Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/232

 220 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE 1504-1505) intended to illustrate 'The Life of Our Lady' claim our admiration. They are idyls of purity, sweet- ness, and melancholy. The whole atmosphere of these scenes, the landscapes, the life of Nature, the picturesque blending of human and animal life, result in a soft Arcadian beauty which tempers the gravity of the character of Mary and her parents. Among the most touching, and at the same time the most agreeable, of this series is the deathbed of the Mother of God. She is surrounded by the Apostles. Peter is sprinkling her with holy water ; John hands her the burning taper, while a third holds up a crucifix. 1 Diirer is inspired in this work by his veneration for the Blessed Virgin. Art has this in common with love, that it delights in the most trivial circumstances relating to the beloved one. In Diirer's woodcuts for ' The Life of Our Lady ' he exemplifies one of the most striking features of old German art. Like the poet of the 'Heiland,' who makes the whole stream of the Gospel story as it were to ' flow through his native Saxony,' he invests Christ and His disciples with the national character of Germany. All the accessories of the Church legends are so many bits of local colouring, which make every scene familiar and realistic. In the archives of the Convent of St. Clare in Nuremberg, dating from the time when Charity Pirk- heimer was prioress, can be found the sketches pre- pared for Diirer's last-named work. A comparison between these and the finished composition gives us an idea of the originality and talent of the artist. His 1 This picture was often copied by Diirer's disciples. This explains why so many works on the subject bear his name (Nayler, p. 32).