THE absorbing interest and labour of the Sebaldusgrab did not by any means exhaust the energies and enterprise of Vischer and his house. That want of money, which has been the source of innumerable works of art, combined with the artist’s restless striving after new forms of self-expression, prompted the production of many another bronze during this span of years.
We have seen that the heroic figures of Arthur and Theodoric were completed in the year 1513, and to that year also belongs the original design for the Rathaus Railing, the chequered and disastrous1 history of which we shall describe later. Now it was proposed to found a monument to perpetuate2 the memory of a famous Doctor of Law (“su? ?tatis Jureconsultorum facile princeps,” says the inscription), one Henning Goden, Provost of Wittenberg and Prebendary of Erfurt. Peter Vischer was entrusted3 with its execution, and it was erected4 in 1521 at Erfurt and, in duplicate, at Wittenberg. The subject chosen was that 73of the crowning of Mary. The Madonna is represented kneeling on the clouds; her hands are folded in prayer and her rich tresses float round a nobly beautiful head and stream over her shoulders. She is in the act of being crowned by God the Father and God the Son, who sit enthroned on either side of the Virgin5 Mother. The Holy Dove hovers6 above her. Two characteristic but excessively plump little angels playing musical instruments in either corner fill up the spaces left by the curving scroll7 work above, whilst at the feet of the Madonna the Prebendary kneels, supported by his patron saint, St. John, whose hand is laid upon his shoulder. Clouds and angels complete the foreground.
Of this tomb-plate Lübke writes:
“The simple beauty of the composition, the broad, free style of the drapery, the noble loftiness in form and expression of the heads, especially of God the Father, place this work in the ranks of the noblest creations of German art at that date.”
The memorial certainly does bear unmistakable signs of Peter Vischer’s handiwork, but it is impossible not to feel that in many points, as for instance the articulation8 of the hands and feet, and the anatomy9 of the body in the case of the figure of Christ, it is decidedly inferior to the best work of the house of Vischer. Compare it with the beautiful tomb-plate of Frau Margarete Tucher in the cathedral at Regensburg (Ratisbon) and the difference in manner and technique at once 74leaps to the eye. Yet this memorial also was made in 1521. (Ill. 16.) It can hardly have been designed by the same hand, although this, like the monument of the Eissen family in the Church of St. ?gidius at Nuremberg, to which it is near akin10, certainly came from the Vischer foundry, for it bears the mark and signature
Normberge. 1521. But the trade-mark between these two initials is substantially the same as that found on the inkstand of 1525. We have no choice, then, but to follow Bergau and Seeger and to attribute these two former works, in great part at any rate, to Peter Vischer the younger. And, indeed, they exhibit to a high degree all those qualities which are most characteristic of his work. There is a rhythmic11 balance in the composition which at once recalls the reliefs on the Sebaldusgrab attributed to him. Here again the artist has seized a fine moment in the dramatic incident he wishes to portray12. He has harmonized and subordinated all the characters of that pathetic scene when Christ met the sisters of the dead Lazarus. The noble figure of the Christ who has stepped forward to listen to and to grant the prayer of the bereaved13 sister forms the centre of a picture whereof the disputing Apostles and the sorrowing women are the necessary complement14. With regard to the Apostles themselves it only 76requires a moment’s comparison to demonstrate that their figures are mere15 modifications16 of those on the Sebaldusgrab, and they may have been wrought17 by any member of the family, therefore, or even by an assistant. For the craftsmen18 of those days were obliged to take a frankly19 business view of their handiwork. Michel Wolgemut left much in each of his pictures to be done by his pupils and assistants, and Dürer, too, following his master’s custom was, in too many cases, forced to adopt the same practice. For a man must live, and Dürer found that his careful and elaborate style of painting was simply beggaring him. The commissions received by the Vischer family were necessarily executed after something of the same spirit. The design would be sketched21 out by the old man or one of his sons, or, again, by him and his sons in part and in consultation22. Then whilst the more skilful23 of them wrought the more important figures and details of the piece, the subsidiary details and characters would be left to the ’prentice hands. In the case of the Tucher monument the task of supplying the Apostle figures must have fallen to one of these, and he would naturally base them upon the famous masterpieces of the House in that line. But in the noble figure of the Christ, in the poise24 and the moulding of the head, and in that spiritual searching gaze with which the Saviour25 seems to be looking into the very heart of Lazarus’ sister and gauging26 her faith, we cannot fail to recognize the 77style of the creator of the St. Peter and St. John of the Sebaldusgrab, and of the author of the Orpheus of the Plaquettes. Equally true is this of the modelling, pose and drapery of the female figures, to which particular attention should be given.
