht ltdorfer, on account

u . of his preceding the others in time , tho gh not in excellence

In the B e hams Alde r eve r Pen cz my opinion , two , g , and are n all before him i power of drawing and in inventive design , l th as we l as in craftsmanship as engravers at e same time, Altdorfer has a distinct individuality as i nteresting as any

in i of them , that raises him the opin on of s ome critics to

. H e o i the level of the best is , moreover, the m st versat le, and in his own day was more recognised as an architect ri u him than as a picto al artist, although now we only j dge by his prints, engraved on copper, or etched , and by his designs drawn on wood the oil pictures left by him being

s his al o important in our modern estimate of powers . Al h th e thoug he was not an obscure individual , but on d t contrary held in high esteem , especially in his a op ed city of R i o a n at sb n , the cert in facts of his life are not ma y, s r e pecially of the earlie part of his career . ’ a Altdor fer s w as Until a few ye rs ago, the date of birth E 2 5 ALB R CHT “ mour ns .

e 148 8 n suppos d to have been , but as he is now fou d to

r R s 1505 have been entered as a burghe of ati bon in , and

u - fi v e m st have attained the age of twenty at that time, he t v in 1480 mus ha e been born , so that he was only nine

A r D iir er T years younger than lbe t himself . his would be to his e little objection ent ring as pupil of that master, or

a s to his being ctually bound to him for a term of year , but it detaches him from the rest of the artists that go by the “ K m L M 3 common term , lein eister, ittle asters , term which they acquire d by the exce edingly small s iz e of the majority

h . G D i i n s of t eir works eorges uplessis , ndeed , his amu ing

Les Mar seilles de la e var s Al c little book called , gives bre ht Altdorfer the merit of having been the originator of this practice , so that he is not only one of them , but must be considered to have led them into the habit that ori ginated

the a . H e son of A n me was probably the Ulrich ltdorfer, i R a pa nter , but whether atisbon , where he ultimately lived

and died , was the place of his birth , is uncertain , his father

c z 1491 having renoun ed or lost his citi enship in , it is sup

‘ o posed through absence, having pr bably left the city, and failed to return within the time prescribed by law in those

m r h days, when me be s ip of a guild was necessary to enable any one to pr actise a trade or profession within the juris

the B at h The A diction of . tradition was that lbrecht was

A d r S z a e born at lt o f in wit erland , and was c lled aft r the place ; b ut t he name is recognised as that of a B at isbon H W family, and err ilde, a senator in that city about a

his century ago, found reason to believe native place w as

Al d L B The A t orf near andshut, in avaria. re is an ltdorf (t he name mean s simply old village or steading) near

iir n be r i he c t N g also, to wh ch has been a credi ed , but with o out any reas n , except the convenient one of bringing him the to neighbourhood. H err Wilde showed documen tary 26 m LI TTLE n asr s ns.

evidence that Altdor fer s were es tablished in Ra tisbon in f e r A r the fi teenth c ntu y, and that lbrecht himself appea s i w u in the burgher l st early in the follo ing century, altho gh it does not appear he was fortunate e nough to find the

c Al c A 1505 a tual entry of bre ht ltdorfer in the guild in , t R which we ake on the authority of osenberg. The d son of a painter, it is to be suppose he would be the t he early instructed in art, but in absence of any evi ’ h dence of his father s ability either to paint or to teac , we can very well believe that t he elder Altdorfer may have modestly wished the boy to go into th e atelier of the ablest s the be s arti t of the day, or one in whom , with profe sional I f i insight , recognised the highest qualities. th s was so,

' and the authority we shall mainly follow in stati n g the

a the i A f cts of l ves , not only of ltdorfer, but also of others L M Dr . A R n of the ittle asters, dolf ose berg, accepts the

h Diir e r t he likeli ood that was his real master, beginning of his term of pupilage must have coincided with the com ’ men cemen t Diir r i 1494 e s e . t he of hous keep ng In , when ' A D ur er s young ltdorfer would be fourteen, marriage took A place , and he, with the youthful gnes, took possession of

t he T G t c the large house at hiergarten a e of the ity , he

- A s A r being twenty three and gne much younger. ltdorfe ’ h Dii r er s i ct of would t us be the first of pup ls, and the fa

Diir er n the i s goi g into large house, st ll hown to the travel m ler, in the interesting city one of the ost interesting

i i m a places , adds to the probab l ty of his im ediately t king a i ’ h pupil or apprentice. At that t me the prentice lived in i s ' i master s house , and made h mself useful as a servant in o the h usehold as well as in the workshop, so that it might be useful to the n e w ly mar r ie d to have the boy of four teen h in the establis ment . This would make the pupil able to take the citiz enship of ur s u p as se s 2 7 arm o r .

um r his z N be g, but father having been at one time a citi en of s h Ratisbon , and po sibly the existence of many friends t ere , k carried Altdorfer bm to that city . It seems there did Diire r h t 1509 in exist a drawing by wit —the da e , and an scription in praise of Altdorfer a dr awing which is n ow B ut h nowhere to be found. if t is drawing ever existed , it must have been done e i ght years or so after the parting h e of master and pupil , as t er is evidence of his arrival in A h m i Ratisbon from mberg , w ere he had lived so e t me, in

1505 m s the u , and of his ad is ion to b rgher rights of the

A s h 1509 B at h city in the same year . l o in t at year the or town council paid him ten gulden for a picture painted The r a S P . for t he choir of the church of t . eter ea lier ye rs of his residen ce in the native seat of his family it is s up B ut he posed were chiefly engaged in easel pictures . was

man o o u a of resources of the m st varied kind , and , th gh “ concerned with many forms of art , architect, painter, ” v m e - an d engra er, and etcher, drafts an , and wat r colourist , moreover said by tradition to have engraved on t he wood hi s m i u own drawings , he soon became ost occup ed in b ilding afiair s him c t he , and we find ele ted by city as Oberster ” B h ma A ch auherr, w ich we y translate City r itect . A close acquaintance with t he history of A lbert Durer m h reveals to us so e interesting points in his history, and t is household life of the first years of marriage with t he boy A h h h ltdorfer as his apprentice is one of t ese . We wis t at we could find some inter nal evidence in the similarity of his style of drawing or in his execution as an engraver with

N um ber A B ut the great g lbert. this is not to be found. Such evidence would be almost conclusive that he had bee n ’ Dii re r s under instruction , but the absence of it is a very I strong argument against this having been the case . look ’ Altdor fer s r of n h upon powe drawi g as defective, althoug 8 - m r s 2 m ar r ran as ns.

i n s B . 49 some case , as in the woodcut ( ) in which a young man with clasped hands kneels before the V irgin and D ivine child, we see very excellent form ably expressed . B ut even here a cher ub playing a mandoline in the corner M of the picture is very abortive, and the adonna herself l we take it is from some ce ebrated statue then in repute .

R a Diire r osenberg says , what he had best le rned from was

t he e e love of natur in all her minut details, and the direct an d He ness simplicity of his design . considers that Altdorfer carried away from the N urn berg master also h ra t he o much of the c a cter of head , and s mething of the n m style of drawi g, which however beca e much more fan

tas tic his c I in pra tice, which last critical point quite agree ’ H e s Altdor fer s with . further consider choice of subject ,

s an d t m re ort to natural objects, reat ent of his picture has

e something of his reputed master . W see how he thus brought forward into more prominen ce what Dii r er had had loved and lovingly indicated , but not followed out,

m c . B ut h c na ely lands ape painting neit er, in this dire tion ,

s n he goes on to say, can we with preci ion poi t to any one ’ t A Diire r s a ins ance , wherein ltdorfer has carried out indic ’ T ract Altdor fe r s tions . here are general cha eristics in

to Diirer but works that seem have proceeded from ,

scarcely specific enough to insist upon. ’ w as l Diire r s love of nature a love of detai , it appears to

H e n me . studied with the exact ess of a botanist a single s pecimen of a plant ; he recorded with his brush the “ cleavage and the fissures of a rock , so that a geologist

c would find his drawin g satisfa tory . This is the case in a water colour drawing in the large blac k volume of Sir H S in B sketches left by ans loane , now the ritish

M useum , and we all know the loving precision that delights ’ i n the ornithologist, in the draw ngs of birds wi gs by him.

l m as a ready to so e extent rich , we see by his purchase of x i the house still e ist ng, though unfortunately with a new to facade, and shown strangers as one of the principal lions T R . of atisbon his house must have been then , as it is e i now, one of the most stat ly mans ons in the city, having ’ Diire r s a tower and a noble court, and standing, like , in

the i St. V eitsbac one of best s tuations , near h, by the 15 18 Augustines . In the record exists of his purchasing t a second house , apparently as an inves ment ; and in the following year he was elected in the oute r council of the B ath , or governing body of the city. In this capacity he e s must have assist d, at lea t by voting in the assembly, the infamous persecution of the Jews which then took W u place. hether the destr ction of the synagogue took l m n p ace before the procla atio of banishment, which drove J away the ews with their families and movable property, i A a cannot be certainly ascerta ned . pp rently this had been an eb ullition of fanaticism on the part of t he z A citi ens , and we must acquit ltdorfer of any partici e i an H e e p tion in so v olent act . was not mor enlight ma t ened than his fellows, we y admit, and he apparen ly

t he o - u i profite d by ruin, possibly as one of the t wn co nc l . H e appropriated a number of gravestones from the court o s m of the synag gue , and u ed them as pavement for so e — — part of his own house the house with the tower a fact still proved by their existence after all these years . In Roman Catholic countries the Jews have always been t o subject to at acks from a furious , ignorant p pulace , but it is seldom we have such curious evidences remaining a A t of the various st ges of the pious madness . l dorfer e the i sketched the int rior of the porch of bu lding, and m the interior of the synagogue itself, and etched the ' “ ar ss scn r an e al-nu 3 1 n .

out of a feeling of curiosity, it may have been ; but we shall see that he made money in various ways out of the disgraceful event. These etchings we are inclined to con m sider a ong the most advanced production of the day, giving the natural daylight effect to the dark ar chitec On tural interior. the view of the porch , which is a e u u S vault d vestibule, with some pec liar feat res of outhern “ G m G n P r ticus Saw o cc er an othic , is the i scription : o g g

uda i m Ratis nen F r to 2 1 die b An n J s o ac Fe . On p . .

h An na dai DX LY udaici t at of the interior itself . j ” / Ratis ona S na o cc u st dew: udi i u nd/it est er erm p y g g j o j c o f . . To celebrate this righteous triumph of the Church there i on began m racles and wonders, wrought and seen the

m The spot , and a great pilgri age took place . clergy highly i l faith a approv ng of this as a reviva of , procession was

l A r organised to add to the disp ay, for which ltdorfe was V employed to paint a banner, exhibiting the irgin and h l h c C i d in the brig test olours , with the city heraldry H e e below. also publish d one of the most noted of his

T Madam atisb n. B he R . works, of o ( a woodcut about

. T i fourteen inches high , and stamped with colours h s is

h h clriar oacur os now very rare , and t oug not one of the first , h is one of t e most interestin g . Rosenberg says it was

n fi v e — flesh pri te d in four colours or red, green , blue, — so colour, and black that it made a near approach to

o~ r in t in ne w chrom . p g, and must have been a experiment The thousands of pilgrims bought this no doubt with a c feeling that the print itself was one of the mira les. It represen ts the much venerate d figure then in the cathedral

V the of the city : the irgin holds Child in her arms, and th e group is shown behind a balcony, on which stands a vessel of flowers , and below is the inscription , repeated

i Ga a bdrm mai n r eundlin and sin three t mes : m w hen f , ' 3 2 ru e e r mz m sr s as .

market ist n it in dir Ave Mar ia A , ltogether beautiful On the not . art thou, and a spot is in thee the site of

s i s n i h r de troyed building, a site so d ti gu s ed by mi acles, the worthy people erected a church to t he Immacule A Conception and the largest woodcut ltdorfer did, 2 3 18 1 i inches by 9 , which had escaped all not ce till

P s Le P in tr e e r sar 18 62 as avant published e in , is an

‘ i w T h h h . exterior v e of this c urch his print, w ic is a ' ckiar os ur o B M m c , is not in the ritish useu , and I can t “ describe it further than that it has t he image of t he h h Conception (w atever that may be) above , wit the arms i n L of the city , and a k nd of doggerel so net in atin and G m t th h h Th i he e . e er an , relating to history of C urc p ous

tow n c oun cil e s l burghers and wise , these v r es say, cou d no the c m h on longer bear load of usury exa ted fro t em , and St P ' 15 19 the feast of eter s Chair, , they drove out every

Jew t n , male and female , and left not one s one upon a other “ ” o On c M of their synag gue . whi h our beautiful ary , u m h m i approving, it wo ld see , t is violent ethod of pay ng i c the debts, began work ng mira les on the spot, so that blind m the b . saw, la e walked , and the crooked ecame straight It is to be hoped that our artist was not one of the debtors who, buying their houses with borrowed money , cancelled their bonds and cleared 03 the interest upon them in this summary we y l B ut fr om all the circum r i l stances , and f om these nscriptions, it wi l be seen that A h ltdorfer, unlike all the other nort ern artists with whose

me n histories we are acquainted , and unlike nearly all the

me dire v al of genius of the age, continued an adherent of the church Hi s settled residence in Ratisbon necessitated d h that, indee ; and his position t ere, first as town i h — counc llor , t en as member of the inner council alder — to him man, we may say was not possible be held by , u s a ' A F’E 3 3 a cu r LTDOR R . if he had n ot bee n ve ry orthodox in the eyes of both cler ical and lay portions of a community who drove out

. At the H ebrews so unjustly, and who were so credulous i i th s t me he was not the city architect, and may have n n e w ri had little co nection with the church , appea ng still in the character of painter, receiving from the town funds a gold gulden for painting t he frontal for

- h H M S the relique shrine in the c apel of the oly ary . hortly

t s the S a af er he doe appear as servant of the t te , and seems i u 152 6 152 7 to beg n his d ties about . In he built the wine - stall (w in eetadel) and the flesh - market and slaughter s — il — k hou e st l in use solidly built, and li ely to endure in 1528 ust ice of the future . In he was active as a j the

WW . peace , and afterwards for a time was chosen W ' H e was in thi s honourable position while he was em ployed pai nting for the Duke William of Bavaria hi s

B attle Ar bela A e greatest picture , the of , where l xander

c D s t he P inacoth e c over ame ariu , now to be seen in , M u —a fi ve nich surprising performance . It is feet high , t by only four broad , yet it con ains thousands of fighting me n s has l e on hor eback or foot . It no c assic or id al n the character ; this had never entered his head, eve at time when t he Renaissance had completed its work in

Italy . It is a great mixed fight of B itter s and Lands/medics

t T t r i s of the sixteen h century. his pic u e was fin hed in “ 152 9 Al c A t z fi , and bears the signature , bre ht l dorfer R m egensberg fecit. It was one of five com issioned by the D B ur kmair Gor B w M h F eselen uke ; g , g re , and elc ior ’ e h s Alt dor fer s b ing the ot er artists ; amongst the e, com position was distinguished by the amaz ing exactitude and

e ie l his bim r . multiplicity of detai s, as well as by peculiar The arms, armour, harness, heraldry , are all exceedingly

finished and studied . D 3 4 m s u r n s m s er s s .

We cannot, of course, do otherwise than respect this versatile genius for a conscientious adhesion to the ancient

m s faith , and the circu stance that now tran pires that in his last years he was at least partially advocating the cause of the Reformation with the small degree of liberty involved i n l L r c R i al owing a friend of uthe to prea h in at sbon , is g reatly in favour of his having been a sincere believe r in the i J w the propriety of expuls on of the e s, and the hon esty of the miracle- workers on the site of the destroyed H e the h synagogue . was one of fifteen members of t e

B a h - » t , or town council , who wished to get passed a permis a r H r Dr . Joh n n H , L sion for er n iltne a friend of uther, R H e to hold forth in a atisbon pulpit. was to the end a M d bu t votary of the a onna, we must remember that the

M - l i h arian cu tus, approach ng so near wors ip, continued in h G m h sout ern ermany in many refor ed house olds . In the absence of a date on the miniature portrait of Luther from on his hand, engraved copper, it may not be going too far to connect that small gem with these late days of his busy H ad he an life . lived to advanced age we might have expected new developments from a man of hi s restless and varied talents , although not in the domain of the fine arts , i n as we do not see any progressive character his work. the i L c L In numerous des gns by u as of eyden , may tru ly say the histor y of his years is written in the m wonderfully certain advance shown by the , from the childishness of the earliest to the emancipated Italianesque drawing and expression of his latest engravings and draw

B ut in . gs, few as we have of the latter in the last decade ’ i r Altdor fe r s of his l fe we have few works of art f om hand , t no engravings, and few paintings with dates within hat his ar chitectural period, but labours are perhaps enough to the i account for absence of other activities. In connect on s t e me 3 5 a r “ m our ns .

fiic On with his o e of city architect we have one date . the

- r n table t old market towe a leade has remained , with the “ A Al Paumeistr words, lbrecht tdorfer, , which thus fi identi es him with another public building in the town .

