Chapter I: Preface

THE Germans have by nature the gift of working in metal, and, among them, in the realms of bronze, Peter Vischer stands easily first. His position as a craftsman may, in fact, be compared with that held by his contemporary and fellow citizen, Albert Dürer, as an artist. The history of his works and of those of his house, have a peculiar interest to the student of art, inasmuch as they illustrate the gradual but easily traceable passage of the German craftsmen from the style of late Gothic to that of complete neo-paganism, and, from the school of the Northern painters and sculptors to that of the great Italian masters successively.

I speak of the works of Peter Vischer “and his house,” because, in tracing this development, we have to take into consideration not only his works but also those of his father Hermann and of his sons, Hermann and Peter and Hans. The pendulum of criticism has indeed swung more than once since the Emperor Maximilian used to visit Peter Vischer’s foundry in Nuremberg, and the questions as to what are actually the works of the Master and what position is to be assigned to him in the world of art, have been answered in more ways than one. For many years, owing partly to the ignorance of most people, and partly no doubt to the greed of the few, the tendency was to attribute to this one famous craftsman the works of many. At one time almost any work of art in bronze to be found throughout the length and breadth of Germany was attributed to Peter Vischer, just as a Talleyrand or a Sydney Smith has had witticisms of every date and every quality fathered upon him.

From unreasoning praise, again, men passed to equally undiscriminating disparagement. Heideloff arose and wished the world to see in Peter Vischer nothing but the mere craftsman who put into bronze the designs and models of Adam Krafft or another. The admirable labours of Retberg, however, and of Dr. Lübke have shown how little foundation there is for this view, and, more recently, by the application of the principles of more exact art-criticism, Dr. Seeger, in his minute and loving study of Peter Vischer the younger, has vindicated the claim of the great craftsman’s son to rank with, or even above, his father as the first and greatest exponent of Renaissance plastic-work in Germany.

To the two latter authors I have been continually and especially indebted whilst writing the present monograph. For the use of very many of the illustrations forming the volume to which Dr. Lübke contributed the text, my best thanks and acknowledgements are due to the publisher, Herr Stein, of Nuremberg.

C. H.

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix

BIBLIOGRAPHY xi

I. HERMANN VISCHER AND THE EARLY GERMAN 1
BRONZE-WORK

II. PETER VISCHER: HIS LIFE 9

III. THE EARLY WORKS OF PETER VISCHER 20

IV. THE SHRINE OF ST. SEBALD 36

V. THE TOMB OF MAXIMILIAN 64

VI. THE TUCHER MONUMENT AND THE NUREMBERG 72
MADONNA

VII. THE MINOR WORKS OF PETER VISCHER THE 86
YOUNGER

VIII. THE TOMB OF ELECTOR FREDERICK THE WISE, 101
AND THE RATHAUS RAILING

IX. THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF VISCHER 119

X. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WORKS OF THE 130
VISCHERS

CATALOGUE OF THE WORKS OF THE VISCHERS 133

Index 142

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATE PAGE

1. PORTRAIT OF PETER VISCHER Frontispiece

2. PETER VISCHER, THE CRAFTSMAN St. Sebald, 13
Nürnberg

3. TOMB OF ARCHBISHOP ERNST Cathedral, 23
Magdeburg

4. TOMB OF ARCHBISHOP ERNST Cathedral, 27
Magdeburg

5. ST. MAURICE Krafft House, Nürnberg 29

6. MONUMENT OF COUNT HERMANN VIII. Church, 31
Römhild

7. TOMB OF ST. SEBALD St. Sebald, Nürnberg 43

8. ST. PETER St. Sebald, Nürnberg 46

9. ST. SEBALD St. Sebald, Nürnberg 47

10. ST. SEBALD PUNISHES AN UNBELIEVER St. 55
Sebald, Nürnberg

11. ST. SEBALD HEALING THE BLIND MAN St. 57
Sebald, Nürnberg

12. ST. PAUL St. Sebald, Nürnberg 59

13. ST. BARTHOLOMEW St. Sebald, Nürnberg 61

14. THEODORIC, KING OF THE GOTHS Tomb of 68
Maximilian, Innsbruck

15. KING ARTHUR Tomb of Maximilian, 69
Innsbruck

16. MEETING OF CHRIST WITH THE SISTERS OF 75
LAZARUS Cathedral, Ratisbon

17. BEWEINUNG CHRISTI St. Ægidius, Nürnberg 79

18. THE NUREMBERG MADONNA Museum, Nürnberg 81

19. ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE Collection of M. 90
Dreyfus, Paris

20. ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE Museum, Berlin 93

21. EARTHLY LIFE (INKSTAND) Ashmolean 96
Museum, Oxford

22. HEAVENLY LIFE (INKSTAND) Ashmolean 97
Museum, Oxford

23. ELECTOR FREDERICK THE WISE 103
Schlosskirche, Wittenberg

24. THE RATHAUS RAILING Formerly at Nürnberg 109

25. THE RATHAUS RAILING Formerly at Nürnberg 113

26. BOY WITH BAGPIPES Museum, Nürnberg 120

27. TOMB-PLATE OF DUCHESS HELENE VON 121
MECKLENBURG Cathedral, Schwerin

28. THE APOLLO FOUNTAIN Rathaus Court, 126
Nürnberg

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baader. Beiträge zur Kunstgeschichte Nürnbergs.

Bauer (Robert). Peter Vischer und das alte Nürnberg.

Bergau (R). Peter Vischer, in Dohme’s Kunst und Künstler des
Mittelalters, vol. ii.

Bode. Geschichte der deutschen Plastik.

Daun (Berthold). Adam Krafft und die Künstler seiner Zeit.

Döbner (A. W.). Peter-Vischer-Studien.

Edelberg (R. von E. von). Quellenschriften für Kunstgeschichte.

Ephrussi (Charles). Albert Dürer et ses Dessins.

Heideloff. Die Ornamente des Mittelalters.

Jannsen. Geschichte des deutschen Volks.

Lübke (Wilhelm). Peter Vischer und seine Werke.
Lübke (Wilhelm). Renaissance in Deutschland.

Mummenhoff (R. von). Das Rathaus in Nürnberg.

Neudörffer. Nachrichten über Künstlern und Werkleuten Nürnbergs.

Reicke (Emil). Geschichte der Reichstadt Nürnberg.

Retberg (R. von). Nürnbergs Kunstleben in seinem Denkmalen
dargestellt.

Schönherr (David Ritter von). Geschichte des Grabmals Kaisers
Maximilian I.

Seeger (Georg). Peter Vischer der Jüngere.

Sieghart. Geschichte der bildenden Künste in Baiern.

Springer (Anton). Albrecht Dürer.

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“A man of amiable conversation and, among
natural arts (to speak as a layman), finely skilled
in casting.”

JOHANN NEUDÖRFFER.

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PETER VISCHER