The Journey to Venice.--Bellini's Friendship.--Letters to
Pirkheimer.--"The Feast of Rose Garlands."--Bologna.--"Adam and
Eve."--"The Coronation of the Virgin."
Late in 1505 Duerer made a journey to Venice, probably with a view to
recover his health, enlarge his circle of friends and patrons, and
study the famous Venetian paintings. He was worn down by continuous
hard work, and weary of the dull uneventfulness of his life, and
hailed an opportunity to rest in sunny Italy. He borrowed money from
Pirkheimer for his journey, and left a small sum for family expenses
during his absence. Between Nuremberg and her rich Southern rival
there was a large commerce, with a weekly post; and many German
merchants and artists were then residing in Venice. Duerer rode down on
horseback; and suffered an attack of illness at Stein, near Laibach,
where he rewarded the artist who had nursed him by painting a picture
on the wall of his house. On arriving at Venice, the master was
cordially received, and highly honored by the chief artists and
literati of the city. The heads of Venetian art at that time were
Giovanni Bellini and Carpaccio, both of whom were advanced in years;
and Giorgione and Titian, who were not mentioned by our traveller,
though they were both at work for the Fondaco de' Tedeschi at the same
time as himself.
During his residence in Venice he wrote nine long letters to "the
honorable and wise Herr Willibald Pirkheimer, Burgher of Nuremberg,"
which were walled up in the Imhoff mansion during the Thirty Years'
War, and discovered at a later age. Much of these letters is taken up
with details about Pirkheimer's commissions for precious stones and
books, or with badinage about the burgher's private life, with
frequent allusions to the support of the Duerers at home. Of greater
interest are the accounts of the writer's successes in art, and the
friends whom he met in Venetian society. The letters were embellished
with rude caricatures and grotesques, matching the broad humor of the
jovial allusions in the text. Either Pirkheimer was a man of most
riotous life, or Duerer was a bold and pertinacious jester, unwearying
in mock-earnest reproofs. These letters were sealed with the Duerer
crest, composed of a pair of open doors above three steps on a shield,
which was a punning allusion to the name Duerer, or Thuerer, _Thuer_
being the German word for _door_. In the second letter he says,--
"I wish you were in Venice. There are many fine fellows among
the painters, who get more and more friendly with me; it
holds one's heart up. Well-brought-up folks, good
lute-players, skilled pipers, and many noble and excellent
people, are in the company, all wishing me very well, and
being very friendly. On the other hand, here are the falsest,
most lying, thievish villains in the whole world, appearing
to the unwary the pleasantest possible fellows. I laugh to
myself when they try it with me: the fact is, they know their
rascality is public, though one says nothing. I have many
good friends among the Italians, who warn me not to eat or
drink with their painters; for many of them are my enemies,
and copy my picture in the church, and others of mine
wherever they meet with them; and yet, notwithstanding this,
they abuse my works, and say that they are not according to
ancient art, and therefore not good. But Gian Bellini has
praised me highly before several gentlemen, and he wishes to
have something of my painting. He came himself, and asked me
to do something for him, saying that he would pay me well for
it; and all the people here tell me what a good man he is, so
that I also am greatly inclined to him."
These sentences show the artist's pleasure at the kindly way in which
the Italians received him, and also reveal the danger in which he
stood of being poisoned by jealous rivals. Another ambiguous sentence
has given rise to the belief that Duerer had visited Venice eleven
years previously, during his _Wander-jahre_.
Camerarius says that Bellini was so amazed and delighted at the
exquisite fineness of Duerer's painting, especially of hair, that he
begged him to give him the brush with which he had done such delicate
work. The Nuremberger offered him any or all of his brushes, but
Bellini asked again for the one with which he had painted the hair;
upon which Duerer took one of his common brushes, and painted a long
tress of woman's hair. Bellini reported that he would not have
believed such marvellous work possible, if he had not seen it himself.
The third letter describes the adventures of the inexpert artist in
securing certain sapphires, amethysts, and emeralds for his "dear Herr
Pirkheimer," and complains that the money earned by painting was all
swallowed up by living expenses. The jealous Venetian painters had
also forced him, by process of law, to pay money to their art-schools.
His brother Hans was now sixteen years old, and had become a source of
responsibility, for Duerer adds: "With regard to my brother, tell my
mother to speak to Wohlgemuth, and see whether he wants him, or will
give him work till I return, or to others, so that he may help
himself. I would willingly have brought him with me to Venice, which
would have been useful to him and to me, and also on account of his
learning the language; but my mother was afraid that the heavens would
fall upon him and upon me too. I pray you, have an eye to him
yourself: he is lost with the women-folk. Speak to the boy as you
well know how to do, and bid him behave well and learn diligently
until I return, and not be a burden to the mother; for I cannot do
every thing, although I will do my best."
In the fourth letter he speaks of having traded his pictures for
jewels, and sends greetings to his friend Baumgaertner, saying also:
"Know that by the grace of God I am well, and that I am working
diligently.... I wish that it suited you to be here. I know you would
find the time pass quickly, for there are many agreeable people here,
very good amateurs; and I have sometimes such a press of strangers to
visit me, that I am obliged to hide myself; and all the gentlemen wish
me well, but very few of the painters."
