pictures, such as are used to hang over the fire-places in good citizens' houses.

The first-named work consists of two great series of woodcuts, afterwards rendered in more enduring copper. 'The Great Passion" comprises representations of the main incidents in the eventful life of our Saviour-his birth in the manger, his dispute with the doctors, his way to Calvary with the cross upon his shoulders, the taking down of his body from the fatal tree, his burial and resurrection.

In all these subjects, says Kugler, the most perfect grouping is made consistent with the greatest simplicity of design; and however indifferently the engraver has executed his part, the very varied expression of the single figures, and the peculiar grace of the lines and movements, cannot be concealed. When we look at such fine works, we easily comprehend why the wily Italians valued Durer's compositions so highly, and how it was that a translation of them into Italian was so much desired.

"The Lesser Passion" consists, as the name implies, of a series of the more domestic incidents in the life of Christ— pictures in which the mysterious events related are all brought before the spectator, as in a moment of time, with truth, power, and the liveliest feeling of the beautiful. Of these, the most celebrated are-" Christ washing the Feet of his Disciples," in which a great number of figures are artistically grouped in a small space, which, nevertheless, is not crowded or confused, but leaves the principal group, in which the Saviour is of course the prominent figure, clear and distinct from all the rest; "Christ praying on the Mount of Olives," one of those simply beautiful compositions in which dignity and feeling are blended with the greatest tenderness and the most profound repose; "Christ taking leave of his Mother," previous to the accomplishment of his great mission (p. 164), another of those touching incidents which Durer, in his best period, knew so well how to depict; "Christ appearing, after his Resurrection, to Mary in the Garden, and to his Mother in the Chamber," both compositions of great beauty and simplicity of arrangement-of one of these, "Christ taking leave of his Mother," our readers will be able to form their own judgment. The noble tenderness of the son, the anguish of the mother, and the sympathy of the attendants, all evince the hand of a master in their development. In this series the utmost carefulness in the arrangement of his groups has been observed, and in the disposition of the drapery there is a noble fulness and simplicity which displays the figures to the utmost advantage. It has been noticed, in Albert Durer's oil paintings, that the draperies are generally too much cut up into strange shapes, a plan by no means calculated to improve the forms of their wearers. But in all his ideal subjects, his fancy being allowed full play and his pencil being freed from the fashions of his own country, he has made the folds of his draperies fall in those large imposing masses, so much admired in the works of the great Italian master, Raffaele. A great anachronism, however, occurs in this series of pictures-namely, the frequent introduction of German styles of architecture and costume, and a consequent destruction of that unity of design so highly desirable in works of historical value. This kind of oversight is frequently observable in the productions of the German and Dutch schools of painting; and we need only refer, in illustration of our remarks, to "The Rape of the Sabines," in the National Gallery, in which Rubens dresses his Sabine women in garments of Venetian silk. The two works known as "The Greater and Lesser Passion," have been engraved twice on copper and once on wood.

From "The Life of the Virgin," a series of twenty woodcuts, we have selected the most important, viz., "The Marriage of Mary and Joseph" (p. 169). Instead of the severely classical style observed in "The Passion," we have in this series a representation of those tender relations of domestic life which Albert Durer knew so well how to depict. The series embraces the history, as far as it is described in the New Testament, of the mother of Jesus. The scenes most interesting, after that shown in our engraving, are "The Birth of the Virgin," which event Albert Durer, true to his national predilections and

quite oblivious of facts, has made to take place in a German house in the midst of a numerous company of women and maidens ; "The Flight into Egypt," a composition of a few figures simply disposed in a thickly growing wood; "The Repose in Egypt," in which the Virgin sits spinning beside the cradle of her little one, while Joseph is employed at a carpenter's bench, unseen by either father or mother, angels worship beside the lowly resting place of the child Jesus; and "The Death of the Virgin." This last subject has been frequently copied by the pupils of Albert Durer, and many pictures after it exist in the continental galleries, some of them even bearing the monogram of the original artist. It is stated by Dr. Kugler to be "a perfect composition, with a simple division of the principal groups; fine forms, and indications of the deepest feeling in the solemn exercise of holy rites."

