Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/220

 208 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE Here have we a picture of simple, domestic life which proves how closely religion was bound up with the family affections, how ' both spring from the same root.' It also accounts for the frequent occurrence of domestic subjects in Diirer's works and for the details they give of German interiors. All that was most beautiful in his character sprang from his love for his home, and we can trace the advice received at the parental deathbed in his own fidelity to family ties. ]5y the work of his hands he earned the daily bread for his family, exhibiting indefatigable industry under the most trying circumstances as painter, designer, etcher, engraver, sculptor, goldsmith, and printer. There is hardly a single branch of art that can be named in which his influence was not felt. The philosophical spirit in which Dtirer looked on life was engendered by his deep-seated conviction that the best ever proceeds from God. ' If it be asked,' he writes, ' how shall we set about to make a beautiful picture ? some will say by knowledge of man — others will disagree with this, and I am one of the latter. Who will make this clear to us ? Not he who looks on even the least of God's creatures without thinking of the end of its creation, not to speak of man, who is the special creature of God and to whom all others are subject. I acknowledge that the artist who has had most experi- ence may make a better figure, but it will not be per- fection, for that is beyond man's power. God alone is perfection and can alone reveal it to man. He alone holds truth and knows what constitutes perfection in human proportions.' Art was to him ' the power which God gave men to model various forms of humanity and other creatures.'