The fifth letter opens with a long complimentary flourish in a
barbarous mixture of Italian and Spanish, and then chaffs Pirkheimer
unmercifully for his increasing intrigues. It also thanks Pirkheimer
for trying to placate Agnes Frey, who is evidently much disappointed
because her husband lingers so long at Venice. The Prior Eucharius is
besought to pray that Duerer might be delivered from the new and
terrible "French disease," then fatally prevalent in Italy. Mention is
made of Andreas, the goldsmith, Duerer's brother, meeting him at
Venice, and borrowing money to relieve his distress.
The next letter starts off with quaint mock-deference, and alludes to
the splendid Venetian soldiery, and their contempt of the Emperor.
Farther on are unintelligible allusions, and passages too vulgar for
translation. He says that the Doge and Patriarch had visited his
studio to inspect the new picture, and that he had effectually
silenced the artists who claimed that he was only good at engraving,
and could not use colors. Soon afterwards he writes about the
completion of his great painting of the Rose Garlands; and says,
"There is no better picture of the Virgin Mary in the land, because
all the artists praise it, as well as the nobility. They say they have
never seen a more sublime, a more charming painting." He adds that he
had declined orders to the amount of over 2,000 ducats, in order to
return home, and was then engaged in finishing a few portraits.
The last letter congratulates Pirkheimer on his political successes,
but expresses a fear lest "so great a man will never go about the
streets again talking with the poor painter Duerer,--with a poltroon
of a painter." In response to Pirkheimer's threat of making love to
his wife if he remained away longer, he said that if such was done, he
might keep Agnes until her death. He also tells how he had been
attending a dancing-school, but could not learn the art, and retired
in disgust after two lessons.
The picture which Duerer painted for the Fondaco de' Tedeschi was until
recently supposed to be a "St. Bartholomew;" but it is now believed
that it was the renowned "Feast of Rose Garlands," which is now at the
Bohemian Monastery of Strahow. He worked hard on this picture for
seven months, and was proud of its beauty and popularity. The Emperor
Rudolph II. bought it from the church in which it was set up, and had
it carried on men's shoulders all the way from Venice to Prague, to
avoid the dangers attending other modes of conveyance. When Joseph II.
sold his pictures, in 1782, this one was bought by the Abbey of
Strahow, and remained buried in oblivion for three-quarters of a
century. The picture shows the Virgin sitting under a canopy and a
star-strewn crown held by flying cherubs, with the graceful Child in
her lap. She is placing a crown of roses on the head of the Emperor
Maximilian, while Jesus places another on the head of the Pope; and
a monk on one side is similarly honored by St. Dominic, the founder
of the Feast of the Rose Garlands. A multitude of kneeling men and
women on either side are being crowned with roses by merry little
child-angels, flying through the air; while on the extreme right,
Duerer and Pirkheimer are seen standing by a tree.
Pirkheimer and Agnes had both been urging the master to return; but he
seemed reluctant to exchange the radiance of Italy for the quietness
of his home-circle, and mournfully exclaims, "Oh, how I shall freeze
after this sunshine! Here I am a gentleman, at home only a parasite!"
A brilliant career was open before him at Venice, whose Government
offered him a pension of 200 ducats; but his sense of duty compelled
him to return to Germany, though in bitterness of spirit. Before
turning Northward he rode to Bologna, "because some one there will
teach me the secret art of perspective" (Francesco Francia); and met
Christopher Scheurl, who greatly admired him. A year later Raphael
also came to Bologna, and saw some works left there by Duerer, from
which arose an intimate correspondence and exchanges of pictures
between the artists. The master had been invited to visit the
venerable Mantegna, at Mantua; but that Nestor of North-Italian art
died before the plan was carried out. Duerer afterwards told Camerarius
that this death "caused him more grief than any mischance that had
befallen him during his life."
Art-critics agree in rejoicing that Duerer conquered the temptations
which were held out to him from the gorgeous Italian city, and
returned to his plain life in the cold North. He escaped the danger of
sacrificing his individualism to the glowing and sensuous Venetian
school of art, and preserved the quaintness and vigor of his own
Gothic inspirations for the joy of future ages.
The marine backgrounds in many of Duerer's later pictures are referred
by Ruskin to the artist's pleasant memories of Venice, "where he
received the rarest of all rewards granted to a good workman; and, for
once in his life, was understood." Other and wilder landscapes in his
woodcuts were reminiscences of the pastoral regions of the Franconian
Switzerland.
The personal history of Duerer between 1507 and 1520 was barren of
details, but evidently full of earnest work, as existing pictures bear
witness. It was the golden period of his art-life, abounding in
productiveness. His workshop was the seat of the chief art-school in
Nuremberg, and contained many excellent young painters and engravers,
to whom the master delivered his wise axioms and earnest thoughts in
rich profusion.