A r fift - h 14th ltdo fer died at the age of y eig t, on the of 153 8 i n February, , and was buried the church of the

A he l v ugustines , close to where i ed , and for which he had H is painte d. will is found to have been made two days E Th before, and his brother rhard is partly his heir. is D brother was also a painter, the court painter to uke ’ H en i n S but A ry chwerin, after lbrecht s death he came to i in R i n t res de atisbon for some time, but no d rect desce dan s The are mentioned, so that the name disappears from art . ch 18 40 urch in which he was buried was taken down in , a to when a p rt of the gravestone of our artist came light, sufiicie ntly identified by the two words and a half in m A A r scribed upon the broken frag ent, lbrecht ltdorfe , Paum H APTER V C .

'

“ cance r ALTDORFEB S w oas s .

NTI L lately all the old artists who published their designs on wood were supposed to have been their Th l E ow n engravers. is notion was pecu iarly an nglish one , c Th B perhaps be ause omas ewick , who has the credit of

w ood~ e n r av in o having revived g g , and s me of his pupils , (particularly Luke Clennel) have drawn t heir own

B ut difi cult w oodo en r av in engravings . the art of g g was in Germany a refinement on the trade of block book

b an ds m cutting, and employed many ore or less skilful , w ho depended on having the subject to be engraved care f ully and precisely draw n for them on the surface of the Th wood. is was presumably done by the pen and Indian ink , and encouraged the habit of drawing with the point , a S n common to all the e rly masters . ome of these drawi gs

l t an d n ow to be seen either in nationa or private collec ions, which the late exhibitions held by Sir Coutts Lindsay and Ro al A d t he h the y cademy have ma e public acquainted wit , are quite like the preparatory work of the designer for the A a engraver. ltdorfer, in p rticular, has left us such draw ings done with the brush on a dark ground in white, one of h w ich we are able to give as an illustration . S the till , this idea that all early masters, including

W M M m h tb h h fl h m

m d w ; m m

' m l a The re is v r li ttle this cln n ceod g y co r se. e y of ct a in

boldly M m The m dm h ndmg not m ly ofthe ofl n r

Little Masters b nt of all w ho u cfi sed both on co er , p pp

w hereas w ood en mv in u e the lm not g g, then exec t d on p h on sections acr oss the r the timber w a g ain of , s best

t for lar e r in All this r ev er sed in adap od g p ts. is the pm t ics Al Fall and Red m ti n of tdorfer, his e p o series is com osed of scar ce l t li r ee e o p designs y inch s by two , and no ther

of his pr oductions show any of the pen- and- ink sketching a ed o His lar est an d fin est r in t The Madonna llud t . g p , of Ratisb n 13 9 is o o , is only } inches by 3, and printed fr m r a T r several blocks as al e dy described. he e is another,

Mad nn a stand n on a res ent o i g C c , with the infant in her r 8 8 B ra arms ove an altar, with . Christopher and arba on

one 8 8 G or B . side, and . e ge and Catherine on the other ( } 11 R sur r e i n Chr ist which is } inches by a , and a e ct o of , 9 7 z m inches by , but these si es, especially when any r e the not figures are rep esent d , as in last named, do admit bo som ld drawing , but show the e fine strokes which he could not have expressed by pen or brush for the guidance of o o of i an ther with ut a waste pat ence and time . ' L m x 3 9 Annuncrrr A r noa s w oa s .

In my own small collection is an impression of t he ’ Resur r ction Ckn e t e of , which possesses another feature cl The pe u iar among old woodcuts. earliest engravers , D ii r er M even the greatest masters, as and antegna, ’ s M A printed their own plate , as we have seen arc ntonio did till Raphae l made his colour- grinder relieve that engraver ; or at least follo w ing the same example had them printed under their own eye in their own

/ On ateIier s ; and in deed sold them too . none of the prints I have examined of an early date have I observe d t what modern printers so constantly prac ise , that is, over

d th r so laying and pad ing up e fo m with pieces of paper, as to make the pressure on one portion of the picture to be e B ut h Rem ection great r than on another. in t is by A d the r lt orfer, I find this has been done , entire figu e of

Lo w ho cesica h our rd , appears within a s ape of clouds in to the sky, being apparently padded so as print darker ,

l t he r while the clouds all round are re ieved of p essure , and made to print comparatively fainter . This is a small e l i a' t chnica matter, but it looks like the dev ce of man

r ac - who unde stands the pr tice of wood cutting, and so has been the first to fall upon the plan ofmodifying the impre s n A sio , and as a good deal has been said about ltdorfer a t having been prob bly the exception among the early artis s, who drew but did not engrave on the wood I think it worth re The o l n c n cording . pr bability of our hero fa li g upon o t ri van ces such as that indicated , is increased by the proof m of his being practical in other atters, and from his filling him the post of city architect, we may suppose ready in mechanical contrivances. The number of his woodcuts is not very great, being r The unde seventy . larger of these we have mentioned The x l im o whole, with the e ception of four of smal d ensi ns, m s e r ms MAS E S 40 T R .

3 B u i 8 . are ible s bjects, or figures of sa nts , Christopher, G J m r th e th e eorge , ero e , over and ove again , series called Fall an d Redemption ofM an being included in the above

The The Jud men t number . exceptional four represent g of

P ar is Thisbe w e in v r the dead b d P r amus A , e p g o e o y of y ,

' Albert Dure r s Little Passion on wood containing thirty s 15 11 A seven subjects, was is ued in , when ltdorfer was

- t he r m fi Adam an d E ve thirty one, and as subjects f o the rst, eat in the For bidden F r uit m g , till near the last , are the sa e , we may su ppose our artist undertook his set after the

The ff e example of his former master . great di erence li s in the greater attention given to the V irgin Mary by the R n atisbon artist, her history bei g largely embodied with

R R We that of the edeemer to please a atisbon public. have thus the H igh P riest refusing the ofie ring of Joachim and Anna ; t he Angel appearin g to Joachim at the sheep ’ J An n B G fold oachim and na s meeti g at the eautiful ate, Joachim giving his wife the miraculous kiss the V irgin s n i the t T T a ce d ng s eps of the emple. hese four incidents

ar e r the Gos el o M ar i all f om apocryphal p f y, wh ch was, in M A B the iddle ges, and until the ible became popularly Wicklifie L te known by , uther, and early printing , of grea r h t authority t an any other . It was also of ancient au hority,

and t he St J e. is found transcribed in works of . erom Its ci r culation was part of the great system encou raging u Th V Mariolatry pursued by the Ch rch. e irgin was but th The three years old when she ascended e steps . original accou nt of the i n cident is as follows A n d there were the T o e P m about emple , acc rding to the fift en sal s of de ! t T grees , fif een stairs to ascend, for, the emple being built

These are the Ps ms rom the l2oth to th e 13 4th nc us al f i l ive. ' ’ B rm 41 ALB RECHT ALTDORFE S wo s .

o m bur n t ofier in w as up n a ountain, the altar of g , which w The r n u t . itho t, could not be come near but by s airs pa e ts

of the B lessed V irgin and Infant placed her on these steps. B ut while they were putting off their clothes in which they had t u travelled , and, according to cus om, p tting on some r r a V that we e mo e ne t and clean, in the meantime the irgin of the Lord in su ch a manner went u p the steps one after h another, without the elp of any to lead her or lift her, that any one would have judged from thence that she was " Th Citr ist takin leav His of perfect age. e incident , g e of m ther be r i n to H is d ath in J r usalem o fo e go g e e , is also from

this apocryphal Gospel . ' No 3 4 in Des n imbo T hr ist s cen t i t L . . this series is C o his

is i o also from a text now d scredited, but c ntinually painted

r M l odemus A e Gos e Nic . our f om in the iddle g s, the p of In ’ t he He deeceaded £a toHell A ritual , words , in the postle sCreed , ’ an r the Har r w n are a ticle of faith , but incident of Christ s o i g h l a e . H ell t ( arrying, plundering) qf , as the mys ery play

i n A E ve an d J styles it, and tak ng the ce dam and , ohn the B h w aptist , as s o n in many early paintings and prints ,

the Gos el Nic dem s seems mainly derived from p of o o , or —“ The Acts of Pon tius P ilate Then there was a great L voice, as of a sound of thunder, saying, ift up your

G P t G s H ates , ye rinces, and be ye lif ed up ye ate of ell , K G A n d h that the ing of lory may enter . the mig ty L ord appeared in the form of a man , and enlightened those places which had ev er before been in darkness Then he h stretched forth his and and said , Come to me , all ye S my aints , who were created in my image, but who were i condemned by the tree of the forbidden fru t, and by the devil and death Then the Lord Jesus laid hold on A ' P dam s hand , and said to him , eace be to thee, and to w i An all thy righteous posterity, hich is m ne . d he made 42 m u r n s m ama s.

i of c o A the the s gn the r ss upon dam, and holding him by all S right hand, he ascended from hell , and the aints of l ” God fol owed him .

The The Glm cation o Mar last of the series is fi f y, a to P s e frequent finish the a sion series, and more frequ ntly The h o still treated separately. mot erhood is of c urse the

Glorifi ca on ti , so that, although the scene is supposed to

take place in Paradise, she holds the Infant in her arms . ’ The Altdor fe r s number of prints on copper, as given by ’ ’ P i B artsch s 109 adding assavant s add tions to list, is , many

u i - fi T h v e . being etc ings ; his woodc ts, s xty hese are pro th e his bably not whole of works by any means, two h copper engravings, not hit erto known , having been found e P Calvin n lat ly by rofessor , the i telligent curator of ‘ F z w M T S t . the it illiam useum, Cambridge . hese are

The figure is turned to the right, his left hand grasping a

T - staE. su b tree , which serves for his is a tall shaped '

l St. B e e . s jc t, quit un ike the other Christopher ( ize 4 S t B ar bar a 8 2 . . Sh i . e 8 5 m ll by . ( ) is seated in profile h on a wooden seat, holding a c alice on her knees with her left hand ; she is turned to the right ; w ears crown and 3 z 60 i . 7. B necklaces ; si e , m ll by oth of these small prints : is have the monogram the date on the first rubbed , but ' on the last is Altdor fer s etc hings are perhaps more

i w as important than any of his other product ons, as it by

Bes des thes undescr bed ch r c e st ic t e rints Professor i e i a a t ri li tl p . Co v n has disco er d—w e h s rd b c use the n l i v e use t i wo e a all pr i ts i—n the Fitzwilliam were un know n treasures previous to his research the

uasi uni ue sub ec s onl descr b d b Schmid in the a c e q q j t y i e y t rti l , " ’ ' Al d rfer in the new d t o e - t o , e i i n ( M yer s) of the Kanetler Lemlcoa

65 . Soldiers s andin t g .

2 5 . St. Catherine seated.

Als all the O n ments fi s d c b d b P s — s avan numb 0 . o r a r t es ri e y a t, ers 1 5 8 ' A B E u r noar s a s orms 3 L R CHT w . 4

the etchin g point he realised most easily his ideas in land T h scape . hese are slight , but ave a truly romantic cha r acte r an d th e , partly intensifie d partly destroyed by ecce ntric taste that appears in nearly everything from

his h The and . pine had a sort of fascination to him , be u t he and loaded its bo ghs with fronds , like feathers

e a of birds, and added long lin s , v garies of lines, that T have little or no foundation in nature . his singular

i a for pecul arity, and also the true t ste landscape, making

e r t i n the figur s seconda y in interes , we find other men of

d m A r G r the time , derive , I believe, fro ltdorfe ; ottf ied

L ] all u in iege , above the others, ind lges this decorative

Ro s e i style, though senberg doe not m ntion th s little G known artist among his pUpils or imitators. ottfried ' Lieg el s prints date from 152 3 to 1540 he might therefore Wbe reasonably supposed to have derived it from Altdorfer. ith him , too, the pine tree predominates . ’ To gi ve the reader an idea of Altdor fer s peculiar feeling i ffi for tree forms and vegetat on , would be di cult without

the m copies of his prints before us , but i itation of the drawing in white on a black ground will give him some notion of the erratic lines he indulged in , from boughs of T trees, or from weeds hanging from old walls. here is an

the r uc x ion engraving of C ifi , one of his choicest, wherein

i v he has made th s great e ent take place among fir trees, and other eM ples of his ar bitrary love of enriching his

compositions by landscape forms, might be easily found . Tr r ees, sh ubs, leaves, plants, grass , mountains , towns, fallen

c n walls , and portions of splendid ar hitecture , are all give

i n with thoughtful care, wh le his drawi g of the human actors Am is very inadequate . ong his larger outs, there is one,

The B ebeadin J hn B h g of o ( . in which is s own in the e curiouslv i op n air, with rich arch te cture and landscape r un e rns m ama 44 s .

r ow of w a background , a of figures men and women do n e ch n side of the picture, and in the space betwee , the body of the Baptist lies on the ground with the executioner stand

hi T e n m. h i g over e p ople lean forward, looking down , w er e so swayed about with emotion , as it , but awkwardly e s f expressed , that we have the great t di ficulty in understand i e c . ing the r action, or ev n separating them from ea h other

Th w a n o is quaint composition is in a y fascinating, but thing can be more absurd as a representation of the sub A r St h ject. nothe shows us a . Christop er kneeling down to allow the Child to get on his back ; and this di fficult

a i n moment of action , d ringly chosen , is so inexplicable i r . d awing , as to render the des gn simply a puzzle In

‘fs w ee i n ver the b d r amus B she Tn bc p g o o y Qn / ( . is in t e r R s h attitude of praye assumed by oman Catholic priest , the palms pressed together before her ; the Last Supper in

Fall an d Redem tion M an the p of , takes place lit by a great

a V r l ttice window, and the i gin dies apparently in the crypt T s of a cathedral . he e anachronisms, which more or less

‘ u the the e occ r down to end of last c ntury, in all art, and all F sh G above , in early lemi and erman , are more than o e A usually gr t sque and glaring in ltdorfer, yet the senti u a a H e ment of his tho ghts is lways to be dmired . never n r t he did any si gle wo k perfect as a whole, however , and ” F L P t n t ather of andscape ain i g , if he is wor hy of the name, is principally to be credited with a blind love of it,

a the aff and a gr ping towards realisation of his ection. ’ Altdor er s dr aw i n s T e f g . h se are not numerous, but l finished— ao— c n high y indeed , exceptionally and o se i R quently much pr zed and valued . osenberg says that no oil pictures of his remain with dates or associations as i 15 10 15 17 ra to t me, between and , and as the eng vings are few belonging to those years he thinks Altdorfer must

' s t eam At r nonr na s wonx s 45 .

v i have gi en h mself to the preparing of drawings. In these u F he us ally employed three tints . irst, he laid a dark

or ground on the paper, either dark green , deep red , brown , On u blue . this he most frequently drew with a fine br sh

in 9. e i h white , whit wh c must have been very pure , as it has stood the test of time ; then he occasionally added a n tint darker than the ground, to bri g out the shadows . B Diir e r Baldun Gr iin i oth and g loved th s method , but did l m not use it so c early and ethodically. In this kind of

the as drawing the scenery played the chief part, figures , his r i m in p ints, be ng surpassed in i portance by their sur i His round ngs . fantastic nature liked this scenic way of

expressing itself. The Berlin cabinet of engravings is rich in these draw

The v Ador ati n o ( I a ings . copy we gi e of the o f ce M gi from

15 12 . O e e that collection bears the date thers, pr serv d

hr i st on the there, belong to the previous years , as the C

M u nt Oli ves 1509 The E ntr in t Jer usalem 15 10 o of , ; y o , ;

The B ear in the r oss 15 11. I n H i St g of C , the erm tage , .

