DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.48092#0049
IL]
durer’s birth-place and friends.
31
consciousness of existence. The Seven Sleepers were turning in
their cave and all Europe was waking up. Everywhere new
life and vigour were being shown, and in Niirnberg no less than
in other places. New schools of art were arising, new inventions
were being made, new countries were being discovered, printing
was causing the spread of education and the diffusion of know-
ledge. New controversies, new quarrels, and new wars were
likewise signs of new life. The lusty immorality of the 16th
century was a sign of vigour. It was altogether different in
kind from the luxurious vice of a period of decay. The twelfth
hour of the night of ignorance was past; the blackest watch was
gone; the dawn was beginning to rend the darkness asunder.
Men were filled with the hopes of a new era. They looked for-
ward, dimly conscious of the great events to come and the great
discoveries to which they held the clue, dimly conscious of the
scientific epoch that was at hand with its enlarged knowledge
and its wider field of view, dimly conscious that they were called
upon to do a work the like of which had been demanded of few
generations of mankind. All honour to these men, the brave
ones ! who dared to cast away the worn-out garments of bygone
days and to sever themselves from the creeds and the hopes
which no longer embodied but only smothered the ideal of
life. And amongst the honourable let well-nigh the highest
place be reserved for Albrecht Diirer, prince among artists, who
governed his realm in kingly wise, his hand sceptred with a
pencil and guided in its perfect freedom by a perfect obedience
to law. To him was it therefore granted to realize in tangible
form the thoughts of a day of singular thoughtfulness, to address
the greatest men of a great period and to show them their
ideals, and to address the little men also and manifest to them
the thoughts of their betters. Thus did he labour in earnestness
and reverence, linked through his pious mother to the past and
through his strong friends to the future. The work he ac-
complished has seldom been equalled for vastness, and for
excellence never surpassed. Of such as he, in truth, were the
words written, “ Lo ! their works do follow them !”
durer’s birth-place and friends.
31
consciousness of existence. The Seven Sleepers were turning in
their cave and all Europe was waking up. Everywhere new
life and vigour were being shown, and in Niirnberg no less than
in other places. New schools of art were arising, new inventions
were being made, new countries were being discovered, printing
was causing the spread of education and the diffusion of know-
ledge. New controversies, new quarrels, and new wars were
likewise signs of new life. The lusty immorality of the 16th
century was a sign of vigour. It was altogether different in
kind from the luxurious vice of a period of decay. The twelfth
hour of the night of ignorance was past; the blackest watch was
gone; the dawn was beginning to rend the darkness asunder.
Men were filled with the hopes of a new era. They looked for-
ward, dimly conscious of the great events to come and the great
discoveries to which they held the clue, dimly conscious of the
scientific epoch that was at hand with its enlarged knowledge
and its wider field of view, dimly conscious that they were called
upon to do a work the like of which had been demanded of few
generations of mankind. All honour to these men, the brave
ones ! who dared to cast away the worn-out garments of bygone
days and to sever themselves from the creeds and the hopes
which no longer embodied but only smothered the ideal of
life. And amongst the honourable let well-nigh the highest
place be reserved for Albrecht Diirer, prince among artists, who
governed his realm in kingly wise, his hand sceptred with a
pencil and guided in its perfect freedom by a perfect obedience
to law. To him was it therefore granted to realize in tangible
form the thoughts of a day of singular thoughtfulness, to address
the greatest men of a great period and to show them their
ideals, and to address the little men also and manifest to them
the thoughts of their betters. Thus did he labour in earnestness
and reverence, linked through his pious mother to the past and
through his strong friends to the future. The work he ac-
complished has seldom been equalled for vastness, and for
excellence never surpassed. Of such as he, in truth, were the
words written, “ Lo ! their works do follow them !”