During this period, also, he probably executed certain of his best
works in carving, which are hereinafter described. Dr. Thausing
denies that Duerer used the chisel of the sculptor to any extent, and
refuses to accept the genuineness of the carvings which the earlier
biographers have attributed to him. Scott is of the opinion that in
most cases these rich and delicate works were executed by other
persons, either from his drawings or under his inspection.
On his return from Venice, Duerer painted life-sized nude figures of
Adam and Eve, representing them with the fatal apple in their hands,
at the moment of the Fall. They are well designed in outline, but
possess a certain anatomical hardness, lacking in grace and mobility.
They were greatly admired by the Nurembergers, in whose Rath-haus
they were placed; but were at length presented to the Emperor Rudolph
II. He replaced them with copies, which Napoleon, in 1796, supposed to
be Duerer's original works, and removed to Paris. He afterwards
presented them to the town of Mayence, where they are still exhibited
as Duerer's. The true originals passed into Spain, where they were
first redeemed from oblivion by Passavant, about the year 1853. A copy
of the Adam and Eve, which was executed in Duerer's studio and under
his care, is now at the Pitti Palace.
In the spring of 1507 Duerer met at the house of his brother-in-law
Jacob Frey, the rich Frankfort merchant Jacob Heller, who commissioned
him to paint an altar-piece. He was delayed by a prolonged attack of
fever in the summer, and by the closing works on the Elector's
picture.
Between 1507 and 1514 (inclusive) Duerer made forty-eight engravings
and etchings, and over a hundred woodcuts, bespeaking an iron
diligence and a remarkable power of application. The rapid sale of
these works in frequent new editions gave a large income to their
author, and placed him in a comfortable position among the burghers
of Nuremberg. The religious excitement then prevailing throughout
Europe, on the eve of the Reformation, increased the demand for his
engravings of the Virgin, the saints, and the great Passion series.
In 1508 Duerer finished the painting of "The Martyrdom of the Ten
Thousand Christians," to which he professed to have given all his time
for a year. It was ordered by Frederick of Saxony, the patron of Lucas
Cranach, who had seen the master's woodcut of the same subject, and
desired it reproduced in an oil-painting. It is a painful and
unpleasant scene, full of brutality and horror; and the picture is
devoid of unity, though conspicuous for clear and brilliant coloring.
Duerer and Pirkheimer stand in the middle of the foreground.
On the completion of this work the master wrote to Heller, "No one
shall persuade me to work according to what I am paid." He then began
Heller's altar-piece, under unnecessary exhortation "to paint his
picture well," and made a great number of careful studies for the new
composition. When fairly under way, he demanded 200 florins for his
work instead of the 130 florins of the contract-price, which drew an
angry answer from the frugal merchant, with accusations of dishonesty.
The artist rejoined sharply, dwelling upon the great cost of the
colors and the length of the task, yet offering to carry out his
contract in order to save his good faith. Throughout the next year
Heller stimulated the painter to hasten his work, until Duerer became
angry, and threw up the commission. He was soon induced to resume it,
and completed the picture in the summer of 1509, upon which the
delighted merchant paid him gladly, and sent handsome presents to his
wife and brother. Duerer wrote to Heller, "It will last fresh and clean
for five hundred years, for it is not done as ordinary paintings
are.... But no one shall ever again persuade me to undertake a
painting with so much work in it. Herr Jorg Tauss offered himself to
pay me 400 florins for a Virgin in a landscape, but I declined
positively, for I should become a beggar by this means. Henceforward I
will stick to my engraving; and, if I had done so before, I should be
richer by a thousand florins than I am to-day."
The picture which caused so much argument and toil was "The Coronation
of the Virgin," which was set up over the bronze monument of the
Heller family in the Dominican Church at Frankfort. Its exquisite
delicacy of execution attracted great crowds to the church, and
quickly enriched the monastery. Singularly enough, the most famous
part of the picture was the sole of the foot of one of the kneeling
Apostles, which was esteemed such a marvellous work that great sums
were offered to have it cut out of the canvas. The Emperor Rudolph II.
offered the immense amount of 10,000 florins for the painting, in
vain; but in 1613 it passed into the possession of Maximilian of
Bavaria, and was destroyed in the burning of the palace at Munich,
sixty years later. So the renowned picture, which Duerer said gave him
"more joy and satisfaction than any other he ever undertook," passed
away, leaving no engraving or other memorial, save a copy by Paul
Juvenal. This excellent reproduction is now at Nuremberg, and is
provided with the original wings, beautifully painted by Duerer,
showing on one the portrait of Jacob Heller and the death of St.
James, and on the other Heller's wife, and the martyrdom of St.
Catherine.
In 1501 the burgher Schiltkrot and the pious copper-smith Matthaeus
Landaeuer founded the House of the Twelve Brothers, an alms-house for
poor old men of Nuremberg; and eight years later, Landaeuer ordered
Duerer to paint an altar-piece of "The Adoration of the Trinity," for
its chapel. Much of the master's time for the next two years was
devoted to this great work.