P N ativit etersburg, is a y, which appears to have been a

Adorati n H is t w a in pendant to the o . practice in his y as a engraving was given up in his latest ye rs , although he

still pai nte d pictures in oil .

n B M L I our ritish useum collection there is a andscape , T i slight , pen and ink , without light and shade . his draw ng

i n h c is spoilt by a remarkable luminary the sky , w i h does i not appear to be meant for the sun , possibly some acc dental

l A The R se appearance superstitious y rendered . lso epo in E t c gyp , a very fine drawing in bla k and white lines , executed a r with gre t precision on a p epared ground of dark brown . The treatment is quite in a familiar gem-e spirit : th e ex ec u Th tion perfect . e few other drawings in this country with — ' which I am acquainted are these Tlu Angel appom img to r u n E nasr sas 46 LITTL .

him W Joac , drawn with the pen , the property of illiam

l L nds a w ith attle i n h r l E . a t e o e r s owm . Mi tchel , q a c pe C f g 8 T E m x n . s . The si ilarly e ecuted, belo ging to ucker, q and

e n t l ted u n l un Br az en S rpe if p , the treatme t singu arly e m le elevated, but an admirable p in execution pen and fi in T ink with the c ect sepia . his was formerly in the h J . W Es Mayor collection, now in t at of hitehead , q. l d Altdorfer was , no doubt, whi e he live , most considered h i as an arc itect , and next to that as a pa nter, yet it is him i t difiicult now to give much mportance in ei her walk . The only ver y notable and u nquestionable picture of his I B attle Al x ander an d Dar ius n remember is the of e , i the inacothec M P , unich , already spoken of, but there are a B number of others in avaria and elsewhere. In this u f co ntry I hesitate to a firm any picture of his to exist. A ltogether there are about twenty - five recognised oi l pic on of tures by this master, n e which are known to have left B his i t m os of i h l avaria in l fe i e, m t them rema ning t ere stil .

His Ti m r uc x earliest, if not his best known , is C ifi ion of

1506 of N iir n be r . T i of , now in the Castle g h s is one the c u pictures of sa red s bjects, in which the landscape accea

sor i - i e s over balance the figures in po nt of detail , showi ng Th . e v the natural bias of his mind whole picture , howe er,

’ A Dii re r is said to recall the compositions of lbert . In the M z e l orit Chapel, in the sam city, is a smal work in oil a man and two women drawing from the water the dead

body of the holy Quirinus an effect of sun - light in which

. H e cte i is said to be striking has the chara r, ndeed , of having painted sunshine at this early time with remarkable

Madonna M B attle Alex d success, the in unich and the of an er and Dar ius are said to be both distinguished by this pecu liarit B M y. In the erlin useum is a small double picture

SS Dominic and Fran is in P en itencc. of . c ’ A B E H anr noar na s wonx s 4 L R C T . 7

The i 150 most beaut ful of his early pictures , dated 7, is r B m F t in the P ublic Galle y in re en. rom he description of i t i i we would expect a very charm ng and na ve performance . It is a N ativity : the divine Child lies on a bundle of B V i i straw surrounded by angel boys. efore him the rg n f l o kneels, carefully bent over the In ant, fond y ad ring it . T n e m c his is so far only the ordi ary le ents of the subje t, e i but now comes the portion most charact rist c of the artist . Through an openi ng or window in the roof of the great ruin i n i which the scene is laid , we catch a gl mpse of the dark

i to O n blue heaven as if it were n ght . Up this peni g ascends

i - on i a a great ladder, rest ng the floor, and bes de it st nds St J i . oseph hold ng a lante rn to light the little angels in

in e fiec uall n t . O e their descent, y it would appear is seen i t at the opening enter ng wi h a bundle or sheaf of straw, no of S doubt to add to the comfort the little aviour, but another has come down too fast and lies on the hard i ! ground , while a th rd runs away from him frightened To add to the incongruity of the whole, in the middle ground d i the shepher s are entering by the fallen door, and beh nd them on the horiz on th e sun is going down among red

clouds.

Pin acothec in M In the unich, besides those already men

ion d — t a n Th t e n Dr . e S t . e r e ish he , is a third G o g a qu i g go a beech scene is laid in wood , the love of landscape materials

n bei g this time greatly in his favour. 15 21 i B i In he pa nted a smal l picture, now in erl n , which possesses a more than ordinary charm and c interest. It is a lands ape in which is a palace or

s Ren aissan ce- S chl ss ca tle, described as a o , towards the h l i porch of w ich walks a rich y dressed pa r, man and I n m . r wo an this gate stands a warrio , in whose hand is a ofier s o goblet, which he to the appr aching guests ; behind 48 r u n e r t s m amas .

h t w o t ese splendid people, however, are ragged beggars ,

t T s who try to seiz e upon the drapery of he lady. his c uri ou — group is supposed to be allegorical the splendid people

and u —a o i c mm t he being pride l xury, pict r al o entary on “ l - w n Der B ett l sit t at der text of a we l kno proverb , e z lf ” S chle e dcr H o ar t h The e pp f , whic we may translate, b ggar ’ ” on r sits g andeur s train .

In B erlin also is another sov calle d landscape with the F light in to Egypt and t he Repose also represented T h on h in it . his s ows an inscription a tablet which as “ m i — Alb r tus so ewhat troubled historians . It is th s e ' Altdorfer pictor Ratisponen si s in salu tem an i me hoc tibi mun us di va M a sacr a vit cor ds deli H r ia fi . ere our

e c e M paint r dedi at s to the holy ary for the good of his soul ,

r 15 40 c this wo k in the year , when we know by ertain i n F 15 3 8 To record he died ebruary, . cut this Gordian knot various suppositions have been made, the most probable bein g that the date has be en added at a later time than the rest of the inscription. H APTER v1 C .

S E BA D B E AN AND BA E B E AM L H RTH L H . BB B!

E now come to the most important ar tists in the

group, the eldest of the two being the one whose works made the mos t de cided impressi on and were most

an d ex ce tionahle so copied , whose life was the most p , that

c has had e h it d e his chara ter to be r abil ate , and clear d of the accusations that had in t he course of years gathered and c T r n lung to it . hat the e may have bee some grounds for

r a these accusations it would be sh even now to deny, but we cannot look upon a man of such force of genius and

d r activity of mind with any other feeling than a mi ation , an l and a firm belief that his faults, if he had y, were on y

an d venial , bred of the fermentation of the eventful time,

lfc ultur e u necessary to the se of so energetic a nat re .

n B B Be he m n ot un The ame of eham , or ehaim, or y , was common in N iir n ber g long before the two youn g ar tist s e i m drew attention to it . It was inde d a patr cian na e in

m i l c the great com erc a imperial ity, and had its shield of ' a A Diir e r s arms, which appe rs in all lists of lbert wood h b engravings, the s ield divided y a sable bend , dexter

s. 50 m s: L l'l'l'LR a m as s .

wavy, the crest being an eagle with spread wings and a ” Th M h B Diir e r crown on its neck . e ic el ehaim for whom drew this was one of t he Rathsher r n at the time of Hans ' Be bsld s N iirn be r the m birth, but as other g families of sa e name existe d he may have had no near relationship with the i fam ly of our artist. At H B this time was also in repute in the city ans ehaim , the - e d master builder or archit ct, much praised as a lea ing

s iirn be r agent in the aggrandi ement of N g, which must at that moment have had many splendid mansions in progress ’ in V on Re ttber Ndr nber s Kan e: the new style . g in his g leben men tions him in this way at the same time the hints afior ded us of the style in which he wrought do not suggest advanced renaissance architecture so much as t he ornate H e latest form of German pointed ornament . says that this Hans B ehaim was a leading spirit in realising the builder’s new art which repudiated the buttress and gargoyle and all the other adjuncts of the gothic , as signs and symbols of

' t he P power of the priest ( riesterherrschaft) , even then l fal ing out of the respect of the world, and in bringing in an architecture suited to the advanced taste of the age and in introducing as sociations of such a kind as would d n agree with the increase i dependence of public thought . B N iir n be r w a esides this g worthy, there s still another B e T contemporary , ehaim , ev n more honourable . his was e ad the maker of the earliest terr strial globe, and the venturer who claims to have been the first to sail round Th M S A . B b hi s outh merica is was artin ehaim , who egan 1460 active life in , by leaving his inland native place for d seafaring a venture about the same time as Columbus, and

’ A second wood- e ngraving of the Beham arms appears in Bartsch s “ list of Dam : Doub u l Works. B A e ndi 57 P ss an th nks qf , pp x , a av t i mb s mor B m the dr w n in his r se S . B. h se f th n Diirer a i g t e le e . i l a .

o m rr s or usan ) s B as r m B r an t P n S B aa ) : .

m r lin From M d llion s in the New Mus u B . e a e , e m s S EBA B EB AM AND B AB TB B L new s 53 LD .

t n lat er should be the more adva ced in the art of engraving. S a In this art, ebald is perh ps the most expert of all who

. I l ever practised it mean in purely technical exce lence, t not ev en Dit er bein g his superior. Ne w M B m e i In the useum , erlin , is a s all m dallion cut n

S i S i the peckste n , it is supposed by ebald h mself, with l M r Se bo t B a . insc iption eh m , aller, xxxx jar alt . M D X ” X XX . T H his, formerly in the possession of einrich H F f e S e van der orcht, of rank ort , wh re ebald resided the latt r his i years of life and died, is a genu ne record , and shows his e i age while anoth r s milar medallion, executed nine years “ ” i ncr ibed B P An earlier, artolme eham alt xxix . . xxxi . w T i d sho s the age of his brother . h s inscription , the rea er i t e r P will observe, gives the name beginn ng with the le t B m instead of , a peculiarity which appears on the monogra i w hich has inscribed on the earl er works of both brothers , o l i of o tr ub ed the m nds some commentat rs, but which means nothing more than a habit of that day of indis ia o criminately using these letters so similar s und . We yerman comes to the conclusion that our painter s were descended from a family who came from Ulm in 13 99 e a B , and that th ir ancestor was certain eham , a painte r who was entered as burgher at Niir nberg at th is w ho d H e i e e early time, was outlawe . gives no ev d nc v whatever , howe er, and this may be one of the statements

u d r . that have been gratuito sly advance , and now disc edited

’ Neudor fie r ( 1546) the earliest writer who mentions our two “ 1500 h . S artists , makes t em into three ebald geboren ,

1544 H an n a n 10 A u . 152 7 starb 2 2 Nov . , ; gebore g , ist ” au sw r d R e ig gestorben, are his words ; but osenberg very o n ev er reas nably questio s this statement, and as y one of ’ bald s H Se works is inscribed with his initials, the being S th e far included with the , and e dat s of birth are so m u n 5 4 s r s nasr s ns .

c r a m At apart , we can s arcely ente tain the st te ent. the H B h H S a same time a ans e am, an artist, not our ans eb ld ,

does appear to have lived a few years later, and to hav e

w r made a model of the city, sho ing every house and st eet,

h t he B ath e fl r n w ich was bought by for tw nty o i s. All s i a this is not without its interest, how ng how m ny men l n were fo lowi g very various artistic occupations, and N iir n ber how much activity there was in g at that day. ’ The speculations as to Diir er s actual mastership are

e N e udtirfe r scarcely so remun rative. says nothin g on the ’ M i c subject, but atth as Quad calls them both s holars of Diire r D l e ; and oppe mayer, a later writ r, however, says S t B ebald had instruc ion from arthel , but yet further “ Diir e r instruction from , with or for service and after

h H . S B r e . . Diire wards repeats that , by means of , T to s i . i B h plendidly mproved his , except in relat on art el , is very much what we would suppom to have been the case but as Doppelmayer writes in a great measure after San dr ar t B t , who first reported ar hel to have been the S teacher and cousin of ebald, it does not carry much The r r ex e weight. circumstance of the elde brothe , and

cutiv el n y the ablest of the two , havi g copied some of his ' su omd younger brother s works, gave rise, it is pp , to h i e this fable of t eir relat on as mast r and pupil . These copie s are no doubt a difficulty ; but they may x B t be e plained in a probable manner at least. ar hel , it G is certain , left ermany, and his plates would most pro

bably become the property of his elder brother, who had

n i n e nc in te t o of trave lling more than he could h lp. Being to N ti r n ber he i B h forced leave g, lingered about, wh le art el The of w ent to Italy . sale these plates went on endlessly

n i as w e see by the impressio s that are still in circulat on,

l ' ation Hm li keit l 1609 Tmtrc m N g . Gil n, . m as ss sann 3 3 mm AND BA E ar m 55 RTH L .

r e . B e worn down to a mere spect arthel n ver returned,

his probably, and died at an early age, and in absence,

R c most likely as osenberg supposes after his death, the mi

on S b t to r e - still going , e ald found it his interes engrave

he mse m. N ot i the that h lf had any need to copy, his i ’ invention be ng endless, but his brother s subjects and T treatment were popular. his simple reason that a certa in design was in demand was in all cases t he one explain ing the constant habit of copying, which we see to have been ’ followed ; in Diirer s cas e the origin of much injustice o and c mplaint. What the “ service ” alluded to by Doppelmayer may n a S have bee , it is e sy to imagine ; but ebald does not

appear from the date s on his prints to have been pre o

cocious 15 18 . , only one very small one bearing the date The e si x next year, when he was nin teen, we find ; but the

- fiv e m l year following we find twenty , all very s al however, B and, with few exceptions, ible subjects , or saints.

a s n B rthel was le s in the habit of dating his engravi gs, so that it is difficult to dete rmine which were the earlier 1520 among them but still we find three or four dated ,

when his age would be eighteen. 15 2 4 find i B In , we them both already marr ed , arthel

- R hi s being then only t w enty two. egarding wife w e know ’ h n Bebs ld s not ing, but the medallion existi g of wife, a m to r co panion his own , and p esumably by himself also, is “ A Be hamin x x x x v inscribed round the profile, nna , alt . jar from which we learn that her name was A h nna, and t at he had married a woman older than him s n n elf, accordi g to the frequent habit of very you g

me n marrying . The evidence of their being both married is to be found i n e N ii rn be r m the trial before allud d to. g was a ong the ' m sr 5 6 m e rns nas .

tow ns that earliest received the doctrines of the Reforma B L ' tion. efore uther s movement there had begun a

n h certain satirical independe ce in t is and in other towns , t i n G m and the earlies literary society founded er any, S te L R n e w s s called odali s iteraria hena , a there e tablished P by Conrad Celtes, with many members, including irk

th e S The Bath heimer, and town clerk pengler. was for r a time very much opposed , and tried to rep ess the enthusiasm both of the clergy and the townspeople

d fi r n t Th e f e the i e s directions. o ficial br ak with old order 1526 Yet m of things did not take place till . the move ent

n t had undermined existi g ins itutions, and the attention of the Imperial Diet had been drawn to efior t s constantly being made by the middle classes to organise some O pening m the n . 15 23 i for new teachi g In , this had become an Th R m portant question. e efor ation was at first conserva

tive , and even when a decided revolution changed the d not g whole a ministration of religion, an ima e or an altar

E n s t h was touched . ve now we ee his to have been t e case in e very Luther an church the old adjuncts of the R m ar e to o an forms of worship be seen , and the cultus V i B ut of the rgin and saints was slowly extinguished . opposition in periods of excitement produces a r ev olu

tion ar the y element which alarms governing body . At first the re forming spirit did not threaten actual an B ut ch ges . the literary agitation that accompanied it,

widened its sphere of operation , and men appeared who proposed socialistic novelties to be included in the religious m progra me, as being the natural and necessary outcome of the doctrines ad v ocated On e of the most influential men

K . H e of the day was arlstadt held aloof from politics , and yet his extreme theoretical doctrines were thought to ‘

h h T m M ii n z e r be more dangerous t an the preac ing of ho as , H ANS em u ) s erum AND BA EL eru m RTH s . 57

The o out in m the communist . excitement br ke the sum er 1524 K the of arlstadt was brought before courts of law,

his Miin z r h and books, as well as those of e , publis ed both

s H z of them by the enthu iastic printer it el, were confiscated .