The "Marriage of Mary and Joseph" is a work which may be advantageously studied. It is at once delicate and powerful in the manner of its treatment; and, considering the comparative infancy of the art at the period at which it was drawn, may be looked upon as a great triumph of skill. The arrangement of the lights and shadows in this picture was pronounced by a recent writer on art to be worthy the pencil of that great master of chiar'oscuro, Rembrandt. St. Joseph is properly represented as much older than his bride, the expression of whose face is tender and submissive, though she is not beautiful. The female figure to the right of Mary is strangely attired in an enormous head-dress and loose gown; but the drapery on the other figures is gracefully and artistically disposed. The architectural arrangements of the building are extremely well managed, and in the bas-reliefs on the arch there is shown great fertility of invention and play of fancy. As a specimen of wood engraving, however, this is scarcely equal to the "Death's Head Coat of Arms," already noticed, or the "Melancholy."

The Dutch and German painters appear to have possessed but little idea of female beauty, or but small power of expressing it. But, in truth, their models were not chargeable with the sin of too much loveliness, a fact which may in part account for the extremely plain, not to say ugly, women whom Durer and his compeers have christened by the name of Mary. A modern writer says that the women of Germany do not belong to the tender sex, at least in appearance. Thus, can anything be more unlovely than the female figure with the child upon her lap, which is known by the name of “The Virgin with the Monkey?" (p. 172.) What was the design of the painter in introducing so ugly an animal into his picture, it is impossible to guess; for there is nothing in tradition or history, that we are acquainted with, which would account for such an eccentric combination. The face of the monkey, indeed, is so prominently intruded as quite to call off the attention from the infant Jesus playing with the bird, which should, according to all precedent, be the leading object in the picture. But in the details and accessories this picture is really fine. To be sure, there is in the background a Nuremburg house and a German landscape, but then the lover of old Flemish and Italian pictures has long ago learnt to look indulgently on such little inconsistencies as these.

"The War Horse" (p. 176) belongs to altogether another class of subjects. It bears the date 1505, and the monogram of the painter. Like the rest of Durer's performances, it is characterised by extreme care and laborious finish. Indeed, when we come to examine this design, and mark the evidences of labour bestowed upon its execution--every line completed, every separate hair and muscle of the animal elaborated with the greatest nicety, every part of the design worked up with the extremest pains, every part of the copper-plate covered in with "cross-hatchings" and "dry point" work-we are inclined to ask ourselves, was all this patient labour expended for no other purpose than to show us an unwieldy-looking horse and its soldier-rider, standing quietly in the grass-grown court-yard of an old castle? There must, we think, have been some motive for all this real hard work which, at this

Wyngaerde, who resided in Antwerp about the year 1640.

Enough has been said of the philosophy and tendency of Albert Durer's works; it will be our task now, therefore, to tell the reader where the originals of his most famous compositions are to be found. As we have already said, no specimens of Durer's oil paintings are to be seen in either the National Gallery, the Louvre, or the Belgian Museum; though the British Museum and the Louvre each of them possess impressions from his copper-plates and wood engravings. In the library of the Louvre are fifteen original drawings by Albert Durer, executed with a pen and shaded on white tinted paper, illustrative of the "Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ." In the National Library of Paris there are also five of our artist's beautifully-executed water-colour drawings; and in the Royal Library at Munich, there is preserved the celebrated missal of Maximilian I., during whose reign the Reformation, under Luther, first began. This missal is adorned with numerous arabesques by Albert Durer, drawn about the year 1515. The King of Bavaria also possesses eight drawings by this great master. In the collection of prints at Berlin, there are upwards of two hundred drawings by Durer; and the archduke Charles of Austria likewise possesses five specimens at his palace at Vienna. But the most complete and valuable collection of Durer's unpublished drawings is in the possession of the family of Joseph Heller, the artist, better known as the author of the "Life and Works of Albert Durer." This famous collection contains, besides various drawings, upwards of seventy portraits of persons with whom the painter was acquainted. Several of these drawings are rendered still more valuable by notes and descriptions from the hand of the artist.

