Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/474

 444 Painting (c) The Franconian School. In the School of Franconia, with Nuremberg for its head-quarters, the realistic style of the Netherlands was adopted and perhaps sometimes exaggerated. We find the same tolerance of ugliness, the same sharpness of outline, as in the works of the early Dutch and Flemish masters, combined with an intensity of expression and a delight in the weird and fantastic even greater than in the productions of Swabian painters. The master in whom all these peculiarities were most strikingly manifested was Michael Wolgemut (1434 — 1519), who did much to aid the development of German painting, and was the immediate predecessor of Albrecht Durer. His best works are at Nuremberg; but the Liverpool Institution contains two fine compositions from his hand — Pilate ivashing his Hands, and the Descent from the Cross. His pictures have all considerable force and transparency of colouring, but are wanting in harmony of composition and general equality of tone. Albrecht Durer (1471 — 1528) was the father of German painting, and has been proudly called by his country- men the "prince of artists." A native of Nuremberg, of Hungarian descent, he was intended by his father, a goldsmith, to follow his profession. But his love of drawing prevailed, and in 1486 he was apprenticed to Wolgemut. The years 1490 — 1494 were spent in travel : how and where, we have no record. In 1494 he returned to Nuremberg, and married Agnes Frey. In 1505 he visited Italy : at Venice he became acquainted with Giovanni Bellini and enjoyed much popularity.