M iin z e r o Niir n ber had but shortly before come int g , but B ath r a u the found him out, and kept the dange ous dem gog e S in surveillance . ome of his books were again secretly r u int oduced , but the stock of fo r hundred copies was dis l w covered , and a servant of the bookse ler was after ards H taken with five hundred more, and imprisoned . einrich

Schw erdt fisch l s , cal ing him elf a follower of the prophet, Dr M R m J h and . artin einhard , a preacher fro ena, bot indefatigable and loud , were banished . O ur n painters, young men and ardently looki g to the

u Mii n z e r fut re , not , it is supposed, actually followers of ,

n h were yet delighted with his innovatio s . No doubt t ey

r s e u were theo ists for them elv s , sec larists or humanitarians , or whatever name might suit them ; they seem to have V Wir s e r er been disputatious , and a certain eit p g took upon the Ba th himself to denounce them to , and with them their

P n z Th G e c . s friend and brother artist, eorg e e three were brought up and strictly examined the protocol of the case w having come down to us , has thro n much explanatory

r l For light on the obscu e history of their middle ife . the c a count we are now giving we depend on Dr . von Rosen

berg s admirable monograph . They were accused of being eager readers an d disciples of

K and M ii n z er an d arlstadt , of being associated with a

H c Schw er dtfisch demagogue, probably einri h , who actually n de ied the right of the governing body of the city, the

B at h o r z s S , to c nt ol the citi en in religious matter . ebald , i H h as the elder, was first exam ned. e denied aving hi s O h paraded opinions. nly to one companion ad he m r 58 m s u r ns as sas.

his u n s t con fided concl sio s on transub antiation , in which he i A s L had ceased to bel eve . to uther and his writings, he

u . W u co ld not yet arrive at any conviction hen yo ng, he had been persuaded to receive the holy sacrament in the h B ut he had A ugustinian C urch . done it to please ; he

had a had other thoughts in his head , and fe red he had

o The h d ne ill. priest had indeed said or hinted to him t at a deep sentiment was not nece ssary in the recipient of the m him B i s n . acra e t, and he had believed apt sm, he could n eith er praise nor condemn ; there could be nothin g in the application of water . H e again denied having argued or talked t o unsuitable T or various people. hose with whom he had conver sed in l S S t . Sa as a friend y way were the schoolmaster of ebald, g ; his r B G P encz b other arthel ; eorg , a painter ; and V eit ’ G The laser s son . conclusion was that he would be glad to receive instruction and be taught better ; he would his gladly have doubts set at rest .

B d an arthel followe , and also spoke against baptism d '

L S . H e S the ord s upper went further than ebald, and almost denied the absolute perfection of the H oly Scrip H e i tures . admitted hav ng spoken of all these things H e with many people . had heard the pr eacher Osian de r (a greaWt theological orator of the day) a full year and a half. hat preachers say in the pulpit was mer e trifling

. H e all in his experience received no benefit at . As to l l their socia istic tendencies, or po itical views, they

r T i we e both more reticent . hey were questioned as to the r n t havi g said that proper y should be shared equally, and t work too, and that none of the privileged au horities should be obeyed ; but it does not appear what they re B answe d , except that arthel claimed to have on e supreme in God A Ma r authority lmighty , his ke .

60 m x s e nasr s as.

To h but amend, they had t ree days allowed them , they went on in such a heathenish way as had scarcely ever been known before . Opposition seemed to have made them antagonistic ; they denied the right of the govern “ ment over their ideas , a length to which even the school maste r had not venture d an d the three painte rs became so obnoxious to the town smen that their lives were scarcely Th . e s s h h nc safo entence of bani ment was t en pronou ed. It would be interestin g to know how the senten ce was

e w as carried out, wh ther time allowed to realise proper ty

th u M and arrange for e f ture . ost probably not ; they l a wou d have to disappe r at once under escort, with their ’ h M 8 e bald K wives, and leaving t eir pupil , aster irchner s ” son s e his , to find other ma ters , unl ss he or father were

n h of the samo adva ced way of t inking , in which case he S d must have remained with ebal , the elder brother, who t appears to have moved about , because we en irely lose him t m m l sight of for some years, and ul i ately betook hi se f h r l n to Frankfort . Bart el disappea s a so ; i deed we have few data by which to determine the personal histor y of a m that noble artist after this tri l and banish ent . It is almost certain that he went to Italy and there spent some ffi t o years , but in what part and how engaged is di cult N o' conjecturo . eud rfer, who is the earliest authority , B the D Wi B says, arthel painted uke ill am of avaria, who

r him took him into great favou , and who, to advance in

d e f n l the knowle g of his art, de rayed his expe ses trave ling

w he ro st ill oun T in Italy, he died , .y g , in his meagre account is nearly all the dire ct testimony regarding his

m - i 1540 i . move ents , and his age would be th rty e ght in

San drar t n , who is so ofte wrong, appears to be right in c h h the present ase, t ough he gives no aut ority , so that we c d must ac ept his account as a tradition , says he ma e the m s as s “) s e am AND ss am s t. M 61 s BEHA .

n both R m B n journey into Italy, worki g at o e and at olog a ’ ~ M ar c . An ton io under the direction of , for whom he exe outed many plates that unscrupulous master passed 03 as hi T M ’ A B s own . his mention of arc ntonio at ologna has

the R a an authentic aspect , as sack of ome by the rmy of ’ t he st B M A o disfl Con able ourbon , after which arc nt nio appears from Italian history and is said to have los t o J 152 T t 7. every hing, t ok place in une , hat he lived in B P ologna at an earlier date is true , and assavant evidently supposes this journ ey under the auspices of Duke Wi lliam ’ B hi s to have been in arthel s earlier years, as he speaks of return to Germany being proved by his allegorical com e 1525 n s G position dat d , and i cribed in the erman tongue

Der Weltlau E Balde rman n f, and his portrait of rasmus of

iir n be r . N g , with the same date We now know from the trial records that he was estab lishe d his r N iir n be r 152 4 h with b other at g in , and t ese u dates show that he did not ret rn to Italy for a year after .

P u n i San dr axt assavant, purs i g the h nt thrown out by , considers he finds Barthel ’s handling in some of Maro’ ’ - A e Wman ntonio s more delicat prints, particularly in the o

Wate r in a P lan t B g ( , in which , besides , he recognises m B Al the cast of the drapery as in the anner of arthel. so Woman w ith the Tw o S n es B M in the po g ( , and the an ’ wnd Women h ldin B ow ls B o g ( , he finds our hero s N . Ra handiwork one of these are drawn by phael , and may therefore have been made over to a pupil by Marc’ Antonio ; but the supposition is not supported with any thing like the certainty with which we recognise Georg

M assacr e o the I n n c nts Pe n cz as the engraver of the f o e , the

i fir - T i . first plate , the one w th the l ttle tree hat he lived a in Germ ny from time to time we may be certain , every i t one of his own pr nts being circulated there, and rela ed to 62 ' THE u r n s naarane.

contemporary German work ; and we are equally certain of his Italian eXper ie uces by the fact of his death having

taken place there . To H S The return to ans ebald . sentence of banishment fr om Nfir n berg doe s not appear to have been irrevocable in

S ar ticular l s any of their cases , but with ebald p v it mu t

i n have been leniently nterpreted, as he continued con ected

t 1526 for wi h printers there. In he illustrated on wood

t he Bri hea ler H n W book printer and e/ } a s andereisen , a

Dar B abstu m Pa st thum The P a a-C Th called ( p ) p y. is pub lication l S u had a satirica character, and ebald contrib ted

- five l s l — seventy sma l prints , of the dre ses principa ly this printe r in all probability being one of his allies in free

. a a n n ow i thought, and in the agit tion gai st the part ally

r T s n broken autho ity of the priesthood . hese illu tratio s

e - r s are s venty four in number, up ight figures howing the dresses of all the orders and degrees in the Church of

R n ot in - ome, important the art work of the master, but very interesting in relation to their time and in the fact i r m S u of the r ext e e rarity. ebald exec ted these, it is very

an s probable , before the date of the trial , as we c not suppo e, w d b e ho ever leniently treate , that he would allowed to

w t he h return ithin a year to city, where we know t is work

i c mckt z u Naamber da r e}: was pr nted , by the colophon, g

N o B M copy of this little book is in the ritish useum, nor

e i n i P do s any exist perhaps th s country, but rofesser Colvin

has discovered a complete set, wanting the title, in the

’ The Brie fmaler let t r or c rd ain r a ears i n Jost Ammon s , e a p te , pp cu s to the b b fore e fer re d to De Omnibus Mechani stic Artibua in t ook e r , , the act of m ress n or st ncillin a rin Ther thr ai nter s i p i g e g p t. e are ee p re res n d in the se es ofcu s Der Br ie sw ler Der Handmaler w ho p e te ri t , f , , in the ictur n r and B ar h an aia w ho is so a n a p e pai te , G n al p inti g ‘

ic but on a s. p ture, gl s s an SEBA s snau am) m s ] . e u 6 s LD s u s r m. 3

K th e F z l M errick collections at it wi liam useum, at Cam of t bridge. In these figures pries s there is no caricature, l properly speaking , but every one has eight ines below it of B doggerel poe try of a satirical character. In our ritish

M s i i u eum pr nt room , the only record of th s book is a few ’ ‘ Se bald s est A ce pie s having little of character. J mmon h copied the w ole of them, but with such alterations as hi s ow n made them in a way . 8 0 rare were they that h set t eir existence was even a question, which, however, is at rest by their discovery by th e intelligent custodian of E t S z ll a . ou H B the Fit wi i m very has the monogram . At the per iod of the Reformation the number of monks l was very great , not only in Ita y , where they continued in u G multit des till yesterday , but in ermany, where the two

d r B G B ut great or e s of lack and rey were in endless feud . t he f S i number of orders as set orth by ebald is surpris ng . We have the poor brot hert and the rich ones ; the S ’ ' ’ Jose h s St. Je r ome St A S t t . s . u p , , mbrose s (vario s) , . ’ Wi o S H lliam s ; the order of the Cr ss and tar, of umility , V P R l b u t of oluntary overty , of the olls, of the Celestia s m t H the variety of costu e , even when s encilled by ans W i ffi i r andere sen , is not su c ent to make them inte e sting. A bout this time, it may have been, his engraving on

B 64 The Da nati n he 1 . T wood ( . ) m o may have been done

i L h th e R d sputants are ut er and, possibly, omish theologian

Ee k B r e . ehind this last stands bishop and p elat , a muster

L men n of clergy but behind uther are secular and wome , t h We n ow peasan s and ot ers . arrive at a publication which has from the day of its appearance been supposed to indicate a disposition on the part of our painter to avail ms Diir e r in hi elf of the ideas of , whose studio he may have

ce e ab e w as in e Mr i d e l Sin th t . Re s me he has i d ov yp , t l acqu re for the Br t sh Mus um a l e r ion of hes n s i i e arg po t t e pri t . 64 m s I E nasr s L TTL ss .

t i been s ill , occasionally at least, a v sitor, as there exists R some evidence , not however particularised by osenberg, of his being engaged in some business affairs i n the city 528 in 1 .

a on t he 6th A r A D In this ye r, p il , l bert urer died , leaving ready for pu blication his Four B ooks of H u man

P r e r ti n s s po o , an elaborate performance , with endless figure c of the nude, male and female, a companied by scales of i T h J c proport on. his his widow publis ed, having got oa him

Camer ar i us t , who had been connected with the publica ion

The Gr eater F act i n L of o , to write a long atin introduction , E o d had procured a protection from the mper r, dated 14 Au th gust . A Hi u lready it had been rumoured that eronym s, the w oode n r av er S B r g , and ebald eham were p eparing to issue m h i l i a treatise of a so ew at s mi ar kind , embrac ng the pro Camer ar ius Lat portions of the horse , and , in his long in

Diirer the preface , says that had prepared drawings of

proportions of the horse , but that these had been stolen

that the thief was known , or as good as known , but that

A b D iir e r s the worthy man , l ert , would rather bear the lo s

r n and the pain , which we e both considerable, than bri g the

us c A n d r has hi thief to public j ti e . the e been , wit n a year

from the disappearance of these drawings, a little book in h t e German speech which , in a weak and poor way, gave

l m T re rules for this particu ar atte r. herefo will I take no m the ore notice of it . If I have not deceived myself writer has never give n any signs of having been ashamed of l ” himse f . ' This mysteriou s speech of Camerar ius leaves us to su p o H bce n re p se that ieronymus , who had f quently occupied ' D ur e r s s in working out drawing on wood , and possibly S h We ebald, had been the t ieves. shall see that the

66 u r n e ru : x asr sns.

’ t he c i horse, and certainly the uts llustrating it can t be th e

r en A Diir e r reproductions of the drawings p ep d by lbert , whose work on the Propor tions of the Hu m F ig ur e i s redundant in measurements . I n S ha the preface , however, ebald says he s three furth er a Fi works in progress for te ching drawing . rst , one on th e

H uman Fa e be e l to c , which will v ry usefu young peopl e n Fi w es M en an d Wmen seco d, on the g of o and third , on e on t he P r r ties Li n e an d S uar e Are ope of q , ; and all thre e will be printed together when God gives time to the painte r to carry out his good intentions. T c fi hat on the head , which embra es the gure to som e

ri - u extent, is a sort of p mitive drawing book, and was iss ed ’ 15 48 E e n o f lff. i long after , in the year , by Christian g O th s l 1605 there continued to be editions ti l , which was the i n B M s seventh. It is represented the ritish u eum by the

1565 1582 h n the P r o e r editions of and , w ich contai s also p ti n s the H orse so- ealle d s o of , . In this are many cut , t e in t six e n all , reated in the same way as the figures of the T horse already described . hese comprehend old and young s l beads , figures of peasants, but no nude figure , two sku ls, and the head of a lion . ' Th - in z ese art learners books are small si e, must have

n of bee published as pamphlets at a cheap price , the cuts ' H S P . the horse bearing the artist s early monogram . . , and wer e ac companied in the same year by hi s contributing cuts

r : V to books by othe writers the capitals from itruvius, copied from his neat copper engravings of the same for

Vitr u vius Deu ts h Niir n be r J P c , printed at g by ohn etri and followed by eight cuts for another work printed at

F E e n olff 155 1 l rankfort by g , , which wou d appear to have t c been af er his death, which had always been pla ed in

1550. w e sneam) e m u AND BA E e m u 6 RTH L . 7

That he was much inte rested in e ducation and in the tl spread of some knowledge of art , these lit e books show and the neat and precise copper engravings of the capitals

as i and b es of the class c orders of architecture , and of the

. s human head , testify to the same In the ca e of the horse , as we have said , no proportional measurements are c given, but in the human head we find a rule for onstructing

w be it which is at variance with the antique, sho ing that a th e was not in favour of the ideal st ndard , but of natural

r m one, the cranium f o the edge of the upper eyelid to the e u crown of the head , m as ring one and a half the length of

h I n e . t nose , or of the mouth and chin respectively the antique we find the face from the edge of the bone of t he i the e ch n to upper edg of the upper eyelid , to be only equal i to the brow and cranium, wh ch in nature is very rarely

T s - the case . he e drawing books were really insignificant m matters , as we may now say, but in their time were i por

h w e ma the tant, only before leaving t em y say the action of

B ath P r o or tion s the H or se , in regard to the p of , appears to have been entirely under a misunderstan ding ori ginat in g ’ Diir er s h with representatives , who believed that t at great ’ o s r e master s st len sketches were about to be publi hed , or ' d Se bald s publishe , while those given in little book cannot have bee n the same. If Sebald actually was in N iir n be rg at the time of the

n in a publicatio question, he must have st yed but a short '

. San dr ar t s h Niir nber period account is t at he was then in g , but living in such a disreputable manner that the ancient

i to re ci ~ dislike to him broke out aga n , and he had leave p pi t a l T v n te y. hat he did li e in a careless and i dependent way h t t ere can be little doubt, and the tradition mus have ex his c istad on which San dr ar t based a count. In a catalogue &c a the e . r of sketches , , propos to one for copper ng aving r 2 68 m s I E m am L TTL as . ‘

Man and Wman and Death B of the o ( . which the master of tolls and weights (Zoll‘ un d- Waageamt mann ) P B N iir n ber 1618 aul ehaim , of g , had in , there is still found

ri L u Se baldus B insc bed in atin, beca se of this eham was ‘ ejected from the The catalogue is written in G m a c i n L er an , so th t this senten e atin seems to be so B written in deference to the character of eham , but the design in question is not extremely or revoltingly indecen t ’ like t he prints of Marc Antonio that caused his temporary d w Tu an M . W J. . b ishment , or the ra ings of rner , that

m r R m M r . were destroyed by his ad i er uskin , and y friend

N or n m N o G R. . W u , then secretary of the ati nal allery, to which i nstitution the drawings were left ; it is only m T partially and mildly i proper. his extreme statement of P B a l t o if aul ehaim, or the extreme me sure he a ludes , it v un in tel e er took place , shows the severely moral but very Ro li e nt . g views of the age senberg says very truly, so far ’ s d from immorality being evidently in the arti t s min , we

could find a moral lesson i n the design. Death is con stan tly introduced at that period sometimes in a very comic e L i way, but always with a moral int ntion , and the at n

H o M or e ultima linea m um s r . in c iption on the engraving , , assists this idea of Se bald being only guilty of W e

and bad taste . ' 52 9 53 0 The date on this print is 1 . In l he appears

r the F h to have been in Munich , whe e Charles ift was entertained at a grand festival as recorded by Sebastian

A t L s t Franck in his Chronicle . this festival and knech a fights and reviews took place, and many other not ble

The full inscription on the drawi ng is Der Doth hinter 2 men schen und cine m K ndt ro ter uam ieturam S ebaldua n acken ten i , p p q p " te i e he man scri is in the Cabin of Eu B eha m ci vita fw t jectas. T u pt et r i n s Berl n g av g , i .

