CHAPTER X
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WORKS OF THE VISCHERS
THE position of the Vischers in the hierarchy of the artists not very difficult to appreciate, and it has perhaps been sufficiently indicated in the course of our enumeration of their works. They—for in forming an estimate of their work, we need not, nor cannot, separate father and sons—were great craftsmen, interpreting the teachings of other and greater artists of other lands, but yet assuredly not without an individuality and original power of their own. The view once advanced by Heideloff cannot be for a moment entertained, the view, that is, that they were mere workers in bronze who reproduced in that material the ideas and drawings of others. The evidence of our eyes, which enable us to trace the development of their style, would be enough to refute that opinion, even if we were without the documentary evidence which shows that father and sons alike were patient and painstaking draughtsmen as well as craftsmen all their lives.
In the history of German art, then, their work represents, as we have remarked above, the transition from Gothic to the Renaissance style. It is eloquent to us of the passing from the conventions and the extravagances of late Gothic to a complete acceptance and delight in neo-paganism. And it was natural that, in the spirit of intense enthusiasm for Italian art which was upon them, these German craftsmen should reproduce what they had learnt from a Jacopo de’ Barbari, a Sansovino or a Donatello. They did, indeed, plagiarize when they wished with a splendid readiness and a fervour unashamed. They copied in a spirit of sincerest flattery an angel making music, or a symbol of an Evangelist from Donatello; an Apostle or a dolphin from an Italian building; a pose, a hand or the fold of a mantle from Leonardo da Vinci. The list could be expanded. But it would not prove that the Vischers were mere servile copyists. They could do more than imitate. They could apply the lessons they had learnt from their careful study of the Italian Masters, and apply them with successful originality. It is in the energy which lives in the King Arthur, in the simple yet vigorous composition and execution of bas-reliefs, such as the Healing of the blind man on St. Sebald’s tomb, or the Tucher Memorial, with their wholly admirable treatment of lines and planes; it is in the tender and spiritual feeling infused into the greatest of their bronze portraits that the unanswerable vindication lies of an imitation proved not too slavish and of a study that has not deadened but inspired.
It may indeed be the case that the lessons which they thus taught were sterilizing: that the very enthusiasm for Italian art which they showed and generated was destined to destroy the flower of native German art. Certain it is that the Vischers founded no school and that individuality in German art was, from this time forth, blighted and crushed. But there are a dozen other causes to which this same decay of the native art may with as much probability be attributed. It is quite as likely to be due to the material facts of German domestic history as to the exotic influence of a foreign nation. But for us it remains only to take the work of these craftsmen as they gave it to the world, and to apportion to them the praise they have deserved. They aimed, with the most elaborate care and anxious perseverance, at perfection of detail, and this perfection they did frequently attain without prejudice to the proportionment and simplicity of the whole. The artist who pays great attention to the minute is too often afflicted with a kind of æsthetic myopia which prevents him from perceiving the defects of his complete design. His work becomes too curious or else florid and ineffective. This is the besetting sin of Teutonic art, and it is a danger to which metal-workers of all times and in all countries are especially liable. The Vischers in their best work succeeded in avoiding it, for there we find a repose, a dignity, a simplicity and a spirituality which raises it to the level of the very best ever executed.
CATALOGUE OF THE CHIEF WORKS BY OR ATTRIBUTED TO HERMANN VISCHER, HIS SON PETER VISCHER AND PETER VISCHER’S SONS, HERMANN, PETER, AND JOHANN KNOWN AS HANS DER GIESSER.
HERMANN VISCHER. Died, 1487.
FONT. Signed, “DO MAN ZALT VON CRISTI GEPURT MCCCC UND DARNACH IM LVII JAR AN SANCT MICHAELS TAG DO WARD DIS WERK VOLBRACHT VON MEISTER HERMAN VISCHER ZU NU[˜R]BE[~G].”
Wittenberg, 1457.
TOMB-PLATES. At Meissen and Bamberg.
LÖFFELHOLZ CRUCIFIX. St. Sebaldus Church, Nuremberg.
PETER VISCHER. 145(?)-1529.
