Part 15 (1/2)
St Mark writes in his Gospel in the twelfth chapter: He said unto theo in long clothing, and love salutations in the ues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts; which devour s' houses, and for a pretense reater damnation
These rather tremendous texts may make one fear that the ”three Godless painters” had found little pity in their master; but most sincere Christians are better than their creeds, and more charitable than the old-world imprecations, admonitions, and denunciations, hich they soothe their Cerberus of an old Adam, who is not allowed to use his teeth to the full extent that their formidable nature would sees to love their eneood to those whom they would naturally hate, by a master whom they really love and strive to iivendown his ideas for the sake of those who, coo on far before him in the race for perfection In 1525 he published his first book--”Instruction in the Measurement with the Compass, and Rules of Lines, Surfaces, and Solid Bodies, drawn up by Albert Durer, and printed, for the use of all lovers of art, with appropriate diagraeometry in connection with Euclid's Elements Durer states from the very commencement that ”his book will be of no use to any one who understands the geometry of the 'very acute'
Euclid; for it has been written only for the young, and for those who have had no one to instruct the tells us his work shows certain resemblances to that of Luca Pacioli, a companion of Leonardo's, whoto teach me the secrets of the art of perspective,” and whona to see; it is even possible that he saw Leonardo himself in the latter town In 1527 he issued an essay on the ”Art of Fortification,” which the develop; and authorities on this very special science tell us that Durer is the true author of the ideas on which the ”new Prussian system”
was founded It was dread of the unchristian Turk as then besieging Vienna which called forth fro terhty prince and lord, Lord Ferdinand, King of Hungary and Boheundy and Brabant, Count of Hapsburg, Flanders, and Tirol, his Roent in the Holy Ehty King,the lifetihty Emperor Maximilian of praiseworthy race and favour from his Imperial Majesty; wherefore I considerto my small powers As it happeneth that your Majesty has commanded some towns and places to be fortified, I am induced to make knohat little I know about these ather soh my theorywill arise from it, here and there, useful not to your Majesty only, but to all other Princes, Lords, and Towns, that would gladly protect theainst violence and unjust oppression
I therefore huraciously to accept froracious lord,
Your Royal Majesty's most humble
ALBRECHT DuRER
It see Gate and Roseneck bastion of Strasburg were actually constructed in accordance with Durer's method
When, on April 6, 1528, Durer died suddenly, two volureat work on ”Huh raw s, &c, to enable his friend Pirkhei tith the of this thehere, as I have devoted a separate chapter to it
V
It seems probable that the ”wondrous sickness which overcame me in Zeeland, such as I never heard of from any man, and which sickness remains with me” of the Netherlands Journal (p 156) was an intermittent fever There exists at Bre with his finger to a spot between the pit of the storoin, which spot he has coloured yellow; and from its size, with the other descriptions of his nosis The words on the sketch, ”The yellow spot to which er points is where it pains me,” seem to indicate that he had ests either Master Jacob or Master Braun, whoth of his hair and the apparent vigour of his body, that the draas made soon after the disease was contracted All doubt as to its nature would be removed, could it be made certain that by the words, ”I have sent to your Grace early this year before I became ill,”
in a letter to the Elector Albert dated September 4, 1523, Durer meant to imply that at a certain period he became ill every year; but of course it is impossible to be sure of this
VI
If not rich, Durer died co tells us that his ” entered into possession of his whole fortune;” a fourth part belonged, according to Nure law, to his brothers, but she was not bound to render it to them before her death On June 9, 1530, however, she ”of her own desire, and on account of the friendly feeling which she entertained for them for her husband's sake, and as her dear brothers-in-law,” oldsmith, and to Caspar Altmulsteiner, on behalf of Hans Durer, then in the service of the King of Poland, a suave the sus on the corner house in the Zistelgasse, now called the Durer House; for the property had been valued at 6848 florins, seven pounds, twenty-four pfennigs Johann Neudorffer, who lived opposite the Durers, has recorded the fact that Durer's brother Endres inherited all his expensive colours, his copper plates and wood blocks, as well as any is beside And a year before her death, Agnes Durer gave the interest on the 1000 florins invested in the town to found a scholarshi+p for theological students at the University of Wittenberg; about which Melanchthon wrote to von Dietrich that he thanked God for this aid to study, and that he had praised this good deed of theDurer before Luther and others And yet Pirkhei soed to his friend, and which he coveted, could write of Agues Durer: ”She watched hiht earn ht she was on the borders of ruin--as for the h Albrecht left her property worth as h; and, in fact, she alone is the cause of his death!” We know that ith the four Apostles and his books Durer's last years were not spent on remunerative labours; nor does the Netherlands Journal contain any hint that his wife tried to restrict the employment either of his tiance; for the sale of a copper engraving or woodcut of a whale would have taken some time to make up for such an expense, and, as it turned out, no whale was seen or drawn; and there is no hint that Frau Durer made reproach or complaint On the other hand, Pirkheiht basis; and as Durer's sickness increased upon him, while at the sa ing at times; and Pirkheiances to Durer, nes, or heard his friend excuse hi, on the plea that his wife found he was spending out of proportion to his takings at the ood number of Durer's friends as to the value of his character; and first let us quote fro immediately after Durer's death and before' the loss of the coveted antlers had vexed him--to a common friend Ulrich, probably Ulrich Varnbuler
What can be rievous for a man than to have continually to mourn, not only children and relations who theh I have often had to mourn the loss of relations, still I do not know that any death ever caused ood and dear Albrecht Durer Nor is this without reason, for of all men not united to me by ties of blood, I have never loved or esteehtness And because I know, my dear Ulrich, that this blow has struck both you and rief before you of all others, so that together we one, good Ulrich; our Albrecht is gone! Oh, inexorable decree of fate! Oh, miserable lot of man! Oh, pitiless severity of death! Such a man, yea, such a man, is torn fro happiness, and live only too long!
Thausing insists on the fact that in this letter there is nobeen caused by his wife's behaviour; but as the relation of Ulrich to the deceased seeh as intimate as his own, there may have been no need to mention a fact painfully present to both their minds On the other hand, it is at least as probable that the idea was not present even to the mind of the writer, who, in a style less studiously commonplace, inscribed on Durer's tomb:
Me AL DU
QVICQVID ALBERTI DVRERI MORTALE FVIT, SVB HOC CONDITVR TVMVLO EMIGRAVIT VIII IDVS APRILIS MDXXVIII
(To the memory of Albrecht Durer All that was mortal of Albrecht Durer is laid beneath this mound He departed on April 6, 1528)
Luther wrote to Eoban Hesse:
As to Durer, it is natural and right to weep for so excellent a man; still you should rather think him blessed, as one whom Christ has taken in the fulness of His wisdom, and by a happy death, from these most troublous times, and perhaps from times even more troublous which are to co but excellence should be forced to behold things most vile May he rest in peace Amen