STEIN PHOTO.] [CATHEDRAL, RATISBON
16. MEETING OF CHRIST WITH THE SISTERS OF LAZARUS
(Tucher Monument)
The background, too, is the work of a Master, and the gradual deepening of the relief is worked out with a skill and confidence which argues that it is the work of a Master who has made a considerable study of perspective. The treatment of perspective and the very low relief are indeed entirely27 in the manner of the early Florentine Renaissance28. The same influence is discernible in the style of the architecture in the background. It is interesting to note the favourite device of a Perugino or a Raphael reproduced in the cupola-crowned building which serves as a finish to the picture. It was not for nothing that Hermann Vischer had made his journey south some years before, and returned laden29 with those sketches30 which “delighted his old father and provided practice for his brothers.” The deviser of this temple and of those framing pillars with their Corinthian capitals has learnt many a lesson recently from his brother’s work.
In the monument of the Eissen family which is placed in the Church of St. ?gidius at Nuremberg, and belongs to the year 1522, we have a work which must be by the same hand as that which designed the Tucher memorial. The similarity 78of the signature and of the style is convincing testimony31. The subject is the favourite Pietà, the lamentation32 over Christ’s body after the descent from the Cross. Here we have the figures of the faithful women, and of John the beloved disciple33, and Joseph of Arimathea mourning, whilst Nicodemus is reverently34 wrapping the corpse35 in the cerements of the grave. Once more in composing his subject the artist has seized the dramatic moment. The eyes of all these faithful followers36 are fixed37 upon the dead body of their Lord. Their gestures and their expressions betoken38 the intense grief of each, and each has his place and share in the divine tragedy. The unity39 thus attained40 is heightened by the dramatic contrast of the one person, the servant, who stares at the body, unaffected save by vulgar curiosity, all unaware41 that she is in the presence of the world’s most grievous and most wonderful mystery. (Ill. 17.)
The figure and head of Joseph of Arimathea are nobly beautiful, and, like the drapery, remind us of the St. Peter on the Sebaldusgrab. His outstretched hands are eloquent42 of sorrow and, in common with those of the women who kneel behind their Master, they speak to a study of Italian art and of the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci.
STEIN PHOTO.] [ST. ?GIDIUS CHURCH, NüRNBERG
17. BEWEINUNG CHRISTI
(Eissen Memorial)
The Christ in this monument resembles in the treatment of the eyes, and the hair and in the moulding of the head that of the Tucher memorial of the previous year. The body is foreshortened, 80and the foreshortening cannot be termed altogether successful. But successful to an extraordinary degree is the spiritual, sympathetic expression of the countenance43, and indicative of a poet’s sympathy with sorrow, and his power of showing it, is that down-hanging arm, masterly executed in strong relief.