MONUMENT OF COUNT OTTO IV. von Henneberg.
Stiftskirche, Römhild, 1487 (?).
FIRST DESIGN FOR A SEBALDUSGRAB. Signed with initials on either side of Cross with hook emblem.
Vienna, 1488.
TOMB OF BISHOP HEINRICH III., Gross von Trockau. Probably after a design by W. Katzheimer.
Cathedral, Bamberg, 1492.
MONUMENT OF BISHOP GEORG II., Marshal von Ebenet. From a design by W. Katzheimer.
Cathedral, Bamberg, 1492(?).
TOMB OF BISHOP JOHN IV. (Johann Roth). Figures of six Apostles. Signed, “GEMACHT ZU NUREMBERG FON MIR PETER FISCHER IM 1496 JAR.”
Cathedral, Breslau, 1496.
TOMB OF ARCHBISHOP ERNST. Described, pp. 24-30. Signed, “GEMACHT ZU NUREMBERG VON MIR PETER VISCHER ROTGIESZER VND IST VOLBRACHT WORDEN DO MAN ZALT 1.4.9.7. JAR.”
Cathedral, Magdeburg, 1497.
SAINT MAURICE. Fountain in the Court of the Krafft House.
Nuremberg.
MONUMENT OF BISHOP VEIT. After design by some other artist.
1497-1900.
MONUMENT OF COUNT EITEL, FRIEDRICH II. von Hohenzollern and his wife Magdalena, Countess of Brandenburg. After a drawing by Albrecht Dürer. Partly destroyed in 1782.
Stadtkirche, Hechingen, 1500.
MONUMENT OF COUNT HERMANN VIII. of Henneberg and his wife Elizabeth, Countess of Brandenburg. After the drawing by Albrecht Dürer.
Stiftskirche, Römhild, 1500.
TOMB OF CARDINAL-BISHOP FREDERICK. From the Vischer Foundry, but hardly from the Master’s hand.
Cathedral, Cracow (d. 1503).
BISHOP’S DESK WITH BRAZEN EAGLE.
Cathedral, Halberstadt, 1510(?).
THEODORIC, KING OF THE GOTHS. Tomb of Maximilian.
Innsbruck, 1513.
CHRIST ON THE CROSS, on a tablet of about six inches. “This was formerly in the Silberrad Collection. Count Clam-Martinitz purchased it. After his death it came into the possession of the Director of the Academy Bergler, who had it gilded.” Retberg.
At Prague, 1515.
TOMB-PLATE of Burgomaster Tiedemann Beck and his wife.
Marienkirche, Lübeck, 1521.
MEMORIAL TABLET of Prebendary Henning Goden. (Crowning of Mary.)
Schlosskirche, Wittenberg, (Replica in Erfurt Cathedral), 1521.
MEMORIAL TABLET of Anton Kress, who is represented kneeling and praying before a crucifix.
S. Lorenzkirche, Nuremberg.
SMALLER WORKS IN THE GERMANIC MUSEUM, NUREMBERG, ATTRIBUTED TO PETER VISCHER.
DOG SCRATCHING ITSELF. The authenticity of this is very doubtful. It is not worthy of the Master whose name it bears.
Replicas in Berlin and Dresden.
CARDINAL’S HEAD.
NEPTUNE (Fountain-figure).
SMALL GENIUS on a temple which rests on six columns. Three beasts of the sea, hanging by their tails, look out from it. It is borne by six serpents. It probably forms a small epitome of the Sebaldusgrab.
BOY WITH BAGPIPES.
WORKS BY THE FAMILY.
ST. WENZEL (from the Vischer Foundry, but probably the work of an apprentice).
Cathedral, Prague.
TOMB-PLATE OF DUCHESS HELENE OF MECKLENBURG (Heraldic).
Cathedral, Schwerin, 1528.
TOMB OF ST. SEBALD. Described in Chap. IV. Signed, see p. 44. Made with the aid of his five sons. What share is due to each we have discussed in the text.
St. Sebalduskirche, Nuremberg, 1508-1519.
RATHAUS RAILING. By Peter Vischer and his sons, notably Hermann, Peter and Hans. Formerly in the Rathaus, Nuremberg. Destroyed 1806.
