the early works of peter vischer

peter vischer was admitted as a master of his guild in 1489, shortly after his father’s death. if, as is generally admitted, the monument of count otto iv. von henneberg at r?mhild is from his hand, we have in that rather limp, life-size picture of a knight in armour, holding an heraldic banner in his right hand and a sword in his left, the earliest example of peter vischer’s work. and this figure, it is noticeable, is supported by a stone plate to which the arms and the inscription, in letters separately cast, are affixed. it is, then, a relic of those days when, just as painting was a parasite of carving and sculpture, bronze also was a handmaid of stone. it may be added that the demand for the products of vischer’s foundry was fated to be destroyed in the years to come by the new fashion for tombs in stone.

but the monument of count otto assuredly did not qualify peter vischer as a meister in his craft. what his “masterpiece” was we cannot say with certainty, but it was very likely the 21model which he completed in 1488 for the shrine of st. sebald. this is the design which he was destined to take up twenty years later, and to execute in the fulness of his new knowledge and developed technique. it is now in vienna, and betrays at every point the influence of adam krafft, to the style of whose sacramentshaüslein it bears an obvious resemblance. heideloff, the architect, in whose possession the model once was, attributed it indeed to veit stoss. but it is signed by peter vischer with his mark

heideloff, it is true, claimed this as the token of veit stoss, but his opinion is of little value, for his enthusiasm for the polish carver led him to claim for him amongst other works the design of the tomb of archbishop ernst, the r?mhild memorials of count hermann viii. and of otto iv., and even the imperial tomb of maximilian at innsbruck.

of the original design for the sebaldusgrab, lübke says, “it is a masterpiece of gothic construction but freely endowed with all the exaggeration and extravagance of the late period.” and there can be no doubt that the world lost nothing by the delay which intervened before peter vischer, in the words of the chronicler, “with the help of his five sons, who were all married and lived for the most part with him in the house with 22their wives and children, as i myself have seen,” remodelled it and completed it at last on july 19, 1519.

after commencing meister he continued to work for a while in the gothic manner of his father and those about him. he received at this time two commissions worth sixty florins apiece, which he executed after the designs of others. the tomb of bishop heinrich iii., gross von trockau, in bamberg cathedral (1492) is one of these. it is skilfully wrought in low relief. the bishop, in his episcopal garments, is conceived as standing on a lion, and a gothic canopy is set over his head. in style it recalls the second commission referred to—the monument in the same cathedral of bishop georg ii., marshal von ebenet, which was wrought by vischer from a design by wolf. katzheimer.

stein photo.] [cathedral, magdeburg

3. tomb of archbishop ernst

by the year 1494 the meister had already laid the foundations of the great reputation which was to be his. for, in company with simon lamberger, the wood-carver, he was summoned to heidelberg by philip, elector of the palatinate, who desired them to “serve him with their counsel and their handiwork.” at the special request of the nuremberg council, so we are told,[2] they went; and they stayed there for a considerable space of time to work for the elector. but of the work they performed at heidelberg we know absolutely 24nothing. peter vischer was certainly back again in nuremberg in 1496. for in that year he gave a full release (“aller dinge quitt, ledig und los”) to his friend peter harsdorffer the younger, in whose hands he had left the management of all his affairs during his absence. he returned, perhaps, to execute the important commissions he had received from the north. in the following year he completed the first great work of his life, in which his own individuality is for the first time apparent. for the tomb of archbishop ernst in the cathedral at magdeburg, is the first of peter vischer’s masterpieces, and it affords the most important illustration of the early influences under which he worked. the statue of the archbishop, who was a brother of john the stable and frederick the wise, lies in high relief beneath a gothic canopy, which strongly recalls the famous pyx then just completed by the artist’s friend, adam krafft. the figure, which is represented in cope and mitre, rests on a stone gothic base, as upon a bed of state, and holds in its hands a crosier and a pontifical cross. a pleasing latin inscription round the monument informs us that “with whatever art the hands of the craftsman have wrought me, yet am i but dust, and contain the dust and all the earthly remains” of the great archbishop, and it concludes with the prayer that his soul may rest in the consolation of light and peace. (ills. 3 and 4.)