E E A M 69 HANS sw am) e m u AND B ARTH L B H .

and o n s S t shows, R senberg thi k ebald may be credi ed with the lar ge woodcu t representing this entertain 1 h 1 3 0 A h e 0t J e 5 . ment, dat d un , fter t is he appears

as the draftsman of for tyo on e small designs for the N w T r Dr J Eek e . estament, prepa ed by ohan von , with l M h Oste n dor fer B ha il ustrations on wood by ic ael , e m , t h m B f L. O and e aster . these we may have to speak

again.

H is m o i next appearance is more i p rtant, as mark ng his

F e . h e residence in rankfort, wh re he was now a burgher T R e formation , long in agitation in that city, took permanent

15 3 3 s th shape in , and the impler worship of e new form of h N e religion was by law establis ed . xt year the first B ible i E en olfi t printed there was brought out by Christ an g , wi h

no fewer than eighty - one designs by Sebald skilfully out on T wood . hese were issued as a separate volume also, and edition after edition followed : ten editions being men

R v i R . t oned e . W J . Lofti by osenberg, to which the e T has added another. his seems indeed to have been on e B n s of the greatest favourites among sets of ible pri t , an d to have enjoyed a popularity equal to those of t he

Dan e Death H a c of , by olbein , and perhaps greater th n ’ h m t he r m t at master s ad irable set for sac ed volu e . ’ T r r e - n as i H hese we e e graved , ndeed olbein s were s En h B al o, and the copies appear in our first glis ible , ' Cove r dale s B ible, printed about the same time, but by

s whom , or in what place , are que tions still unsettled . The ' town most probably the birthplace in secr et of Cov er dale s

' B A cute su ible is ntwerp, but the appearance of these g F H ad t e gested rankfort . hey b en indeed printed from the u original blocks, this suggestion wo ld have been important,

t e t n but the habit of ransferring and r cu ti g was so common , that we need not wonder a set of prints passin g t hrough so 70 r un u r n s n asr aas.

m l e any editions shou d travel everywhere , and be reproduc d w w ‘ he re they were less kno n than at home . In the library of the B ritish Museum are two editions B 15 39 as d of these ible designs, one, that of , we ju ge by ’ the title being the same as that in Rosenberg s l ist of M h B m . t at year, although no date is on the ritish useu copy The other title is not that of any of the eleven editions

t —B iblica His mentioned by that wri er. It is as follows

o de ictaz B ibliaclte H ietor ien t ur lich tor ies Ar tifici ei esi nw p . fg

b ld E - S . ur e i et H . . f y . In these books are seventy nine wood

t t of cuts and i le border, eighty, and in one them is the n St P i additio al cut sometimes found , of . aul , mak ng

- One E r eighty one . of these books has nglish verses w itten o are to each cut in an old hand , s me of which rather

c urious. Under the first , for example, which is the

r eation E ve l C of , the commentator manages to indu ge

w s in a ittici m at the expense of the sex.

' ' God ma eth mm o the dus o the arth k t e , And from the man gives woman birth ’ ’ God having man 0 t he dust o the eart h Provides for om n a more n oblc b r th w a i , And out of dust re fined He her m es ak , Wh le Adam slee s a rib li e from him a es i p t k , ' And f that rib forms w oman h o , w o e er since " A cr oked d s osition doth e nce o i p vi .

B u ildin the T w er B abel Under the g of o of , which is

S t. A R vastly like the Castle of ngelo at ome, we have these lines Nimrod by building doth intend ” As hi h as h ave n to ascend g e .

etter r tte n b M A l w i y r . Lottie regarding these woodcuts and ’ o C verdale s B bl in the Athenw um Nov . 18 78 w as foll ed b a i e , , ow y m ny ot her e tters on the sub e c w h ch the l j t, i reader may consult with e advantag .

TH E E m m 72 L I TTL a as .

H e - F was now entered as a guild brother in rankfort, and

ar en tl St . pp y in remunerative practice, living at the ’ L G o eonard s ate of that city, when we are told he t ok a

Wi nschenke - h e , wine shop or tavern , and t at he became associated with objectionable people . It will be remembered

h r t at this and the other asse tion of his , having to quit

iir n be r m i N g on a si ilar accusation , is for the first t me

h M elts Academic reported by this writer, w ose work, , was published 125 years after the death of the artist he

l h hi s h m so ma igns, and t at ot er state ents are exceedingly

We inaccurate . must be slow of accepting the accusation S even in any degree as true . ebald may have speculated

~ m m o in this wine shop, or may have beco e i plicated in s me a way that raised such a report he was erratic and vers tile , and in a certain way chalked out his path in life w hich s him might not please tho e about , but we abstain entirely m l v fro be ie ing that the artist, who a few years before was i L painting the p cture now in the ouvre, for the Cardinal A A M z rchbishop lbrecht of ain , at his own palace, it is i B a supposed , and also illustrat ng the ible in a way th t du c insured the work being re ed year by year, became suddenly a disreputable tavern - keeper ! This libellous statement of San drar t publish e d in 1675

i w mt w as r n r h i was p q , and repeated by Le s e in his C r on k v an F r ank 3m b i r c eschi cht der / , and y K hner in his G e

S tadt Fr an ur t D m B i r a hical kf , and by oppel ayer in his og p N oti es r ti sts of c q , without earlier authority , and no particle ' San drart s evidence was asked for by any one . statement “ e in H e The itself is fals another respect. says, bad character of his house brought him to his end in

r whe eas we know with certainty , by the dates on his prints, the A V and by his portrait in lbertine, ienna, that he worked for five years later than this on some of his finest p a m m 3 H ans sssaw sm art AND mam 13 . 4

u a- Laban/r s c pp engravings, that two of his set of the q/ H 1548 1549 er cules are dated in , and other prints in and

o c 2 2n d N e 1550. that his death t ok pla e on the ovemb r,

The extremely daring views of Sebald made him oh h B noxious to t ese evil reports , but arthel , who is supposed s to have continued his revolutionary creed , doe not appear

c h to have been subjected to su h accusations. T e year after his r his banishment he eng aved twelve of best copperplates,

t he c and suc eeding year a like number, which shows he a R h h d a settled studio somewhere . osenberg t inks the m i r Dr ummer and S tandar d- b ar r in ature p int of a e e , that S 1544 P ’ ebald copied in , was a reminiscence of the easant s

War s A , and that the names appended to the figure , cker

Consz K c z er w elliknow n and los , are the real names of

B u B h men in that struggle . t art el did not lose the favour of the rulers : he engraved the portrait of Chancellor

L Eek M c eonard von , whose good management at uni h enabled the Dukes William and Ludwig to share th e L i government between them peaceably. udw g he also n rav ed g , which of course supposes he first drew or painted i m ’ . eudcir fer the portrait, most l kely fro nature N , indeed, D W B says uke illiam held arthel in high esteem. B ut t he B personal history of arthel , as we said, is lost, and even his residence in Italy durin g the later period of

his life is only conjecture, founded on the style of his

i d r his des gn and won e ful power of drawing of the nude,

ze Fi htin Men so which makes the three frie s of g g , though e z minut in si e, impress us as if they represente d giants . H APTER V I I C .

m s os s a or r u n s aw w s .

change then taking place in German art which is

i r e exhib ted as much in subject as in t eatm nt, com L M t r Al t o in mon to all the ittle as ers afte dorfer, is c mplete ' Be hams difie re nce both the , but with a great between the

u n two . In the younger brother the Italian influence is mistakable ; he is emancipate d from all the ineptitude and l wilfu despising of the graces, the shortness of figure and

coarseness of expression , that we find in those artists who

e s e liv d at home, and never saw the antique then b ing con stantl u c e y nearthed , nor the pi tures of living mast rs then R F S working in ome, lorence , and elsewhere . ome natures are immediate ly modified by contact with such production s ae i n which the sthetic motive overpowers every other, but

ada t ar t Dii rer h . t e German was slow to p foreign , their

r s G m g eatest geniu , the typical erman , carried back fro V enice little love of the milder and richer art he there saw . o m Sebald , unlike his br ther. re ains at home, and we

a l . have in his works, a variety sc rcely to be found e sewhere

H e afiect s x classic subjects one day, and returns the ne t to t he a native elements of pe sant life, which he depicts in a hu o H is e e m ur ist ic . coars , direct, manner twelv designs of n 75 r n s we e k s or w e ce s us .

Lab rer s H er cules the o Qf , although the energy expressed in s i the action of the naked limbs is admirable, how dec dedly his want of acquaintance with , or appreciation of, the long limbs and state ly heroism we find allied with strength in

the highest art. In this respect let us examine the set of allegorical B 12 1 et figures repr esenting the Seven Li ber al Ar ts ( . ’ h w S e These figures s o , it may be presumed, ch ld s idea of

feminine loveliness, but the stoutness of limb, and the

st umpy solidity of the entire persons of the little women , raise an involuntary smile on the face of the most sober s The i fin s ch ob erver . small wings, l ke or flaps, atta ed to i the delto d muscle, adds to their unique character in art, and the thick soft arms and hands employed in the various i eX r ess act ons to p the allegory, add to the completeness of h . At t e the character same time, the fluttering and fanei in n i ful drapery viole t act on , blown about by the wind , t but enveloping figures in repose , does away entirely wi h the sculpturesque charact er any Italian artist of that day r l t eating such figures wou d have desired to give . The earliest attempts at the delin eation of classic thing s

t h w n w s the in the art of the nor , as far as e k o , are ome of — ear lier prints of Lucas of Leyden in the You th blow ing

a Tr um et the The Womcm p , to two dancing children , and i 2 feed ng the Doe (B . 15 which last I am persuaded Lu i D ‘ cas ntended to represent iana. These are both in the n e i tention of the juvenile artist, mphatically classic, and in i n the newest sp rit of the renaissa ce , but it is impossible to d n i give the rea er a full se se of the r absurdity as such.

Wfi s t ~ e nd at th r od amon he ainter en raver a re a i pe i g p g , a p v iling dis os t on to borrow sub ects from e ach ot h r Jacob p i i j e . Walch has A ll and D an Diirer f low s an d h s r t b Lucas l thi po o i a, ol , t i p in y , nk , is als D o a iana. 6 m s E m ama 7 LITTL s .

‘ The v u a o o aborti e nat r lism of the nude forms , and the l g

r n t he h b io s ugliness of c ildren , render the intention truly s th comic. It would be intere ting to know how soon e

a the trade in c sts from antique began , or at what time

cO ies t m reduced p of s atues were ade and vended . V er rochio is said to have origi nated the habit of casting

r m f o the life , or from the dead face for posthumous busts but t he originator of a trade in reproductions of either full s m r ize or in small , of casts from the antique a bles, has, I m . n L fear, not been recorded by fa e Certai ly ucas had seen nothing of ancient sculpt ure when he designed these S hi plates, nor do I think could ebald when he produced s

r the S even Lib r al Ar ts sturdy young ladies to rep esent e .

Th n e ese are u dat d, but other prints of similar subjects, h or subjects from myt ology, which we certainly know to be ff done in his last year or two, show very di erent propor

d he . Leda an t S w an B tions of the human figure ( .

in 15 48 i n r for example, done , is perfect power of d awing.

The e m The Da s the Week w i th the ir v ry s all series, y of

P lanets B . 113 ( which are not so late in execution ,

d r e nt r are also very ifie in style of figu e . Here we fin d

S e t c aturn repr sented wi h a crut h under the left knee, an inexplicable peculiarity common to all early German fig ures

J e Ju ider of that ancient god , and upit r ( p ) as a beardless u warrior in helmet and c irass . Of h all his myt ological subjects , the series of twelve , a b s H B 96 the L ow r of er cules ( . are per haps the most

T e accomplished . hese show very high pow rs of design

m t in and co position, wi h command over the nude action , united however to something of the peculiar shortness of

u in Lib r al Ar ts the stat re observable the e , so that muscular

E n u god looks like a powerful dwarf or gnome . ntirely ltalian the k r , and not least li e the antique in spi it, these , m s w oas s or r u n B EB AMS . 77

Alde re v e r d n as well as others by g , are excee i gly piquant i n c and nteresting , giving an e tirely distin t and novel , or h rat er we should say , foreign , interpretation of the now stale antique fables ; the early Ger man earn estness and even ferocity being grafted on the ideal of the semi allegorical originals ; and this combined with a manifest ignoran ce of the origin al accounts of the fabulous actions

B ut r portrayed . this ve y ignorance adds to the charm t here is scarcely anything so destr uctive of good art as

n S - learni g . ebald was emancipated from the hide bound ,

n h barre correctness of the sc oolmaster, and we feel ,

m is m i h . exa in ng prints, e ancipated too Passing from these to the class of designs illustra ting t he f the the m r to S li e of day, no doubt ost inte esting ebald , al t hough the spirit of the age requir ed him to treat alle ' r h difi ere n t in go y and myt ology, we have a quite field of v en tion T illa Fair The H hz eit or M err ma in The . he V k ge , oc y/ g, ’ P easan t s Weddin The M ar ket M an and Woman The Months g, , r e r esen ted b P easan ts p y , are all portrayed admirably, and

h c s wit a oar e gusto, thoroughly appreciated by the people . We shall find The M ar r iag e P r ocession a favou rite subject ' th A lde r e v er leddin Guests g , his large set of l g , as they ’ l 153 8 H Se bald s m are cal ed , is dated ; ans s all set, called

B the M ar c/w dcs Non veaua: M ar iés de Villa e by artsch g , is h without date , so t at we do not know which was first, but t he difference in the social class represente d make s the ' r Sebald s o iginality of one or other of little importance . — i t B. 178 8 5 B auer B acter i a te i pr n s ( ) shows the and , s pp ng n out in a hilarious ma ner, preceded by the bagpipe and h . a n orn In e ch pri t we have a pair, every man holding h is female companion by the japan or round the waist ; only the first represents the musicians an d the las t the s T bride herself, between her hu band and father . hese must 78 r un u r ns mam as . have remai ne d public favourites for a lon g time ; a Flemi s h b u s 1596 i g in my po session , dated , hav ng them modelled Th in relief round the body of the vessel . e festive groups msan ts endin i n fi are also p , uproarious , and at last g a ght,

i t s the usual finish to all drink ng fes ivals, in which sword

ar e l e o H aust da mick and sticks free y us d, the mott being , i i h di k I 1 B so st k c c A s t . c , you strike me s ab you (

t s . O hers, again , are gentle and plea ing In one a very r c simple pretty girl is int odu ed to an elderly villager, who

o s i m o B ans Se bal B eh am. e oax o L . y H d has been sitting with a number of ot hers eating and drink The i the ofi ing . old boy r ses from table and takes his On a ' ban der ole hat to the approaching group. above are "“ da mi t Old the words Alder Du must m , one, you must l M nt B dance I His Tw e ve o hs of the Yale ( . 15 4 are i T r se very character stic also . hey are epre nted by twelve all pairs of peasants , capering and dancing forward , over E each being the supposed name of the male dancer. ach little print represents two pairs : thus the first has

80 m s u r n s m ama s .

