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and the acquaintance with classical antiquity which he occasionally drew upon in his work. Diirer's art, however, with its sources in the German Mid- dle Ages, remained essentially German; the influ- ence of the art of Italy and the Netherlands was merely supplementary. In his own country there were few chances for inural paintings; but the demand for altar-pieces and portraits was all the greater. His woodcuts were eagerly sought after by the general public, his engravings on copper by connoisseurs. Among his fine compositions are: the Baumgiirtner altar-painting, the central panel of which represents the Adoration of the Christ Child, the wings, the donors as 5^ts. (ieorge and Eustachius; the " Lamenta- tion of Christ", in which the pathos is noteworthy; and the remarkable picture of himself (1500). These are preserved in the Old Pinakothek in Munich. The portrait of himself just mentioned is greatly idealized as is also that of a lady of the Fiirleger family. On the other hand, in the portraits of his father and mother realism predominates. But here, as in the " Pnidii;:)! Son" and in his drawings, Diirer seeks to elevate his naturalism by

former by his directions to the wood-engravers who carried out his designs.

Second Period:"i.505 to 1520. — In the "Festival of the Rosary", painted in Venice for German mer- chants residing there, he competes, not unsuccessfully, with the Italian colourists, though it may be said that colour was not his strong point. The painting (Abbey of Strahow, Prague) is damaged, but a good copy is preserved in the Imperial Museum at Vienna. An oil- painting of the same period, "Christ on the Cross", and other works that followed, e. g. " Adam and Eve" (Madrid and Florence), show that Diirer's trip to Italy and the acquaintance made there with Giovanni Bellini were not without profit to his art; but Diirer's nationality and the independence of his geniiis are always evident. Another work much admired was the so-called Heller altar-piece, destroyed at Munich in 174 by fire. Valuable studies for this picture and an indistinct copy are still e.xtant. One of the finest examples of (jerman art is the "Adoration of the Trinity" or " .\11 Saints" (1511). Placed beside the " Disputa" of Raphael or the Sistine paintings of Michelangelo pro-

M.VDONNA AND CHILD (1512)

Imperial Museum, VieDua

Portrait of Himself (1500)

Old Pinakothek. Munich

Albbecht Dureb

HlERONYMnS HOLZSCHUHER (1526)

Royal Museum, Berlin

sweet simplicity, depth of feeling, and grandeur of conception. The "Adoration of the Magi" in the Uffizi at Florence will bear comparison, at least for German taste, with the masterpieces of Italy and the Netherlands. Diirer's woodcuts have a quality entirely their own; though without colouring, they yet produced the eflfect of colour. The "Apocalypse" "(15 cuts) is distinguished by its daring fancy and grandeur of conception. The most striking of the series are: the "Four Riders", the "Angels of the Euphrates", the "Battle of the Angels with the Dragon ' '. To the same period belong, for the most part., the powerful " Larger Passion " (7, later 12, cuts) as well as the beautiful "Life of the Virgin" (l(j, later 20, cuts), in which the scenes from the life of the Holy Family in Egypthaveallthesweetnessof a charming idyll. Men- tion .should lie made of the so-called " Green Passion" in the .\lbertina Museum at Vienna, a .scries of twelve drawings with the pen on green paper, also of the " ,'^maller Pa.ssion " of a later date in .'i7 woodcuts, and of the 17 copperplate engravings on the same subject. For the fifth time the artist came back to the Passion of Christ eight years before his <ieath; a few sketches are to be found in the Uffizi at Florence and in the Alliertina at Vienna. Wood and copperplate engrav- ing were brovight to great perfection by Diirer; the latter, and etching as well, by his own work; the

duced in the same year, it would not suffer from the comparison. God the Father sits upon a throne and holds forth the Cross with the Crucified; above both of them, in the form of a dove, the Holy Ghost hovers. About them the .saints of heaven in two companies with the Mother of God and John the Baptist at their head kneel in adoration. In the upper part of the picture, above the blessed hosts, choirs of angels surround the Holy Trinity; in the lower part, the Church Militant, led by the powerful figures of a pope and an emperor, takes part in the adoration. As an idealizationof the world this mult it \Kle stands above the clouds. At the very bottom and to one side, as though left behind, is seen the luunble figure of the painter. This work deserves no less praise for its per- fection of finish than for its sublimity of conception. The frame, carved in renaissance style from draw- ings liy Diirer, is still preserved at Nuremberg. In the same year, 1511, Diirer produced the "Virgin with the Pear", one of the finest of his Madonnas. In the years 15i:!-14 he executed three great copper- plate oni;ravings; the.se may, perhaps, be looked upon as ideal representations of a fearless knight, an un.satislied searcher for knowledge, and a saint happy in God and are called: "The Knight with Death and the Devil"; " Melancholia"; "St.. Jerome in his Study". To these must be added various paintings, e.g. of Charle-