Part 8 (1/2)

As is the case with King Arthur, the breastplate is worn over a coat of chain mail, and the greaves worn are plain.

The remaining twenty-six figures according to some authorities were designed by Gilg Sesselschreiber; although opinion is still somewhat divided regarding this point. It may, however, we think be accepted that Sesselschreiber was, at least in part, responsible for the greater number.

The relations.h.i.+p which existed between the Emperor Maximilian and the Munich artist Sesselschreiber, who had been engaged as Court painter in 1502, was not untinctured by an element of romance, which is doubly interesting as showing the relative positions of artist and patron in those stirring and disturbed times.

Happily for lovers of art and antiquities the original designs for the statues surrounding the tomb of Maximilian which Sesselschreiber made have been preserved, and can be seen in the Imperial Library, Vienna.

Exquisite pen-and-ink drawings delicately tinted, upon some of which the Emperor himself made corrections and suggestions in his own hand.

These are distinctly traceable on some from the unskilled nature of the pen-and-ink alterations.

[Sidenote: THE FAMOUS STATUES]

A curious fact is also brought to light by these sketches. It would seem from them beyond question that Maximilian fully intended being modelled for the figure of himself, which was to grace the memorial, in the suit of exquisite silver armour which he had worn on the occasion of his marriage at Ghent with Mary of Burgundy.[12] Several sketches were made, one, apparently from the notes and alterations upon it, displeased the Emperor from a technical point; in another the face was not as he wished with the result that Sesselschreiber altogether made four or more drawings.

The care which had been taken over this most important figure was, however, never destined to be utilized to the full, for the statue was not even modelled at the time of Maximilian's death in 1519, and the figure clad in coronation robes (instead, as was evidently intended, entirely in armour) which kneels on the top of the cenotaph was the work of Abraham Colin, who had never seen the Emperor in life, the cast not having been made until more than sixty years after Maximilian's death.

How slowly the great work of this magnificent tomb proceeded can be gathered from the dates we have quoted. The delay arose from several causes; amongst others, from the Emperor's shortness of money, owing to the vast schemes of conquest, science, and other matters in which he was engaged; and from the circ.u.mstance that Gilg Sesselschreiber appears to have become lazy, intemperate, and dissolute. In the end he took flight to Augsburg in fear of Maximilian's anger. The Emperor, however, was not prepared to yield up possession of his Court painter without a struggle, so the latter was captured and thrown into prison, from which he appears to have been released in 1516 on promise of reform. So that he might be freed from the temptations which Innsbruck afforded in the way of wine, women, and boon companions he was compelled by the Emperor to take up his residence at Natters on the western side of the Sill Gorge above Innsbruck.

The casting of the statues was largely done by the famous Gregor Loffler, who established a bronze foundry near Innsbruck, and also built the Castle of Buchsenhausen, although some of the statues were undoubtedly cast by Stephen and Melchior G.o.dl and Hans Lendenstreich who worked at the Muhlau foundry on the outskirts of Innsbruck.

Although the designing and casting of the statues is now generally accepted as being the work of the men we have named, it is more than possible that the idea of the whole complete piece of mediaeval and historical symbolism was that of some comparatively unknown brother of the Franciscan order. Originally the scheme was designed to include, in addition to the figures we have mentioned, twenty-three others of saints which were to be placed on raised pedestals or in niches, and were for this reason of much smaller size. They are now to be seen in the Silver Chapel. The following is a list of the large statues grouped around the tomb.

(1) Clovis, the first Christian King of France.

(2) Philip the Handsome, of the Netherlands, Maximilian's son. (1495.)

(3) The Emperor, Rudolf of Habsburg.

(4) Albert II. the Wise, Maximilian's great-grandfather.

(5) Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths. (455-526.)

(6) Ernest der Eiserne, Duke of Austria and Styria.

(1377-1424.)

(7) Theodebert, Duke of Burgundy. (640.)

(8) King Arthur of England.

(9) Sigismund der Munzreiche, Count of Tyrol. (1427-96.)

(10) Maria Bianca Sforza, Maximilian's second wife. Died 1510.

(11) The Archd.u.c.h.ess Margaret, Maximilian's daughter.

(12) Cymburgis of Ma.s.sovica, wife of Ernest der Eiserne.

Died 1433.

(13) Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, father of Mary of Burgundy, Maximilian's first wife.

(14) Philip the Good, father of Charles the Bold. Founder of the Order of the Golden Fleece. (1419.) Married Margaret of York, sister of Edward IV., in 1468. (1467-77.)

(15) Albert II., Duke of Austria, and Emperor of Germany.