1515.
PETER VISCHER THE YOUNGER
MEDALLION PORTRAIT OF HIS BROTHER HERMANN. Inscription, “HERMANUS·VISCHER·M·CCCCCVII.”
1507.
MEDALLION PORTRAIT OF HIMSELF. Inscription, “EGO PETR’[TN2] VISCHER MEUS ALTER. 22 ANO 1509.”
1509.
MEDALLION PORTRAIT OF HERMANN VISCHER. Inscription, “HERMAN’[TN2] VISCHER. AN. 1511.”
KING ARTHUR, TOMB OF MAXIMILIAN.
Innsbruck 1513.
INKSTAND. (α) Vase decorated with medallion heads and scroll work between which is repeated the emblem of the two fish, back to back, impaled with a dagger. A female figure, helmeted, stands by the vase, pointing to herself. A skull is thrust backward by her right foot. Against the vase rests a shield of quadrate form, and on the ground is a club and a label with the motto VITAM NON MORTEM RECOGITA, inscribed in relief.
Fortnum Collection, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1510(?).
INKSTAND. (β) A female figure, pointing upwards, rests on an oviform vase. A round shield and sword lie upon the ground, behind the figure and vase. In the foreground is a skull. Against the vase rests a tablet on which runs the motto: VITAM NON MORTEM RECOGITA. Beneath these words is the emblem of the two fishes, back to back, impaled, with the initials P.V. The date, 1525, incised with emblem of cross and hook, on the base.
Fortnum Collection, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1525.
ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE. Plaquette (Bas-Relief) In the Collection of M. Dreyfus.
Paris, 1515(?)
ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE. Plaquette (Bas-Relief).
Berlin Museum, 1520 (circ.).
ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE. Plaquette, as above.
Museum, Hamburg, 1520 (circ.).
ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE. Plaquette, as above.
Institution of St. Paul, Carinthia, 1520 (circ.).
All four plaquettes carry the sign of two fish back to back pierced by a nail.
MONUMENT OF FRAU MARGARETHE TUCHER OF NUREMBERG. Bas-relief of Christ meeting the sisters of Lazarus. Signed, with initials on either side of cross with hook emblem (see p. 74). NORMBERGE appears beneath the initials and sign, and under it the date, 1521.
Cathedral, Ratisbon (Regensburg), 1521.
MONUMENT OF THE EISSEN FAMILY. Bas-relief of the Entombment. Signed, with initials “P. V.” on either side of mark. The date on both sides of the cross. “NORIMBERGE” appears beneath the initials and sign.
St. Ægidius Church, Nuremberg, 1522.
ALLEGORY ON THE REFORMATION. Aquarelle. Signed, “PETR. VISH. FACIEB.” with date, 1524, and mark.
Goethe-National-Museum, Weimar.
THE NUREMBERG MADONNA. Wooden model.
Germanic Museum, Nuremberg.
TOMB OF CARDINAL ALBRECHT OF BRANDENBURG, Archbishop of Magdeburg and Mainz. Signed, “OP’[TN2] M. PETRI. FISCHERS. NORIMBERGE: 1525.”
Stiftskirche, Aschaffenburg.
TOMB OF ELECTOR FREDERICK THE WISE. Signed, “OPUS. M. PETRI. FISCHER. NORIMBERGENSIS. 1527.”
Schlosskirche, Wittenberg, 1527.
JOHANN VISCHER (HANS DER GIESSER) 1488-1592.
TOMB OF BISHOP LORENZ OF BIBRA. Cast by Hans; but the hand of Peter Vischer the elder is very likely traceable in the design.
Cathedral, Würzburg, 1529.
APOLLO FOUNTAIN. In the Court of the Rathaus, Nuremberg. After a drawing by Jacopo de’ Barbari.
1532.
TOMB OF JOHN THE STABLE. (A weak imitation of the monument of Frederick the Wise by his brother.) Signed, “H. V.”
Schlosskirche, Wittenberg, 1534.
CANOPY OVER THE TOMB OF ST. MARGARET.
Stiftskirche, Aschaffenburg, 1536.