Du u altogether like that of rer , the genius s rrounded by all

m s i h e the i plements of c ence and labour, being, owever, treat d as a nymph of the peculiarly sturdy proportions of those

re i Liber al Ar ts Th rep sent ng the already noticed . e reader may perhaps recollect that a certain class of critics who could not see why the over - worked genius of science and ” h M u h labour s ould be called elancholy, took ref ge in t e fanciful interpretation of t he figure expressing the number

t r m Me len cholie Dii re r one af e the na e ( having, no t o follow doubt, intended the engraving with others as com T m a M panions . hey found it to e n elancholy, begone l the I being the imperative of the Latin verb so ! This S e u print by ebald d stroys their fancif l notion , there being ” n m s M elench olie s elt nothi g after the na e, but imply , p as ’ ii re r s r s in D la ger de ign . At an d this time, for many years before , while copper

s r a u engraving was con ide ed, and very properly, a mini t re i art , capable of the most amaz ng fineness and detail , as for ’ ex ample in Sche ld s truly wonderful Coat ofAr ms w ith tile

ck B - t Co ( . wood engraving, on the con rary, was e a M h properly employ d on a large sc le . any blocks (t e i cu t wood be ng with the fibre , in plank) were put together Th K to make one composi tion . e aiser Maximilian was

- Diire r i T fond of wood engraving , and des gned for him he

ate T wm h 92 i h G qf r i p , on large blocks , which , jo ned toget er made one pi cture 11 feet 3 inches by 10 feet wide ! Then

fl u m ha l har i t 8 s he had a T p C o on blocks , and a proces ion 120 h e t m B with thousands of figures, on s e s or ore , by urk

maie r u c g , altogether a st pendous pi torial undertaking, which perhaps was never once put together . In fact the m S B emperor died before it was co pleted . ebald eham a i n B executed m ny small des g s on wood for the ible, but

u a n he also took p the ide of prodigious dime sions, and

as 8 2 m e r t s m s. produced a number of prints on several sheets joined 0

n e Milita Fate in hon ur ha r l s V. O of these is the ry o ofC e , e B alr ady mentioned ( . on which , however, his mono A e gram does not appear. nother, much more int resting, is

The F owntwin Y u th B e . of o ( . n arly four feet long This splendid desig n represents a colonnade i n renais

n sance taste and a grand fountai , with a vast bason full to

i n i the br m , in which you g men and women d sport them selves, some sitting under the columns with goblets of

c s m w r wine and musi al in tru ents, others thro ing the wate of life over each other ; while at the far e n d old decrepit

people, singly or in pairs, are carried to the brink to be

th e thrown into rejuvenating stream . Neither Bartsch nor Passavant afior d a hint as to the

i Was me dieev al l Did orig n of this beautiful myth . it it

b l c N e w A E e ong to the cy le of the tlantis , the arthly Paradise ! I mistook my way in looking for it among ' G r R Littl dale F F . e e M D . . sts and abliaux . y friend v all sol ed the mystery for me ; it is not an old fable at , E a nor even a urope n tradition . It was a story brought home from the Caribbean Sea by the mariners then follow

in e w The g out the discoveries in the N World . natives of Puerto Rico made the Spaniards understand that on

B n B island named imi i , one of the ahamas, was a fountain

'

W e ofH 8. B e M G. i to on . . r. Re d has e d s e r atin . mad a i cov ry el g ' s aller w d u Numb r 163 in Bartech s s is descr b d b that m oo c ts. e li t i e y auth r t as A man cloth d in Ge ma fash on ear n l r e flat o i y e r n i , w i g a a g man hat a in on s c es of be en de v iola. But th s n tle , pl y g a pe i i ge , th int is nl he c . an 20 are on e r th u h t her H S . P. d da e 15 o g yp , t , p , o y

the h lf of e sub c the other half be n l d to hom he la s. a th je t, i g a a y w p y The n r n has b en done on tw o ieces of w d hich ha e ee e» e g avi g e p oo , w v p rate d at an mrl im so th t all the im r ssi ns e st n x ce t , y t e, a p e o xi i g, e p one or w w but half the sub ect t o, sho j .

8 4 m s E mam a LITTL s.

su argument , would have had great value as we cannot p B a port such a theory, we must suppose his brother rthel to have brought home sketches which remained with

T B hat arthel studied the greatest of the Italian masters,

h t w r s The and in t eir greates o ks , seem certain . three fr iezes representing fighting to the death of naked — ’ gladiators Combo“ d H ommes n ude they are called by B c B 16 1 18 — . 7 one arts h ( , , ) of them however having the name Titus Gr acchus on the banderole on the background ar e so grandly and nobly drawn , as to be worthy of a place among the masterpieces of European art in that age

the i s the the h ghe t of development of painting, when Sistine an d the Stan ce in the Vatican were both receiving fr om the hands of Michelangelo and Raphael the works

that have never since been approached. ’ Of B arthel s other works on copper we need not

e H is r h r m sp ak at length . b ot er, p obably, indeed al ost ’ ! n as M r L t certai ly, seen by . oftie s dated Ca alogue, after ’ B t arthel s death , copies no fewer than fif een of his works , showing the high este em in which they were held both by th e i B h the copyist and publ c. y t ese copies we know them

s n e w O ne be t, the originals being so rare . of these is

Adam and E ve B r Our ( . t eated in a mystical spirit . first par e n ts stand on either side of the Tree of Know w m D th w ho ledge, and bet een the is ea , is indeed the stem t h Th of e tree itself,and is bound about by the serpent. e

B u an effect of this mystical invention is startling . t addi ' t ional touch of mysticism bafiles one s powers of inter A m h pretation. da , w ose figure is very quiescent, receives

Catalo ue o the o e n - s a hin : o ha g f C pp r E grati ng nd Etc g fH . S . Be m,

L nd n Noseda 18 7 o o , 7. TH E WORKS OF TH E B EHANS .

a t the apple in his left hand, be c use his righ , suspended by fl i his side , holds a am ng sword 1

Ta : E m e r t m r l h i a Lt Wuw ow B Ba the Be am. . y

A of i e nother print the h ghest ord r, in beauty of design , c d o The Vir in at the Wind w is alle , by commentat rs, g o 8 6 "m s E MAS E S LITTL T R .

B . I u u Th ( a name which think q ite gratuito s . e

m n l s female suckling a child is a ifestly a ady, an d the hou e

s She e in which she lives is a man ion . is seat d on a settle in the embrasure of a great win dow the view out shows

t he w i n us that house is in a to n , and the chamber which she is c A site is furn hed ri hly . pot of flowers stands on

she d the table, but in it is not the lily ; has a veil rawn he r s t close over face , but no nimbu , nor is there any o her

r sign of the sac ed drama of the evangelists. In technical manipulation it is as perfec t as it is beautiful and dl unafiecte y natural in design .

Barthel left no wood - engravin g s but to return for a

n t nw s S d t he few se e to those by ebal , we find profound i i D K though myst c ident fication of eath with nowledge,

m r o l before re a ked, borr wed, and reproduced by the e der

th s his e Ten P atri ar h : berther, in e fir t of s ries of the c

hildr en A E ve w ith their Wives and C . dam and stand Tr De under the foliage of the ee, and ath , whose bony m d h frame is twisted in with the ste , stan s between t em ,

on l with a hand the shou der of each. ’ Sebald s other large wood engravings are two marauding

i n ea i l n e parties of rreg ular soldiers, y five feet lo g ach .

I n B D h h one ( . we see eat , t at popular actor on

' the art stage of that day, bringing up the rear of the lawless rout. ' Schald s can The entire number of works, as near as be a r sce tained , is as follows

' - -I n al n an é Oil paintings very few . the S o C of the Louvre is a work i n compartments representing the history n D T i m Mains of Ki g avid . his was carr ed away fro . It was or iginally a table top painted for the Cardinal Arch bishop. B t n n In erlin is ano her oil pai ti g in compartments,

H APTER V I I I C .

H E IN B ICH ALD EG RE VE R.

F all the artists treated of or mentioned by our much d H R a mired and valued authority, err osenberg, the one i Alde r e ver receiv ng the smallest measure of justice is g , the who is really, in point of ability , the greatest of all L M e B B ittle ast rs . arthel eham is his equal in power of B a drawing , but dying so young arthel left the st ge before his work was done , and as said before we lose sig ht of him for a considerable number of years out of his short career . H ans Sebald was too much occupied with whatever came

h i his in his way t at prom sed to be remunerative, to allow talents undivided action his drawin g books are worth B little, and his ible woodcuts and others are of little mo ment his technical dexterity with the graver remains as l Al have w en his most valuab e quality . tdorfer we , to be

i n the e deficient highest attribut s of art, the human figure l G P e being frequent y above his powers . eorg enc left the

r c m n fathe land and subje ted hi self to Italian i fluence, both i n in n hi B r osame r an d manipulation and his i vention , w le

Jacob B in ck are of comparatively little consequence . n e mai n c u n r e as vs a. 89

Aldegre ve r of all the seven is the most worthy successor A r Diir er a to lbe t and is the gre test master of invention , with the truest Ge rman traditions of sentiment and o fi romance , as well as the most pr li c ornamentist. H e remains all his life skilfully advancing in the command of

his to . L graver, which he remains true ike Lucas of Le i i yden , he l ves a secluded life, and his min ature prints continue to issue from his hands wit h more an d more

an in de e nden ce h richness d p of poetic t ought, until we lose i r sight of him, dy ng whe e he had lived , in the small town S h an to r of oest, wit out y writer reco d the particulars of l his modest ife.

R r i n osenbe g quest ons his powers of drawi g, and implies that his command over the naked human figur e was not adequate to express his ideas ; but the mastery of his action in Labowrs H er ules t he some of the of c , and beauty of his

o e P r amus nd female cont urs in th se, as well as in his y a i Tti sbe B F r tun B . ( . o e ( and many others, are altogether su perior to the vulgar n aturalis m of some of H is r his contemporaries . child en also, are equally dis t in uish d g e by perfect form , and with quaintness that gives Dan B m h W The . t he a peculiar native c arm. itness ce ( r m R Th partially derived it must be owned f o aphael, e

Al habet B . p ( . and many others ’ B ut Aldegre v er s greatest pow er lies in invention ; in t s am i c an d hi he had no s ple in giv ng his fan y full play, in the whole circle of art I question whethe r any master ' the r eatest ai will be found, even among g p nters, whose works afior d a wider ran ge of original and characteristic s u thought, or who realises more vividly the scene he nder

e l t i takes to depict. Wshal illus rate this maginative force o in a future page by describing s me of his designs, but at pre sent let me refer to the last of his Susanna series 90 m s I E ma L TTL m as .

30 ( B. where the two unhappy elders are ston ed to

T u death. hey are both tied to a col mn by the hands o v er

an d is o their heads, the right foot which lifted fr m the

r c e On e ground by the p attaching them to the column . of a th them has fallen and h ngs by one hand , while e brutal

ea Th executioners are aiming at his h d . is design is one of t he most painful representations of on e of the most savage punishments ever awarded by the laws of an Oriental people ; and the contrast between this , the last of the

S in series, and the fair usanna in the bath the first, shows v i el great mastery o er the dramat c ements of his art .

Our H r R r r authority, e r osenbe g, mo eover, although giving Aldegr e ve r the praise of carryin g out the Diire r

G e e him Lu traditions of erman art, d riv s from cas of L he eyden , and considers that not only was never under ' Diir er s N iir n be r tuition, but never even in g ; by this means isolating him from the coterie that grew up in the Franc J W h w onian town , where acob alch had s o n the way, and

A ur B ur k maie r where the neighbourhood of ugsb g, with g

m to the and many others, made an at osphere so beneficial r K M A rising gene ation. arl van ander reports that lde grever painte d two wings for an altan piece in a church in

N iir n be r t he n him g , but this is only circumstance co necting h lbok with t at city, so that we must for evidence of his

i i n s i having l ved there his work , the execut on of which resembles that of Diire r and of Sebald B eham much more

L a L e n A t h r closely than uc s of eyd . an early period t e e existed something that has been called a School of Painting W l not t h in estpha ia, which could , however, be dis inguis ed

the Sch o As m h from ool of C logne . ti e went on , the arc aic G and othic manner was gradually relaxed, but the art of Aldegr ev er can only have come out of that of the S h i n Cologne c ool, by leaving it ent rely, and followi g the

02 TH E L ITTLE nasr s as .

Alde r e v er t he his foreign freedom and purity, g , to end of l h l ife, retained the northern c aracter, and indu ged more . i n the biz am r ie and grotesque invention peculiar to the north . H Alde re v er 1502 enrich g was born in , as we learn by

r s The the inscriptions on his own port aits by him elf. first

153 0 s Alde r e ver s hec of these prints is dated , and in cribed g

‘ ' est p raesens picton s imago Hei m ci p r ep r iw qn am gen u er e

a i I ] h s man na An n a sue ast t s XX VI . T e e . cond is dated

lde r 153 7 b Ima H en r ici A ever s S uz atien . , and inscri ed , go g ,

An n a E tat ifs ue XXX Th S u ction S um tiensi s s V. is term , or , Rosenberg considers to imply that he was a burgher of

r h Thi So his . est, as well as having been bo n t ere s ancient same s r M t town is about tho di tance f om uns er, the strong of D n ow re hold the Baptists , and from usseldorf, a cent of h artistic activity, but t en a place of little consequence. H is H e di fer e nt father was erman , who app ars under t . names ; the old docu mentary form of t he family name

i Al G i m on be ng de rave, which our artist h mself e ploys one

D v s L z t Tri e n mecker of the i e and a arus subjec s, and also pp ,

e m e h is which s e s to hav appertained to trade, maker of

Re n H r fin d n wooden shoes. gardi g e man , we an interesti g

n t he R f m had S r record relati g to e or ation , which p ead into

W h r estphalia, but which was opposed by the aut o ities of S 153 2 e oest. In , when our artist was consequ ntly thirty

s his M n an d N u n years of age, and had already i sued o k B 17 t he m d ( . a severe satire on i morality of the or ers, i L m m in wh ch a andsknecht, or ar ed yeo an , comes upon — th e two by accident at the edge of a wood sixteen

r n P burghers of the neighbou i g town or city of aderborn, l who had taken up the new evange ical views on religion ,

r m t h to ri d we e apprehended and a c ed their t al in a bo y, H h s d w hen erman, i hair and hear d alrea y grey, and lame ‘ 93 n s rsn i ca i mm e n s e .

i m stafi o in one foot, support ng hi self with a , pressed thr ugh w t t he cro d , calling out tha he too was one of the new

‘ i n i m faith, and would share the r punish ent even to the . H e led death. was laid hold of and off with the rest, and “ ” was only redeemed by the loss of much money. A second record in connection with this town of Pader

r bo n still exists , which has raised the question whether or H not the family of our artist, and even enry himself, did

to Pa S . not belong derborn , and only to oest by adoption Th e authorities of t he latt er place are found addressing a h manifesto to t ose of the former, desiring that the pro

h z perty left t ere by a citi en lately deceased, an ancestor of

H . enry the painter, should be given up to him as heir n i The Th o . is pr perty co s sted of gold , clothes , and jewels

c m h u mention of this last arti le is so ew at pec liar, and may

was m suggest that the ancestor a goldsmith, the presu ption

our e being that artist was educat d to that calling, the most

in i fruitful of all the product on of painters, whether in i n G Italy or ermany . This supposition receives great probability from the fact w h that , as far as we kno , he could not ave been brought h e up directly as an artist in t is place, and his arliest dated ’ prin ts ar e ornaments evidently designed for goldsmiths Th . i work is class of designs, moreover, had all his l fe

t n r the greatest at ractio to him , about a hund ed elaborate miniature engravings of ornaments being found from his h h and , no less t an sixteen of these being designs for the h chased sheaths of daggers, t en so fashionable, worn h hanging wit immensely heavy tassels at the girdle . he a m If was not actu lly a golds ith, he was in some . c r H n r ich degree connected with su h wo k, as we find y " ' A lde rave to [Ch ai s e/zen m li cation - me ister g , sends the pp , two D Wl seals for the uke i liam of Cleves, with the bills of m s e ' ns m ama 94 r s .