The young Peter Vischer had known much sorrow, and was acquainted with grief beyond his years. The bereavements of his father, the loss of his brother’s wife, and afterwards of his brother Hermann himself, must have touched his poet’s heart and deepened his powers of sympathetic imagination. The strong stirring of religious emotion which was at this time abroad in the land would tend still further to chasten the exuberant44 joyousness45 of his youthful spirit, and to bring him into touch with the more serious aspects of life. Neud?rffer has recorded for us his love of the poetical46 side of life; his own Aquarelle on the Reformation proves the seriousness of his interest in the great religious question of the day, and the evidence of the development of his powers in his own undoubted works of art is potent47 to demonstrate his enthusiasm for learning. Remembering these facts let us compare for a moment with the sisters of Lazarus in the Tucher memorial, that superb work of art in the Germanic Museum at Nuremberg, which is known as the “Praying Madonna.” (Ill. 18.)
[MUSEUM, NüRNBERG
18. THE NUREMBERG MADONNA
“No second glance is required to assure us that 81we have here not only the chef-d’?uvre of Nuremberg carving48, but also one of the works of art of all time. And yet the name of the master is unknown, and the very date of the work is a matter of dispute. Clearly the beautiful female figure of this sorrowing Mary, this praying Madonna as she is called (trauende, betende Maria) once formed one of a group, and stood facing St. John at the foot of the Cross, gazing upwards49 in that bitter grief which is beyond the expression and abandonment of tears. Who can that artist have 82been who could select that pose of the head, that poise of the limbs, who could carve those robes, which, in purity and flow have never been surpassed in German art, and who could express in the suppliant50 hands such poignant51 emotion? Man weiss nicht! And whose touch was so delicate that with his chisel52 he could stamp on the upturned face those mingled53 feelings of sorrow so supreme54, yearning55 so intense, love so human, hope so divine? For all this we can read there still, even through the grey-green coat of paint which certainly had no place in the original intentions of the artist. Man weiss nicht! But this much one may hazard—that it was some German artist, touched by the spirit of the Italian Renaissance till he rose to heights of artistic56 performance never elsewhere attained by him, and scarcely ever approached by his fellows.”
So I have written elsewhere of this beautiful gem20 of German art. But is it so certain that the author is unknown? The temptation to attribute it to Peter Vischer the younger is extremely strong, especially when we compare it with the figure of Lazarus’ sister.
It has, at different times and by various writers, been attributed to almost every conceivable German craftsman57—to Adam Krafft, of course, and to Veit Stoss in turn, amongst others. But the work of none of these artists approaches the style, the beauty, the refinement58 of this figure, and is, in many essentials, distinctly opposed thereto. But 83if it is not by these, can it be by Peter Vischer’s great son? The theory, it must be confessed, is more probable than provable. We can only say that in his greatest moment he might have done this thing, in making a model for a projected bronze figure. For the creator of the King Arthur at Innsbruck must be conceded to be potentially capable of any masterpiece in this kind, and the Madonna is not beyond the limits of his power. The slenderness of the figure is a point in favour of this authorship, and not, as has been argued, in opposition60 to it, for there is noticeable in the female figures of the young Peter Vischer, an increasing tendency to discard the squat61 Bavarian type and to adopt the slenderer proportions of the Italian model. Observe, further, that in the fall of the drapery of the Madonna there is nothing of severity, nothing of distortion as in other carvings62 of the same period by other hands. Rather do the sweep and movement of it recall that of certain of the apostles of the Sebaldusgrab and the arrangement of it as regards the feet is similar. It may, in fact, be stated, without fear of contradiction, that the serpentine63 sweep and the arrangement of the drapery, drawn64 tight over the right leg and covering, as it does, the thrust out foot below, is a motive65 practically confined in the German art of that period to the works of the House of Vischer. It reminds us of the Apostles in St. Sebald’s church: it is repeated emphatically in the fall of the drapery of the sisters of Lazarus.
84And surely the pose of the sister of Lazarus on the left hand and that of the Madonna is substantially the same, although, in the case of the latter, it has been refined and improved. That pose of the bent66 leg is one of the most beautiful and eloquent of all the positions of the human body.[6] But the similarity does not end there.