MONUMENT OF HECTOR POMER.
S. Lorenzkirche, Nuremberg, 1541.
MONUMENT OF BISHOP SIGISMUND OF LINDENAU. (Signed with the initials “H. F.” on either side of the mark of the Vischers.)
Cathedral, Merseburg.
TABLET WITH HIGH RELIEF OF MADONNA AND CHILD. Signed, “IOHANNES. VISCHER. NORIC. FACIEBAT. MDXXX.”
Stiftskirche, Aschaffenburg, 1530.
GRAVE PLATE OF BISHOP OF STADION. (Crucifix between Mary, John and two Bishops.)
St. Ægidius Church, Nuremberg, 1543.
DOUBLE MONUMENT OF ELECTOR JOACHIM I. AND JOHANN CICERO OF BRANDENBURG. Signed “IOHANNES VISCHER. NORIC. FACIEB. 1530.” (The early portion probably in part designed by Peter the elder.)
Cathedral, Berlin.
HERMANN VISCHER.
THE APOSTLE BARTHOLOMEW and other works on the Sebaldusgrab.
Nuremberg.
INDEX
Albrecht, Cardinal, tomb of, 86, 87, 102, 123.
Allegory on the Reformation, aquarelle, 88.
Apollo, statue of, 125, 126.
Arthur, King, statue of, 66, 69, 70, 83, 131.
Aschaffenburg, tomb of Cardinal Albrecht at, 86; tablet at, 122, 123; canopy over the tomb of St. Margaret at, 125.
Bamberg, tomb-plates at, 6; tomb of Bishop Heinrich III. at, 22, 30; tomb of Bishop George II. at, 22, 30.
Barbari, Jacopo de’, 15, 37, 52, 89, 125, 131.
Baumgärtner, Lucas, 32.
Berlin, tomb of the Elector Johann Cicero, in the Cathedral at, 123, 124.
Boy with Bagpipes, 119, 120.
Brandenburg, Magdalena, Countess of, 32, 33.
Brandenburg, Elizabeth, Countess of, 33.
Brandenburg, Cardinal Albrecht von, 86; tomb-plate of, 86, 87.
Breslau, tomb of Bishop John IV. at, 25.
Bronze founding, in Germany, 4, 12, 128.
Clussenbach, Georg and Martin von, 5.
Cocleus, his Cosmographia quoted, 49.
Decker, Hans, 6.
Donatello, 70, 71, 131.
Dreyfus, M., 89, 90.
Dürer, Albert, 2, 3, 6, 32, 37, 51, 52, 64, 65, 76, 88, 89, 120, 131.
Eissen Monument, the, 74, 77, 79.
Eobanus Hessus, 56.
Fortnum, H., 95.
Frederick the Wise, 89; monument of, 87, 101-106.
Fugger Family, the, 110, 111.
Goden, Henning, tablet to, 72, 73.
Godl, Stefan, 65.
Harsdorffer, Peter, 24.
Hechingen, monument at, 30, 32, 33, 34.
Henneberg, Count Otto IV. von, monument of, 20.
Henneberg, Count Hermann VIII. von, monument of, 30, 31, 34.
Hohenzollern, Count Eitel Friedrich II. von, monument of, 30, 32, 33.
Holzschuher, Lazarus, 42.
Imhof, Peter, 41, 42.
Innsbruck, tomb of Maximilian at, 66.
Joachim I., Prince, 124.
John the Stable, Prince, memorial of, 106.
Katzheimer, Wolfgang, 22, 30.
Krafft, Adam, 3, 10, 14, 21, 24, 28, 36, 40, 56, 60, 64, 82.
Lamberger, Simon, 22.
Leonardo da Vinci, 39, 51, 78, 131.
Lindenast, Sebastien, 10, 18, 40.
Magdeburg, tomb of Archbishop Ernst at, 14, 15, 23-30, 58, 60, 62, 117.
Maximilian, the Emperor, 64, 65; visit to Peter Vischer, 65; tomb of, 66.
Mecklenburg, Duchess Helene von, tablet to, 105, 121, 122.
Meissen, tomb-plates at, 6.