' t t - fiv e the D costs for hir y thalers, with uke s reply, ordering a w h n the sum to be paid . In an ge e there were no invest i ments for money, literally none , except lend ng it either to

m n the govern e t or to private persons, neither of which r resources were generally available, the ordinary plans we e i to keep gold co n secreted , or to place it in valuables of a small compass and easily av ilable, and the goldsmith was h he The much more important person t an is now . designs indulged i n by all the painter - eng ravers from M H h how h Israel van echen to olbein, s ow muc the orna mentation of gold and silver work was este emed Alde ' a m t grever designs are a ong the mos beautiful existing,

a e i his the p rticular broad l af being a dist nctive , not of m the G m work only, but com on to whole er an school of

z ut bi ar r e an d - d that period , b the semi poetic intro uction of i e e e the R Cup ds and monst rs, l av s aphaelesque panelling and all other Italian covering ornament entirely out of court.

The Alde r e v e r s the r r é ‘ime bias of g again t old cle ical g , expressed i n the rather indecent sati r e of t he Mon]: an d

NW 9. c him u h s , subject twi e treated by , is f rt er expres ed by the emblematic figure of P r ide in his series of the

S V e B . 124 c even ic s ( riding on a careering harger,

t he being decorated by the papal tiara, and by portraits of

L h Me lan cthon be 1540 P ut er and engraved in . reviously h d to t ese being done, he had been pointe out by a busy R m h H body of the o is party, called averland , who, how m D ever, went by the popular na e of aniel , who printed a violent pamphlets gainst innovators . In one of these he “ i n i says a knowing one the soc ety of the preachers, is

H im dc M eier H ( enry the painter) , one who has been ” alled L h c into the cohorts of the ut erans . In another i A Dialo ue writ ng entitled g , which deals with the shameful

96 m s u rn s m a am s. any historical portrait more interesting than that of the

u John Le den s gorgeo sly sceptred and attired of y , expre s u ia m ing , as it does , the l rid enthus s and cruel vanity of A this son of nak . The i silver thaler, coined by this s mulacrum of royalty, Alde r e v e r m was designed by g , which co mission indeed may have b rought him into the presence of John and another record of this wild episode in history was left by him in t he h hi shape of a drawing , whic was engraved t rty or forty V r S years later by i gil olis , representing the daily life, the

in m n M n life co mo , of the sect. arriage was do e away w h hi a ith , and ere we see men and women and c ldren , n ked

n n and not ashamed , the moral se se se t to sleep by an

m e the an d ' si ttin i aginary principle, lying tog ther on floor, g on The w n h side by side benches . dra i g and style of t ese

u s h fig re is grandiose and noble, there is no touc of carica the w e o ture in design , yet cannot suppose this rec rd of the life practised by these en thusiasts to have been made

u l th e c mm n by one act a ly enrolled in o u ity . ’ We have described the peasants Wedding P r ocession by

S B Th so ebald eham. is subject was great a favourite with Aldegr ever that he executed three sets of such m ve z groups, two of the ry minute in si e, and eight in

i n success on the third larger, the figures bei g about four

h an d T inches igh, the set counting twelve. hese last were

i n 153 8 the l finished , and are most exce lent authorities for Th pat rician costume of the day. e first in the series which we must su ppose represents the procession con m m ducting ho e the bride and bridegroo in the evening, though the completion of light and shade necessary to show ff w as a night e ect had not yet been mastered, or not thought necessary by the art ist nor can we say which of the pairs

l - u of tall , we l cond cted , and noble people is really the

WEDDIN E G GU STS .

B r M ad am F EM I CH ALDEGB EVEB . taking the large and copper engravings the miniature siz e l and other sets fo lowed. B ut of all the triumphs of Aldegr ever in the art of ti elabora ng with the graver his original designs , that of depi cting a story in a succession of tableaux was his an d him t Th . e greatest, evidently gave mos enjoyment stories of the earlier books of the Old Testament were his s favourite subjects, and the e he treated with the greatest

The Amn n ca d Tamar m t h freedom . history of o , fro e S B S n ta bleaux econd ook of amuel , in . seve the histories

Lot S u san n a J se h Adam and ve of , of , of o p , and of E , the e last in six, the others in four, scenes, all app ar amon g his B e t he N finest works . esides thes , two from e w Testa ment exceed all the others in masterly conception : thes e

The G d Samar itan are oo in four, and the history of Di ves d an Laz ar us in five pictures . The of last named is perhaps the richest all , and is i A t h certainly the most imag native . s such it may be e b est to describe, so that the reader who may never have s een any of these pictorial narratives may carry away some idea of the extraordinary power of invention they exhibit. lst D . ives and his friends, ladies and gentlemen , are enjoying an orgie al fr esco ; wines and fruit on the table i D e under a pergola, w th waiters and musicians. iv s , a hi t great lord in the then fas onable cos ume , of course, covered by a small barre tte with a feather in it on the a side of his head, addresses himself to his neighbour t B ut the table , a young lady, presumably his leman. the leadin g impression left by this design is the exhaustion r i n d Th and bodily deterio at o of the life here epicted. e

- e on bot h . in physician and the barb r surge are attendance . The r f is h he fi st o these distinguis ed, as always is in the s 2 100 m s m m MASTERS .

e si n s fift enth and xtee th centurie , by his action , examining

t the in a glass bot le , held against light, the liquid which was then considered by its colour or density to indicate all the diseas es originating in the digestive organs . In ' H H Dan ce D eath ans olbein s of , for example, the physician “ w M edi cs wr u ta is depicted , with the motto, ho ever, , c ” i am m , as receiving a patient , an old man leaning on h m y a stick, introduced by the unw oleso e atroph who in dances throughout the whole set of pictures, holding

- filled his hand this half bottle . In the background of ’ Alde r ev er s m h g print the doctor exa ines t is bottle, but

- c n the barber surgeon is in the front, a tually relievi g by bleeding a lady w ho seems to have collapsed from over

k - h indulgence, while another sits na edly in a great tub bat an d o A smiles at the spectat r l male guest, sitting at the e table, also nearly naked , as if he had just em rged from a

the h - bath , having still bat ing cap covering his hair, ex

hibits . z z a what is at first sight a very pu ling peculi rity, e c small excr s ences, in the shape of little vessels, sticking

o . At r E to his b dy this time, all ove urope, blood letting , i the u i n the either d rect by lancet, or by c pp g , was com ’ H m SchO er s De Omn ibu s monest of treatments. In art ann p

Ar tibus da u , m, mentioned before , which is a book of c rious tu A all in pic res, by Jost mmon , of the trades and call gs

h i th e t - t n t en pract sed, we have ba h mas er depicted treati g w t w o r a whole family, husband, ife , and infant child en , h e t e . all , as well as operator, n arly in a state of nature O n the shoulders of the woman are two of these cups , while the barber- surgeon is fixing a similar pair on the t he e shoulders of the man . In season of spring ev ry

E u h body in rope went throug this bleeding process, and here we see from Aldegr ev er that it must have been i r i pract sed as a relief from excess in eating and d ink ng.

102 m s e ' ns msr sas r .

Outside w e catch a glimpse of a fun eral going on its way L z D i a arus and ives depart th s life together. The 4th . T . he supernatural prevails scaly demon , with ' his t associa es , monstrously misshapen giants, with eagles H feet, the chest and arms of ercules, and face compounded of in crocodile and wild boar, yet retain g the power of

i l di in expressing human emot ons of an evi kind , are g g u t o D T a hole in a b rning moun ain for the s ul of ives. hey h l h u are doing this with great glee , w ile; ha ed t ro gh the l — m h air, the sti l living now im ortal , we should rat er say rich man appears naked in the grasp of a cr owd of n i m The i mo strously m sshapen e issaries of hell . pecul ar G t delight characteristic of erman genius, in roman ic diabler ie w i r , bursts out in this design ith incred ble powe . This kind of invention is displayed in both German and

D i n utch art from a very early time , and the earl est e gravers and draftsmen on wood made such subjects as ’ St A h m of . nthony s temptations the t e es for endless play t he m i h imagination in this field, co pared to wh c we are ashamed of the puerilities of Der F r eiscbmz and ot her similar diabolisnw on the stage .

D d i h n Fifth and last . ives is fixe in th s ole in the bur in u d him g rocky mountain , g ar ed by a fiend who lards

e has with some molt n liquid, while on a cloud that de

to l c scended close the earth , a c oud garnished with herubs, F A an d sits ather braham , noble, ancient ; partly standing , ’ n r h L z a partly sitti g on the pat iarc s knee, is a rus, now r e

uv n ated a n j e and be utiful to behold , a you g man of twen ty e h five , possessed by a ser nity that not ing u n his looks p at them and poi ts to mouth, as if praying for a drop of cold water ; but it seems from t he passivity of expression of the glorified group as if they could not him so near l even see , although u s xs axca ALDEGB EVEB . 103

Is not this series of mimatur e pr i nts a great production ! R hi A picture by aphael is a fair t ng and a lovable, though l r but r i a little commonp ace gene ally, these are a t ag c h r h We drama of the hig est orde of thoug t . refrain from speaking of them from the e sthetic point of vie w but in

° h e n that, in t eir dexterous xcellence and e dless ability as l h h e fine art, ies t eir hig est value ; only the r ader would require to kn ow them as well as the write r to make our criticism interesting to him.

The - Alde r ever oil pictures by g are very few, and they u h want s avity and ric ness , being hard and dry, with a

- t he P leathery brown tint on the skin . In gallery at rague 152 9 is an authentic picture , with the date , representing the c Chris t sitting on the side of grave, rowned with the me n his . In painti g, portraiture was best side ; but k a only four are nown with cert inty to be from his hand , be oun the best being reported to that , of a y g man with

c i n Th a bla k cap on his head and a p k in his hand . is

1540 t he Le ichte nste in G is dated , and is in allery, in

V P kili van Wald . B s cclc ienna In re lau is a portrait of p , i n B r eslau 153 5 in t he B M , ; and runswick useum is

M a dalene Wit ti 1541. The is B ar e g g , remaining one g micstcr son Len m the B er l M l p , in in useum , in a b ack u b h f rred mantle and arrette, leaning his left and on a k s ull .

A hi s u h i i t ar e h ls lthough a t ent c p c ures so few, t ose fa ely ' h m r A i attributed to him are rat er nu e ous . mong the p c Mr S to t h N tures left by . hepperdson e ational Gallery is a r uc x n his m i h n o on e e C ifi io bearing na e , wh c acquaint d with

i i ch Mr B u ne w his prints can bel eve in , and wh . rton has

the l m the m placed in ga lery, for the first ti e, without na e ’ B H u M 8 18 79 and at the sale of aron eath s pict res, arch , , an oil painting of John ofLeyden brought 461 but in no 104 TH E I E MAS ERS L TTL T . case do w e know of an y of the painter - grav ers having made an elaborate pictu r e of a subject they ex ecute d with the

r bu in . Passavant has found thr e e engr avin gs on wood by Alde

e e on e of hem e n r t a of Du ke William o gr v r, t b i g a po r it f

eves B ut th a of his e w as n n ra n Cl . e l bour lif give to e g vi g his ow n esi s on o e the n m e of h se most d gn c pp r ; u b r t e ,

an d ar e fi s e a n Passe. admirably c fully ni h d , mounti g, with ’ a s a o s t o 296 s be s er e s ffi v nt few dditi n , , mu t con id d u cient for - tw o a s i h he s s his s the thirty ye r dur ng w ich ign work .

H e is su ose n ot t r a t o a e e in pp d, but wi h ce t inty, h v di d

1558 t he a e offift - six , at g y .

106 s e r m MAS E S m T R .

s and to drop, a he appears from time to time receives em h Hi s him ployment from t e city . banishment deprived

his iz - him m e of cit en right, and exonerated fro all duti s a d t Th snfi e r tow r s the ci y. is he did not quietly, but a petitioned next ye r for mitigation of his sentence, and

e t i n W r m was permitt d to set le indsheim , a place p esu ably i t t ' I w thin he jurisdic ion of the city , which, however, can

ma not find on any p. In a few years he did return , but i in 153 2 h at what date s not certain , perhaps , by whic time Nii r n ber g w as al together P rotestant by law. B r i s l efo e the tr al for here y, or rather for unbe ief, when

P en cz a i e e expressed his ration lism w th det rmin d bravery, we find him employed to restore the pictures done in 13 40 G f by ra f, one of the earlies t recorded jobs in this line, and we have no doubt worked out with the same result that — has followed the process to the present day the substitu tion of the style of the restorer for that of the original T 152 1 152 6 work . his was so early as , and in he appears

N ii r nbe r s S to have been in g again , as ociated with ebald ix m Beham . S years later he had an appointment fro the

Bath d i ar t , so that he coul aid w th his in drawing, paint ” in r T i g, and measuring, whenever requi ed . his appo ntment Rat hsmaler of was not very lucrative , as we find he is allowed for his “ needs that have been pointed out the

em ahr lzelt yearly or j g of ten gulden , but for each com

ad For t b r . mission he a specific remune ation ins ance, in

153 8 l i r l , for gi d ng the bo ders (framing ) of the great i u apostle p ct res, most likely the two pictures now in the

Pi nacothec M A Diir er v , unich , by lbert , he recei ed fifteen

. He astle Ghen t gulden also executes a view of the C of , n for which he receives one gulde .

T P e hese accidental notices of enc , from the archives of

s l the city, are curious in them e ves and interesting in relation BY HIS BB E’ ' JOSEPH SOLD I HREN.

B r Grotto Par a . 108 m s E men LITTL us. to our s arti t, who does not appear to have given much e t 153 0 att ntion to engraving ill at the earliest. The dates fe w 153 5 on his works are , but , if we mistake not, is the fi B rst. y this date he must have resided in Italy for a length of time, and probably visited that co untry for the s 9 econd . tim , returning but lately . This question of his visit or visits to Italy is one of i fi unusual mportance, from the con dence with which one of the most perfect critics in the art has asserte d his belief that one of the very finest and most important engravings ’ M A P e P of arc ntonio is by the hand of enc . assavant,

u P ei ntr - Gr av ur s : Pen cz in the fo rth volume of the e e , ays made the journey to where he frequen te d the school of ’ A The u t M arc ntonio. circ ms ance is placed beyon d doubt

e by an examination of the style of his works at that tim , i S reveal ng as they do the influence of the Italian chool . Among these works we refer to the S ale Tr iu mphs of

P - ch B 117 Massacr etr ar ( . but above all to the e of the

n ts cu hi t B I n ocen ( c co ) ( . hitherto considered the ’ r M A o o iginal plate by arc nt nio himself, the first proofs m n T of which carry no o ogram. his piece by our artist is B 20 f . often pre erred to ( ) the second plate , which is really ’ ' M r A B M a c ntonio s, although artsch attributes it to ark of Ra venna.

t w o ch s - I ma 18 In comparing these ef m . , it is true, is finer and more firm in d raw ing ; but not only does it difier n in the gravi g employed , which is a little more a me gre, a little more hard , than that of so consummate an ’ artist as Marc Antonio ; but the expression in the heads has less life, and the strokes of the burin go frequently in 2 z i N o. 0 a hori ontal direction, never seen in Ital an work . ’ n u Ma A agai , which appears nquestionably by rc ntonio, has o l i a str ke more free, drawing more fu l, and greater v vacity

l l0 m s E m LITTL ma as.

fin we d him r estoring the fourte enth century artist for the N iir nber city of g , while no date appears on any of hi s i 15 5 own pr nts till 3 . S i t ll , as we are ignorant of the year of the birth of

P ez te i s all~ im or tan t en , in rnal evidence p , and I cannot h re n elp agreeing with the g at critic, and fa cying I see a Six Tr i tim he P etr-ar h correspondence between the p of c , and t he M assa re o the I nn ents c f oc , in the technical process of

execution.