6. That it was a favourite one with the young Vischer may be seen by comparing the female figures of the Inkstands, pp. 96, 97.
The right leg, the left arm and hand resting on the hip59, the poise of the head and the style of dress are all in the same manner. Nothing, again, is more characteristic of an artist than his treatment of hands. And with those expressive67 hands of the Madonna we may confidently compare the hands of the woman who is behind the body of Christ or the hands of Joseph in the Pietà of 1522, or the hands of St. John in the Sebaldusgrab, or of the female figure on the inkstand of 1525. Vischer-like also is the pure, refined expression and type of face, which recalls on the one hand the yearning gaze of the aforesaid figure, and the soulful look of Eurydice on the other.
But enough has been said. Peter Vischer the younger was, we think, capable of producing such a work of art as the Madonna, and of no one else whose work we know can we say as much. Yet such a masterpiece is not thrown off by an unpractised hand. There is good reason, then, for accepting the theory suggested by the remarks of 85Herr von Bezold[7] and crediting our craftsman with the glory of this great work. In the next chapter we shall deal with some minor68, undisputed works of his, a careful study of which will certainly, in our opinion, not tend to invalidate the claim now advanced on his behalf.
7. “Anzeiger des Germanischen Nationalmuseums.” No. 2. Nuremberg, 1896.
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1
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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2
perpetuate
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| v.使永存，使永记不忘 | |
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3
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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6
hovers
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| 鸟( hover的第三人称单数 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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7
scroll
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| n.卷轴，纸卷；(石刻上的)漩涡 | |
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8
articulation
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| n.（清楚的）发音；清晰度，咬合 | |
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anatomy
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| n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织 | |
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akin
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| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
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11
rhythmic
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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12
portray
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| v.描写，描述；画(人物、景象等) | |
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13
bereaved
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| adj.刚刚丧失亲人的v.使失去（希望、生命等）( bereave的过去式和过去分词)；（尤指死亡）使丧失（亲人、朋友等）；使孤寂；抢走（财物） | |
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14
complement
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| n.补足物，船上的定员；补语；vt.补充，补足 | |
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15
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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modifications
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| n.缓和( modification的名词复数 )；限制；更改；改变 | |
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17
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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18
craftsmen
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| n. 技工 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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gem
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| n.宝石，珠宝；受爱戴的人 [同]jewel | |
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21
sketched
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| v.草拟（sketch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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poise
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| vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信 | |
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25
saviour
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| n.拯救者，救星 | |
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26
gauging
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| n.测量[试]，测定，计量v.（用仪器）测量( gauge的现在分词 )；估计；计量；划分 | |
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27
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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renaissance
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| n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴 | |
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29
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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sketches
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| n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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32
lamentation
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| n.悲叹，哀悼 | |
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33
disciple
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| n.信徒，门徒，追随者 | |
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reverently
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| adv.虔诚地 | |
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35
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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38
betoken
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| v.预示 | |
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unity
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| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
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40
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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41
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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42
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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43
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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44
exuberant
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| adj.充满活力的；（植物）繁茂的 | |
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45
joyousness
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| 快乐，使人喜悦 | |
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46
poetical
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| adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的 | |
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47
potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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48
carving
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| n.雕刻品，雕花 | |
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49
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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50
suppliant
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| adj.哀恳的；n.恳求者，哀求者 | |
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51
poignant
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| adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的 | |
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52
chisel
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| n.凿子；v.用凿子刻，雕，凿 | |
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53
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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54
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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55
yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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56
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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57
craftsman
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| n.技工，精于一门工艺的匠人 | |
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58
refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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59
hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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60
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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61
squat
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| v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的 | |
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62
carvings
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| n.雕刻( carving的名词复数 )；雕刻术；雕刻品；雕刻物 | |
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63
serpentine
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| adj.蜿蜒的，弯曲的 | |
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64
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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65
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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66
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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67
expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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68
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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