Of the ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD attributed to Albert Durer, we have given several specimens. Many impressions exist in the British Museum, the Louvre at Paris, the Museum at Berlin, and elsewhere. Whether Durer actually engraved upon the wood, or contented himself with making the drawings merely, is a disputed question among artists and connoisseurs. Adam Bartsch, the celebrated German engraver, and keeper of the Imperial collection of Prints at Vienna from about 1790 to 1820, is of opinion that, from the multitudinous occupations of Albert Durer, he could not possibly have engraved the wood-cuts attributed to him; and he is further strengthened in this opinion by the inscriptions on the titles of the various productions in which those wood-cuts appeared. The German engravers, Hans Schauflein, Hans Burgmaier, Albert Altdorfer, and Lucas Cranach, most of whom were contemporaries of Durer, agree with Bartsch, who is still further confirmed in his conclusion by Charles Blanc, the editor of the "Histoire des Peintres," and George Stanley, the latest editor of Pilkington's "Dictionary of Painters." On the other hand, John Young, formerly keeper of the British Institution in Pall Mall, Joseph Heller, Rumohr, Ottley, and Heinecke, affirm the probability of Durer's having both drawn and engraved the blocks. For ourselves, we offer no opinion on the subject; content with the knowledge, that if an artist-mind guides the pencil, no indifferent engraving can altogether mar the effect of the drawing; and that, on the other hand, if the original drawing be bad, no amount of mechanical skill in the use of the graver is sufficient to completely hide its artistic defects.

There are no fewer than a hundred and seventy known wood engravings after Albert Durer's drawings, besides some sixty or more attributed to him. These last, though extremely well executed, do not bear internal evidence of Durer's handiwork. Most of the wood engravings-such as the "Greater and Lesser Passion," the "Life of the Virgin," "Samson slaying the Lion," &c., are from Scripture history. Of the ENGRAVINGS ON COPPER, STEEL, AND TIN, executed by Albert Durer, Bartsch enumerates no fewer than a hundred and eight, about one-fourth of which are devoted to sacred subjects. It would not be consistent with our space or design to give a list of thesc, but we may briefly indicate the most noticeable among them. The series of sixteen plates, called

the "Passion of Christ," has been three times engraved, and the coppers bear various dates, from 1507 to 1512. "Adam and Eve," and the "Nativity," impressions of both of which, from plates, may be seen in the print room of the British Museum, bear the date of 1504. Two proofs of the firstnamed subject sold at Durand's sale for £60. Several "Holy Families," on copper, are much esteemed by collectors, especially that known as the "Virgin with the Monkey," and another known as the "Virgin with the Apple," which represents Mary seated on a stone, in a landscape with buildings, and the infant holding in his hand an apple-a mode of representation very common in Nuremberg, where there exist some dozens of sculptured Virgins, executed by unknown artists, of greater or less pretensions as works of art.

The fine allegorical subject, called "Melancholy," a copy of which was sold at the Debois' sale for £5; "Death's Horse," which at the same sale brought £10; a woman with wings standing on a globe, holding in her hand a cup, "improperly called," says Stanley, "Pandora's Box," but otherwise known as the "Great Fortune," a proof of which was sold for £15; a naked woman on a globe, holding a stick with a thistle at the end of it, which is known as the "Little Fortune," and a proof of which sold for £5; "St. Hubert kneeling before a Stag, with a Cross on its forehead," one of Durer's best works, proofs of which sold for £20 to £30, according to their merit; "Death's Horse," which fetched £10; "The War Horse," also engraved on wood; the "Lord and Lady;" the "Conversion of St. Eustace," a perfect work; "St. Jerome meditating on the Holy Scriptures," the "Twelve Apostles," the "Prodigal Son," "Death's Head Coat of Arms (also on wood), the "Crucifixion," with the holy women and St. John at the foot of the cross, "Christ praying in the Garden," and the great "Ecce Homo," are all well-known subjects. Besides these, there are numerous engraved portraits, among which are-Albert Mayence, Frederick, Elector of Saxony, Willibald Pirckheimer, Philip Melancthon, the Reformer, Erasmus of Rotterdam, and Joachim Patenier, the landscape-painter of Leige and bosom-friend of Albert Durer.