T G P n a Home i hat eorg e c was in at a later t me, namely, 153 9 r J l R in , we know by his la ge print after u io omano,

T/ce Takin ar tha e him called g ofC g , signed by Georgi na P en ce

The P ri son r s time we must also suppose he executed e , a G G i large print attributed to eorge his , but which Passavant Pen cz considers to be by . A ow n i mong his min ature engravings, which are more

i e t u i nt resting to investigate , here are many ill strat ng the i Old T i histor cal portion of the estament, show ng the a l i M d purely n tura istic po nt of view of the books, held Abr aham an d H . a ar B by the artist In g ( . for example, d A a H we have a bear less braham c ressing a naked agar, while old Sara contentedly peeps in from behin d l For w T m the Ne estament we find some truly ad irable designs.

l n in the Storm B Chr ist S eepi g ( . we are inclined to consider the noblest composition ever done of the subject

A onv r sion S t P au l B 69 so often treated . lso the C e of . ( . ) is v ery grandly treated. H e is the only one of the Little M n n Masters who has not left a single ado a . The most excellent of his works are those for antique The M d l . W e ea fab e and mythology four subjects, , ,

Par is P r ocric B. 70 l , and ( are truly beautifu ; in these of i u we see evidence Ital an influence to s ch an extent, that

TH E I E Ms sr sas 112 L TTL .

t The Tr it n car in o no Ge rmanism whatever is lef . o r y g f

An mone B u Dii re r is admir y ( . a s bject treated by , also A at t able. favourite subject this time wi h the painter

t in engravers was the poe , or as he was considered the

e i V . middle ag s, the magic an , irgil , suspended in a basket L L t ucas of eyden treated it twice, wi h great elaboration and Georg P en cz made a pair of his finest miniatures o from this st ry , which may be read in one of the many

V olksbii cher i L i s lately repr nted at e p ig, or in the more l l D m Com oretti Vir i i m Medic E va o . complete work , g o , by p , ’ fe w F Pencz s r s published a years ago in lorence. In fi t V t h design we see irgil suspended in the basket, and in e

m e r second , a naked fe ale is seat d on a pedestal , su rounded by a crowd with flambeaux and lanterns which they l ight T u he . by contact with her body . story is a c rious one V i irg l becomes a magician at an early age , and performs wonderful things ; but he falls in love with a lady in R t him ome who pre ends to be ready to receive , and lowers a great basket for that purpose ; but when half- way up to her windo w ties the su spending rcpe an d leaves him to he laughed at by the market people in the morning . V i h m irg l, to revenge i self, extinguishes by magic all the R and m fires in ome, renders it i possible to procure even K hi light, till , forced by the aiser to rectify the misc ef, he m h l de ands t at the lady should appear naked on a pedesta , the only means of obtaining fire again being from her

T ’ th e body. his semi comic incident is second picture .

Th r The a n e largest of his eng avings, except T ki g of

ar tha e him C g , and the other Italian prints said to be by ,

the Fr eder ick D uke Sax on B T is portrait of , qf y ( . his Th is a very accomplis hed work. e portrait is surrounded by fourteen shields of the arms of the state s subject to the

H z o i n t he r er g, which are mantled most elaborate manne .

e 114 m s Li m a m em s .

R man sitting behind a table, which osenberg says is like H u olbein , but richer and f ller in tone, like good Italian

T e e E r har d painting . h re are also pictures of the paint r O and his wife Eliz abeth. ther works by him Goths a B r are to be se en in , C rlsruhe, and in the elvede e , ' V n He H Er as mu s theolo n ien a. also copied olbein s , a w L h e m only second in popularity to uther, t r e ti es, as it ure t W appears from the pict s s ill existing at indsor ,

B i B r ude r house N iir n ber runsw ck , and in the in g , so that ,

Ro n r Pen cz as senberg says, fiftee authentic port aits by are w still kno n . Hi s ur c pict es of poetical or other subje ts are few . In

Pin acothec M is Ven us an d u id the , unich, C p , very Italian

n D Ador ati n the M a i in ma ner ; and in resden is the o of g ,

e im r f t described as unfinished or oth rwise m ec . In many

e t r co ie a galleri s are pictures named af e him, but they are p m fro his engravings .

P e ncz e O 1550 N M 0 di d in ctober, , eudorfer says , on the E T . cam day with his son gidius his may have been the ,

r fin d the if he had mo e sons than one, as again we friendly

B ath m r s i hi s w co ing out in his favour, p e ent ng wido with 60 guldens as a fund to be expended i n the educat ion of

o W e n cz s n . e P her thus learn that , with all his varied i m a practice, had not the g ft of prudence in the an gement ff of his own a airs . CHAPTER

JA OB B IN H I S C CK AND S WORK .

HE L M e to ittle ast rs remaining be noticed , to complete

i e the the number to wh ch they are prop rly limited ,

v n ar e in r u number se e ; of fe ior conseq ence, and need not

n h n We detain us so lo g as those t at have go e before . have e s Kleinmeister alr ady defined the rea on of the term , which has G o h a passed from the erman into t er l nguages, being simply i Th the smallness of the works employing the r energies. at the c is to say, works in arts of design, be ause , as we have

e v found , they applied their abiliti s in arious directions and we shall find that Jacob B in ck w as principally employed

tr - er i a e as a por ait paint and as a m lit ry ngineer, and his miniature works with the gre ver would perhaps never have k entitled him to ta e the rank he does, many of them being had n ot copies, not original inventions, it been that another

— s name is o c m mir artist who e lost, and who pr du ed any ad

ss - w l t e able works of the same cla , had from an y ime be n e hi mix d up with m. The M r B a i unknown aste I. . was an original rt st of

1 2 116 m s E LITTL mem e .

in great ability , and an expert of the first order, express B ut J B in ing himself by means of the graver. acob ck i has left such great variety n his work, and has

e m e r mployed himself in making so any copies, n a ly a r i l third of his p ints not being des gned by himse f, that he

h L M fii ‘ is exceptional to t e other ittle asters . It is very di cult to believe that the masterly vigour of design and the skilful expression by means of the graver in Death and the

dier B is Sol ( . done by the same timid hand and feeble m B or ind originating the portrait of himself ( . B athsheba in the B ath B ( . In this respect he seems M ’ A l to have imitated arc ntonio, and availed himse f of b an d His i n other s. monogram has also exercised the en uit W m . d g y of the co mentators hen mentione , he is w J B in ck his al ays spoken of as simply acob , while o mon gram is composed of three if not four letters . It has l n B . C . been exp ai ed as I . , the last letter standing for

Colonien sis but G the middle letter is more like . than C . T v hear in i here is , howe er, no doubt that the prints g th s

. B mark are by him , and those with the initials I . are not hi s L c his, some of best productions, as the portrait of u as G n . assel , having both mo ogram and full name The first writer to speak of B in ck with enthusiasm is San drar t o , who mistakes him all thr ugh his account for the “ i B e — T c art st I . . H says here lived one alled Jacob B in ck h m hi s is . H , w ose country to me unknown e arked B prints I . . , and issued many of them that show a genius

the fi estimable in arts of design , in the re nement of finish ,

i n r and the beauty and pe fection of the naked , the dra th H m s e . e peri s, and wreaths of ornament erits indeed

from these to be considered the predecessor of good taste .

his the Seven Plan ets Tri um h I cite figures of , the p of

B ase/ms B acchanalicm hildr en net , the C all of which are

s e ne u 118 m r m ms .

so to G of bo m, motives very foreign the erman spirit the time .

n t M thol —I n this the e s r i A cien y ogy , only extensiv e es . T ri he did appear . hey are not o ginal designs, but copies ’ Cara lio s r s e B F the fr om g p int aft r osso of lorence , divi ca niti of fable, a set of twenty, somewhat attitudinising n e n S ich d figures, begin ing with aturn , and including A H H u T the riadne, ebe, erc les, hetis, and others , below ’ e Th l M su pr me rank. ese , as wel as the copy from arc ' An i M assacr e the I n n ocen ts ton o s of , are supposed to have n as i been do e in Italy, but without any good re on , espec ally S B as he signs his name at large on the aturn ( . with “ J c B in ck oloniensis out mentioning Italy, thus , a obus C , fecit, ' — Allegomcal S ulphate Among these is Death destr oying the S ldier to o , which appears me both in design and hand ling of the gre ver quite different and supe rior to the

s majority of hi works .

S ub ects mm n l e es eciall the L e t j of Co o if , p y if of he — Soldier an d of the P easan t : an d Or namen ts These are m i t nu erous, and exh bit great observation and artis ic

B ut as w e fin d his life to have been passed main ly as a

ortr aita ain ter i are p p , the most mportant of his engravings o H e als portraits . removed in middle life to Copenhagen ,

a 1546 him t e and from th t time, about , we hear of , ei h r u directly as court painter to Christian III. , or rather co rt al D D artist in gener , or at the palace of the uchess orothy ' P i a li of russia, his daughter, who repl es to her father s pp ’ B e e n n ot cation for in k return to Cope hagen, that he is yet e finished with certain medallions . Whear of him also at A r i him 3 r d O o 1549 ntwe p, when Chr stian writes ct ber, ,

12 0 r u e e rns m am a s . to pr epare ill ustration s to the B ible then to be printed in h fin d him Copen agen. In the following year we employed difi er en At A r in a totally t manner. ntwe p he had men M ’ m engaged on a monument, by the argrave s co mand , ur ns D nm a but he ret to e ark next ye r, and the king the s Cre m e H ol writes to magi trates of the city of p , in “ i 11th Ma 1550 We h ste n, y, , that have sent our arc itect,

M i B ussar t t J B in ck art n , and our pain er, acob ,to draw out conjointly the plans for t he new fortifications to be con ” t he Low s w structed . Indeed, when in Countrie , here the great towns were early fortified in th e most effectual

Binck had u of r e manner, been occ pied in the study

a &c. doubts, gun b tteries, , as well as gardens, and other works to be introduced in Denmark .

H n t . D B 91 i s e gravings of Chris ian II of enmark ( . ) and

E z A B . F i his queen , li abeth of ustria ( of ranc s I . of B F B . rance ( and his first Queen , Claude ( . of L G l B as is e su ucas asse ( . and of himself, g nerally p a mement mor i posed , o portrait, we are able to insert l r h among our il ust ations, are all among the best of is B T . works. hat of Christian III , not in artsch , but added

P P . 13 7 r n by assavant ( ) sur ou ded by nine shields of arms ,

i . H e supported by six cup ds, is an admirable work does D B not appear to have done much for the anish ible, which 1550 was published in , and regarding which the king wrote Th 140 A . him at ntwerp e number of his prints is .

122 m e r Ls nu r s e s.

B at/w heba t t he , signed wi h a monogram of letters H B h simply, wit out connection or the ornament on the cross bar H e 1554 of the , and the dat , which print carries the imprint

‘ Gedr uckt eu E w r t be H an s ubitz e n rfl i C r . O e must conclude h t he i u t at nscription on the miniat re is false, or that it is ” r t T susceptive of another interp e ation . his, which is com o P 17 p sed of nine pieces ( . ) is not said to bear internal B rosamer evidence of being by , and the monogram we see h is not that of the artist , so t at no conclusion, it would

w . seem , can be dra n from it Th B n e e H . . two lett rs u ited, as well as separate, were in l t H use at the time by severa artis s, particularly by ans

B aldun Griin B s h i g , which caused art ch to enter t ree str k ' in l efi ect ive s B rosamer s g y de igns among works , which il T h Passavant believes to be by Gr a. hese are t e large wood cut of The H oly F amily with Joachim and Joseph

h the V S . A be ind seats of the irgin and nne (B.

J m in the Dese B t he S . er e r t 7 o ( . ) and startling invention

c e The S or r ess mad the Gr m R I 5 c all d ce oo ( ) , all of whi h P assavant has, with justice , it appears to me, attributed

’ OfB r osamer s n r miniatures e graved on coppe , the most i i » interesting are those from mythology , show ng the asp ra tion of the artist without the educational appliances n eces

n sary to realise the beauty of the antique. O e of these is the La n B n t ocoo ( . showing a dari g attempt at a new in er pr etation of the scene so nobly realised for all time by t he H ad B rosame r n ancient sculptor. see the group now in t he V t — u 1506 a ican but dug p in , in the presence of i —or M chelangelo a cast from it, we can scarcely believe he would have ventured to give his own interpretation of i the h —a the incident . In his des gn sons are c ildr en t least — one is a child and the other a boy and there are five or six m s s aosam awn 123 ms worms .

d z r H e snakes of mo erate si e about the three figu es. indulges

Socr at s n d his w also in a subject, sometimes called e a ife

This exhibits a lady mounted on a re spectable looking s hi old gentleman , who carrie her on all fours in s mouth is him a bit by which she guides , and in her right hand a whip . Among his authentic woodcuts are some interesting por

a the G S z traits, especi lly medical doctor, eorg turt , of

H n S 1545 M - Erfurt ; a s achs, , the aster singer and the

Eoben H he m . T ore learned but less known poet , ess S r portrait of achs is not signed , but it has been rep o d D uced in the work by erschau , with a note from an early

H B r osam r manuscript copy , that ans e gave this portrait

N u his fift ~ fir st On to the poet of rnberg , on y anniversary . i 1545 H S h N A this print is the nscription , ans ac s, . lter ”

5 1 J . , ar

So d h w ho en s the tale of t ese seven contemporaries , h expressed t eir inventions by the graver, and generally

i s B ut in the smallest d men ions. they were followed by

h r a e in ot e s, who lmost d serve to be held equal respect.

The s i habit of designing on the plate, and is uing the pr nts for sale as independent works of art, did not cease, but was t raditionally continued by t he skilful hands of V irgil S T B r h olis, heodore de y, and ot ers, who, however , did not limi t themsel ves with th e same sever ity to the smallness L E E that rendered the title of ITTL MAST RS appropriate .

12 6 INDEX .

PAGE Beham Hans S ba d , e l 1 0 B orn, 50 Early w ork Tried for heresy E el ed from Nurnber 152 4 xp l g, i 2 d November 1550 D ed, 2 n , B eheadi n o ohn B A tdorfer g f J . y l Bible designs n Bi ck, Jacob

Born at Cologne . Li n at Co enha en 1546—50 vi g p g , Portrait of r he d rf B az en Serp ent, T . By Alt o er B r Hans rosame , B om at Fulda

Li ved there between 1536—50

. Diedat Erfurt

h l h m har les Em er or . B Bart e Be a C V. , p y o li ves B l do f Chr ist on the Mount f O . y A t r er u x ion The B Altdorfer Cr cifi , . y

eat o the i r in B chon auer D h f V g . y S g Designs by the Behams Dis u tation The B Sebald Beham p , . y z ar us B Alde rever Dives and La . y g

- ham w n boo s b H . S Be Dra i g k y . D r Albert iire ,

Entr into Jerusalem B Al dorfer y . y t

all and dem tion o Man d rfr F Re p f . By Alt o e F1tz w1llia Museum O ford m , x

a o Youth The . hm a t in f . B Seba d Be a , y l

Gos el o ar The B Altdorfer p f M y, . y Gos el Nicodemos The B A tdorfer p of , y l l 7 INDEX.

o Le den B Alde rever John f y . y g P ncz b his B rethr en B G. e Joseph sold y . y

abour s o H er cu les B ebald Beham L f . y S

an ca e ith attle B Altdorfer L ds p w C . y Landscapes by Altdorfer

adonna at the Wi nd ow The B Bar t hel B ham M , . y e

adonna o atisbon The B Altdorfer M f R , . y

adon a sta i n o a r escen t B Altdorfe r M n nd g n C . y Man Woman an d Death B Sebald Beham , , . y h v Mec enen, Israhel an M emen to M ar i ald B eham . By Seb

N ati vit The B Al orfer y, . y td

Or an ist The B Ist abe van Mechenen g , . y l Ornam n D i n f B S bald B ham e t , es g s o . y e e

Pain er - en ravers German t g , Emanc1pated pain ting Introduced gen r e Pencz Geor , g Born at Nurnberg B anish d or h r s 1524 e f e e y, Di O b r 155 ed, cto e , 0 Portraits by Aldegrever P m r or raits &c. b Hans Brosa e t , , y Portraits by Georg Pencz

r actisi n or the Tour ne B Zaz in r P g f y. y se

P r o or ti ons o the H or se B bald Be ham p f . y Se

ion ff ofthe Reformat , e ect

r r tion o Chr i st B Altdorfer Resu ec f . y

t eor e van uishin the D ra on . B Altdorfer S . G g q g g y tence Al dorf r r ancis in P eni . B t e St. Domi n ic and S t. F y