Merseburg, tomb of Bishop Sigismund at, 122.
Nuremberg, position of, 1, 2; the Guild of Coppersmiths at, 6, 12, 87, 102, 104, 105, 106, 128; the Rathaus Railing, 16, 41, 72, 109-118; St. Ægidius, Church of, 74; St. Sebald, Church of, font, 5; “Crucifixion” outside, 7; statue of Peter Vischer in, 3, 4, 13; the shrine of St. Sebald, 15, 20, 21, 36, 41 et seq., 74, 76, 117, 131.
“Nuremberg Madonna,” the, 80, 81.
Orpheus and Eurydice, plaquettes, 40, 58, 77, 89-94.
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 95, 96, 97.
Pfinzing, Melchior, 65.
Philip, Elector-Palatine, 22, 105.
Pirkheimer, Willibald, 2, 88.
Prussia, Duke Albrecht of, and Peter Vischer the younger, 106, 107, 108.
Ratisbon, Tucher Monument at, 7.
Römhild, Monument at, 20, 30, 31.
Sachs, Hans, 10, 88.
St. Bartholomew, statue of, 61, 63.
St. Maurice, statuettes of, 28, 29, 120.
St. Paul, statue of, 59, 60.
St. Peter, statue of, 46, 62, 63, 71.
St. Sebald, statue of, 46, 47.
St. Sebald’s Church—see Nuremberg.
Sansovino, Andrea, 37, 39, 89, 98, 116, 131.
Schedel, Weltchronik, 38.
Schön, Martin, 15.
Schreyer, Sebald, 38, 41.
Schwenter, Pancratz, 38.
Schwerin, tablet in the Cathedral at, 121, 122.
Sebaldusgrab, the, 15, 36, 41 et seq., 74, 76, 117, 131; model for, 20, 21.
Stoss, Veit, 2, 21, 60, 64, 82.
Theodoric, statue of, 66, 68, 71.
Traut, Wolfgang, 41.
Tucher, Anton, 41, 42.
Tucher Monument, the, 73, 131.
Vischer, Barbara, 17, 18.
Vischer, Eberhard, 7.
Vischer, Hans (the Founder), 10, 18, 106; completion of the Rathaus Railing by 112; inherits the foundry, 108, 120; works by, 122-126; leaves Nuremberg, 127, 128, 129.
Vischer, Hermann (the elder), 1, 6, 7, 36, 62.
Vischer, Hermann (the younger), journey to Rome, 15, 41, 110; death of, 18, 41; figure of St. Bartholomew by, 63.
Vischer, Jakob, 17.
Vischer, Paul, 17, 18, 108, 120.
Vischer, Peter (the elder), statue of, 3, 4, 13; birth and boyhood, 7, 9-11; domestic life, 16-18; early works, 20; summoned to Heidelberg by the Elector Philip, 22; return to Nuremberg, 24; the tomb of Archbishop Ernst, 24; monuments at Römhild and Hechingen, 30; the shrine of St. Sebald, 36, 41 et seq.; visited by Maximilian, 65; figure of Theodoric, 67, 68, 71; quarrel with the Fuggers, 110, 111; death of, 111.
Vischer, Peter (the younger), 8; journey to Italy, 15, 38, 39, 40, 50; medallions by, 16, 39, 40; marriage of, 17; death of, 18, 100; his Orpheus and Eurydice plaquettes, 40, 58, 77, 89-94; inkstands by, 40, 58, 84, 89, 95-100; work on the Sebaldusgrab by, 58, 62, 77, 84; statue of King Arthur, 67, 69, 70, 83; the Tucher monument, 74, 75; the Nuremberg Madonna attributed to, 82-85; tomb-plate of Cardinal Albrecht, 86, 87; aquarelle by, 88; tomb of Elector Frederick, 101-106; Duke Albrecht’s proposal to, 106-108.
Wittenberg, font at, 6, 7, 62; tablet at, 72, 73; monument of the Elector Frederick at, 101.
Wolgemut, Michel, 3, 15, 36, 38, 45, 76.
Würzburg, tomb of Bishop Lorenz of Bibra at, 123.
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