DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52444#0036
INTRODUCTION.
and no profit in view, grew more and more restless, until finally she said
to the dreamer,—with a bitter ring in her speech, according to the
gospel of Pirkheimer; with the voice of an angel, according to that of
Thausing,— “Have n’t you wasted enough time and copper and money
on your naked women and your old heathen goddesses ? No one will
buy them ! And now the fair is almost upon us, and if I am to keep a
booth there, or if you want me to go to Frankfort the coming Easter,
what am I to take with me ? Why don’t you engrave something for
good Christian folk,—some Madonnas and Saints, so that I may have
something new to show,— and something that people want? You know
what the pedlar said who was here the other day. He went away with-
out buying anything,—and what a good customer he used to be ! And
besides the saints, there are the Turks and the peasants, about whom
everybody is talking nowadays. They would sell, too I ” So what
could poor Albert do,— for he knew his Hausfrau was right,— but pack
away his naked women and his heathen gods and goddesses, and go at
the saints and the peasants and the Turks,— even if he did it with a
sigh ? And thus we have an at least plausible explanation for the sud-
den change which evidently came over the spirit of Diirer’s dreams at
this time: «
The difficulties here discussed are only a few of the leading ones.
Others have been pointed out in the catalogue itself. That the chrono-
logical arrangement has not been absolutely adhered to for the dated
plates,— the two series, “The Passion on Copper” and “The Apostles,”
having been kept together,— will need no apology.
It goes without saying, also, that a chronological arrangement is in-
dispensable if the works of an artist are to be studied with reference to
the progress of his life in general, outward as well as inner. Diirer’s
printed works are, indeed, far from having the autobiographical char-
acter of those of Rembrandt, his own personality being suppressed in
them altogether, but they nevertheless conspicuously mark the events
of his life, which was more varied than Rembrandt’s. In this respect,
xviii
and no profit in view, grew more and more restless, until finally she said
to the dreamer,—with a bitter ring in her speech, according to the
gospel of Pirkheimer; with the voice of an angel, according to that of
Thausing,— “Have n’t you wasted enough time and copper and money
on your naked women and your old heathen goddesses ? No one will
buy them ! And now the fair is almost upon us, and if I am to keep a
booth there, or if you want me to go to Frankfort the coming Easter,
what am I to take with me ? Why don’t you engrave something for
good Christian folk,—some Madonnas and Saints, so that I may have
something new to show,— and something that people want? You know
what the pedlar said who was here the other day. He went away with-
out buying anything,—and what a good customer he used to be ! And
besides the saints, there are the Turks and the peasants, about whom
everybody is talking nowadays. They would sell, too I ” So what
could poor Albert do,— for he knew his Hausfrau was right,— but pack
away his naked women and his heathen gods and goddesses, and go at
the saints and the peasants and the Turks,— even if he did it with a
sigh ? And thus we have an at least plausible explanation for the sud-
den change which evidently came over the spirit of Diirer’s dreams at
this time: «
The difficulties here discussed are only a few of the leading ones.
Others have been pointed out in the catalogue itself. That the chrono-
logical arrangement has not been absolutely adhered to for the dated
plates,— the two series, “The Passion on Copper” and “The Apostles,”
having been kept together,— will need no apology.
It goes without saying, also, that a chronological arrangement is in-
dispensable if the works of an artist are to be studied with reference to
the progress of his life in general, outward as well as inner. Diirer’s
printed works are, indeed, far from having the autobiographical char-
acter of those of Rembrandt, his own personality being suppressed in
them altogether, but they nevertheless conspicuously mark the events
of his life, which was more varied than Rembrandt’s. In this respect,
xviii