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HANDBOOKS OF THE GREAT
CRAFTSMEN. EDITED BY
G. C. WILLIAMSON, LITT.D.

PETER VISCHER


------------------------------------------------------------------------

                   Handbooks of the Great Craftsmen.

                             --------------

    Illustrated Monographs, Biographical and Critical, on the Great
           Craftsmen and Workers of Ancient and Modern Times.

                  Edited by G. C. WILLIAMSON, Litt.D.

       Imperial 16mo, with numerous Illustrations, 5s. net each.

                      First Volumes of the Series

THE PAVEMENT MASTERS OF SIENA. Workers in Graffito. By R. H. HOBART
    CUST, M.A.

PETER VISCHER. Bronze Founder. By CECIL HEADLAM, B.A.

THE IVORY WORKERS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. By A. M. CUST.

                           Others to follow.

                             --------------

                      LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS
                      NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO.

------------------------------------------------------------------------


[Illustration: STEIN PHOTO.] [FROM A DRAWING IN POSSESSION OF T. A.
STEIN, NÜRNBERG

1. PORTRAIT OF PETER VISCHER]


PETER VISCHER

by

CECIL HEADLAM, B.A.

Formerly Demy of Magdalen College, Oxford; Author of
“The Story of Nuremberg,” etc.



[Illustration: Publisher’s Logo]






London
George Bell and Sons
1901

Chiswick Press: Charles Whittingham and Co.
Tooks Court, Chancery Lane, London.




------------------------------------------------------------------------




                                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.


------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                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


------------------------------------------------------------------------




                         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


------------------------------------------------------------------------

                              BIBLIOGRAPHY


  Baader. Beiträge zur Kunst