Various scholars and followers of Durer's style have copied his engravings with more or less success. Among them may be mentioned Hans Wagner, Hans Schauflein, Bartholomew Beham, Albert Altdorfen, Jacques Binck, the first scholar of Albert Durer, Wenceslaus of Olmutz (1481), Wennig (1509), and Marc Antonio Ramondi (1787-1539). The last-mentioned artist has been pronounced one of the most extraordinary engravers of his time. The purity of his outlines, the beautiful character and expression of his heads, and the correct drawing of the extremities, establish his merit as a perfect master of design. But he was at the same time a great forger; for, according to Vasari, he saw at Venice the set of thirty-six wood-cuts by Durer representing the "Life and Passion of Jesus Christ," and was so much pleased with them, that he copied them with great precision on copper; and, having affixed Albert's cipher to them, the prints were taken to Italy and sold as originals. Durer at length, discovering the deception, complained to the senate of Nuremberg of the plagiarism, when the only redress that he obtained was, an order that for the future, when Antonio chose to copy Durer's, or any other painter's works, he should affix his own, and not the original artist's name to the plates!

Albert Durer, architect, sculptor, painter, engraver, geometrician, and author, has left numerous evidences of his skill behind him. In SCULPTURE his most important work is an alto-relievo in stone, representing the "Preaching of St. John the Baptist," now in the royal cabinet in Brunswick. The "Adam and Eve," carved in wood, in the cabinet of Gotha; "Jesus Christ on the Cross," a carving on ivory, in the royal collection at Munich; the "Thirty Thousand Virgins," sculptured in agate upon an altar, in the royal collection at Vienna, are all fine works, and display, more fully perhaps than any other of his performances, the peculiar tendency of the artist's mind. Durer's carvings on stone, wood, ivory, and agate, are preserved with jealous care in the palaces of the

nobility of Germany, which fact will account for so few of them being known in the present day. He is also said to have engraved several subjects on gems for seals, &c.

As an author, Albert Durer's fame rests upon several books of a technical character, very little known or read now-a-days. Among these are: "Instructions for Measuring with the Rule and Compasses," published in 1525, and enriched with sixtythree copperplate engravings; "Instructions for Building Fortifications," with nineteen engravings, published in 1517, and translated from the German into Latin in 1531; "Four Books on the Proportions of the Human Body," with plates, published in 1528, and afterwards translated into Latin in 1532, and French in 1557; and, certainly the most amusing work for the general reader, a volume of his letters, political essays, and journals of travels, published in French by Campe, under the title of "Relics of Albert Durer." This last work will be found in the library of the British Museum.

His most celebrated literary production is the Treatise on the Proportions of the Human Body. It must be confessed, however, that his German character, with all its obscurity and want of method, is observable in this treatise, in which there is also a great deficiency of comprehensive ideas, no general principle, and no synthesis. The reader can see clearly enough that 'Albert Durer was a man of imagination, but not a philosopher, and that he was deficient in that clearness of deduction for which French writers are so remarkable. When we find such a master as Durer taking in hand so fine a subject as that masterpiece of creation, the human body; we naturally expect the writer will rise to some elevation of thought, and show some sympathy with the lofty considerations suggested by the contemplation of nature's noblest production. On the contrary, Durer gives utterance to none of those great ideas which might well have served as the foundation for his work; he lays down no general principle, but abruptly commences by entering upon the consideration of a human body, which is seven times the size of the head, remarking at the same time that this proportion belongs only to rustic figures. In the second chapter he discusses one that is eight times as large as the head, upon which he gives no express indication of his opinion, though from other parts of his work it would appear he considered this proportion preferable. He then proceeds to the figure of a man whose height is equal to nine heads. Here the author, foreseeing a large and higher head may be desired, proposes the geometrical mean. Next comes the proportion of ten times the head, which Albert Durer evidently regards as exceeding the true proportion of beauty; for he pronounces the figure to be slender. Hence he allows the reader to increase the size of the head, and make it nearly a ninth part of the body. From a comparison of these various proportions, and Albert Durer's remarks upon them, we gather that, according to his notions, the proportion of beauty lies between the height of eight, and that of nine heads, since this is neither rustic, like that of seven heads, nor slender, like that of ten. But this view is nowhere distinctly expressed. The author avoids declaring his opinion in plain terms, leaving the reader to form his own judgment. He even goes so far, in the third book of his treatise, when touching upon the variety of human figures, as to invent a sort of instrument for lengthening or shortening figures, making them larger above, or smaller below, thicker or thinner, by placing them upright or inclined in a triangle, in which they diminish as they approach the vertex or uppermost point, and increase as they recede from it. If, however, he carries this alteration of figures to excess-that is to say, if he shortens or lengthens the representation of it so as to make it unnaturally thick or thin-no doubt he does this in order to warn the student and preserve him from the faults to which he is liable, and to teach him elegance by showing him deformity. But where is Albert Durer's idea of beauty? Will it suffice for the student to avoid every species of deformity in order to succeed in attaining to beauty? Albert Durer does not tell us this. He hopes the skilful artist will discover the laws of proportion by studying a great

