Part 6 (1/2)
The Doge and the Patriarch have also seen my picture Herewith let o to sleep as it is striking the seventh hour of the night, and I have already written to the Prior of the Augustines, to my father-in-law, to Mistress Dietrich, and to ht whole sheets full So I have had to hurry over this letter, read it according to the sense You would doubtless do better if you riting to a lot of Princes Many good nights and days too Given at Venice on our Lady's day in Septe; they have got h,
ALBRECHT DuRER
VENICE, _Septefroht You entle; I shall hardly know you when I ain
You must know that my picture is finished as well as another _Quadro_[18] the like of which I have never painted before And as you are so pleased with yourself, let me tell you that there is no better Madonna picture in the land than mine; for all the painters praise it, as the nobles do you They say that they have never seen a nobler, , and so forth
But in order to come home as soon as possible, I have, since my picture was finished, refused work that would have yielded me more than 2000 ducats This all men knoho live about s of you, though I think he does so because you have becory than when any one says that you are good-looking; if that were so I should becorey hair on myself, it is the result of so much excitement And I fear that while I play such pranks with myself there are still bad days before me, &c
My French reeting, I should be glad to see what great thing your head-piece can produce that you hold yourself so high
VENICE, _about October_ 13, 1506
Knowing that you are aware of my devotion to your service there is no need for me to write to you about it; but so reat pleasure it gives h honour and faht you This is thebody can the like be found It corace of God How pleased we both are e fancy ourselves worth so, and you with your wisdom
When any one praises us, we hold up our heads and believe hi us all the time
So don't credit any one who praises you, for you've no notion how utterly and entirely unrave and speaking so pleasantly--behaving exactly as if you were flirting with Mistress Rosentaler, cringing as you do It did not escape me that, when you wrote your last letter, you were quite full of aht to be ashaood-looking Flirting pleases you in the saaentle a oinsland[19] as you do to pious Zamesser and me I will have you for once shut up there with the ladies Rechenmeister, Rosentaler, Gartner, Schutz, and Por, and many others whom for shortness I will not name; they must deal with you
People enquire irls and honourable wives ask after n of my virtue
When, however, God helps er stand you with your great wisdos will be the better for it, for you will no longer strike theht so much of at home, you won't dare to talk to a poor painter in the street any race for you
O, dear Herr Pirkhei to you, the alarm of fire was raised and six houses over by Pietro Venier are burnt, and a woollen cloth of ht ducats, is burnt, so I too am in trouble There is much excitement here about the fire
As to your summons to me to come home soon, I shall coain money for my expenses I have paid away about 100 ducats for colours and other things I have ordered you two carpets for which I shall pay to-et them cheap
I will pack them in with my linen
And as to your threat that, unless I come home soon, you will make love to my wife, don't attempt it--a ponderous fellow like you would be the death of her
Iand went twice to the school, for which I had to pay the ain To learn dancing I should have had to pay away all that I have earned, and at the end I should have known nothing about it
[Illustration: HANS BURGKMAIR--Black chalk drawing on yellowish prepared ground The lights and background in watercolor may possibly have been added later At Oxford]
In reply to your question when I shall come hoements, that I shall have finished here in ten days; after that I should like to ride to Bologna to learn the secrets of the art of perspective, which a ht or ten days and then return to Venice After that I shall coer How I shall freeze after this sun! Here I aentleman, at home only a parasite
III
Sir Martin Conrites:
He (Durer) enjoyed Venice; he liked the Italians; he was oppressed with orders for work; the climate suited him, and the warm sun was a pleasant contrast to the snows and frost of a Franconian winter But Durer's German heart was true; its truth was the secret of his success The syren voice of Italy charmed to their destruction ht face to face with the Italian Ideal of Grace, they one after another abandoned for it the Ideal of Strength peculiarly their own
We do not resort to these argu residence in England I a when he first praised Durer in this strain; but I must confess I suspect it was no little I incline to think that the best country for an artist is not always the one he was born in, but often that one where his art finds the best conditions to foster it We do not honour Durer by supposing that he would have been a that er van der Weyden and Burgkmair, returned froreater portion of his life with her syren voice in his ears