multitude of men, no particular man being perfect. "The beauty," he says, "concealed in nature almost confuses one. We may meet with two handsome and well-formed men, who nevertheless have nothing in common, and of whom it is impossible to say which is the handsomer. Such is the imperfection of our knowledge. Who, then, can say with confidence and precision what is true excellence of form?" And not only does he confess himself unable to determine what constitutes true beauty, but he does not think the artist can worthily express the little he knows of it. And he exclaims, "Art can hardly express the beauty of nature. I speak not of a perfect beauty, but of one known to us and yet surpassing the power of our understanding, and escaping the skilful touch of our hand."

The Italians have been less severe than we in their judgment of this treatise, and Jean Paul Lomazzo, among others, professes so great an esteem for the German writer and his work, that he considers the proportion which Durer gives of a body, viz. ten times the size of the head, to be beautiful; but at the same time admits that competent judges think such a figure too slender, yet says it will not do to deviate from the judgment of so great a man as Albert Durer. He is, however, quite mistaken in attributing to Durer a preference for this proportion. M. Paillot de Montabert thinks he has discovered a sort of treasure (to use his own words) in Durer's work, and imagines the author must have obtained access to some ancient manuscript which has escaped the destruction of barbarous times; but this learned connoisseur does not explain himself with regard to the treasures which he declares he has discovered, and it appears to us that in guarding against one prejudice he has fallen into another. If Durer had possessed the manuscript of a Polycletus, a Euphranor, or only some pupil of these great masters, we should have found clearer traces of it in his pages. We should have met with the immortal rudiments of that beauty, the rule of which had been discovered and the form imaged by the Greeks.

The constant occupation of our artist on the more profitable employment of the graver, allowed him but few opportunities of exercising his talents as a painter. Consequently, not many pictures in oil are to be seen out of the galleries of the German sovereigns. The following are the principal works of this character of which the pedigree is perfectly

known:

In the Belvedere Palace at Vienna the portrait of Maximilian I., dated 1519.

"The Martyrdom of the 10,000 Christians, who were put to a Cruel Death by the command of Sapor II., King of Persia." Albert Durer is represented in this picture with his friend, Willibald Pirckheimer. He is holding a stick with a paper attached to it, with the inscription, "Iste faciebat anno Domini, 1508, Albertus Durer alemanus," with his monogram. This picture was painted for Frederick, Duke of Saxony; it afterwards adorned the. Rodolph Gallery at Prague. Karel Van Mander, in his "Book on the Painters," speaks very highly of it.

"The Trinity." God the Father, seated on a rainbow, is represented holding the dying Son on the cross; the Holy Ghost, in the shape of a dove, hovers above. It is surrounded by a glorious company of angels, saints, and patriarchs. Beneath is seen Albert Durer himself, holding a tablet with his monogram, and this inscription, "Albertus Durer, noricus, faciebat anno à Virginis partu, 1511,"

"The Virgin and the Pear," signed with his monogram, and dated 1512.

"Portrait of a Fair-haired Youth," dated 1507. "Portrait of Johannes Kleberger, Merchant of Nuremburg," dated 1526.

"The Holy Virgin Suckling the Infant Jesus," painted in 1503.

In the Pinakothek of Munich, some of Albert Durer's finest paintings are to be seen. This valuable collection, partly formed from those of Dusseldorf, Mannheim, and Schleisheim, contains seventeen works of this great master, many of them