2. baader.

ipse me vivus posuit, it is added. and indeed 25this child of light was wise in his generation, and knowing that artists are rare, and that through their pen or brush alone can most men achieve an earthly immortality, the archbishop had ordered his tomb from peter vischer in 1494, though he himself did not die till 1513. he was not so foolish as to leave the matter to the care of ungrateful heirs like browning’s bishop who ordered his tomb in st. praxed’s church. the date on the tombstone, which is the date of the setting up thereof, is variously interpreted 1495 and 1497. but all peter vischer’s 5’s are quite unlike the final figure in this inscription, although many perceive in it a 5 after the manner of the arabic lettering of those days. moreover vischer was in heidelberg in 1494, and only returned to nuremberg to stay in 1496. only at nuremberg can he have had the appliances necessary for so elaborate a work, and, even if he paid a flying visit there before ’96, he had not sufficient time to complete his task by 1495. there is yet another reason for putting the date of the magdeburg monument as late as possible, and that is its amazing superiority to the breslau tomb of bishop john iv., the setting up of which peter vischer himself personally superintended in 1496. the latter monument is so inferior in style and treatment that it is incredible that the artist, after having made such an advance as is exhibited in the magdeburg memorial, should have gone back in the following year to so hard, forced and yet 26feeble a handling of form. if this breslau tomb is indeed later than the other it must be the work of an apprentice, who has endeavoured to imitate the idea of the magdeburg masterpiece, and very lamentably failed in his endeavour. the decorative work, however, is very much more successful than the treatment of the figures, of which the drapery still completely hides the anatomy and still falls in stiff and angular folds.

stein photo.] [cathedral, magdeburg

4. tomb of archbishop ernst

but to return to the tomb of archbishop ernst. the artist has adopted that late gothic style which was apt to lead to so much that was weak, trivial and ineffective. but there is here nothing that is excessive or disproportionate. even in the case of the canopy above the head of the reclining bishop, if we concede the permissibility of its presence at all, we must also confess that there is an artistic reason for its existence in the fact that it furnishes the top which one feels to be required for the monument. as to the recumbent form itself, it is, in the strength of its treatment and the individuality of its portraiture, conceived after the realistic manner of the day. but vischer has not been betrayed into any excess in this direction. only it is evident that the influence of that striving after the impressions of life as the artist sees it, which has been called realism, and which yet leaves room for so much that is ideal, has been working strongly within him. the broad, heavy folds of drapery falling straight or almost straight down the bodies of the bishop and the apostles 28speak also to the same conclusion. for statuettes of the twelve apostles, ranged on either side of the tomb, stand on pedestals, enriched with deep foliage, and beneath beautiful canopies, intricately wrought in the gothic style. they are the forerunners of those superb figures on the sebaldusgrab, but their pose is very monotonous, and in their undersize they recall the works of adam krafft, which reflect the short and dumpy type of the contemporary nuremberger. a tendency to exaggerate the size of the head may be noticed. possibly it is the result of the artist’s endeavour to express the individuality of the apostles he represented. but this defect is reproduced in the angel set at the head of the archbishop.

a noticeable figure on this tomb is the st. maurice at the head of it corresponding to the st. stephen at the foot. this is a veritable nuremberg type, and reminds us of the statuette of the same saint now preserved in the court of krafft’s house (no. 7 theresienstrasse) at nuremberg. it is a fountain-figure, and was originally gilded. doubt has been cast on the authorship of this piece, but cannot be seriously entertained after a comparison with the st. maurice at magdeburg. (ill. 5.)

stein photo.] [krafft house, nürnberg

5. st. maurice

the tomb throughout is wrought richly and with the minutest care. on the base peter vischer seizes the opportunity of indulging his humour and luxuriant imagination. he has added fantastic dogs and beasts of various kinds, in the same 30spirit, perhaps, as that in which dürer used to adorn and complete his engravings and even to crowd the vacant spaces of his compositions with the traumwerk with which his mind and memory were stored. and in this respect also the magdeburg tomb foreshadows the sebaldusgrab.

at the four corners are four lions bearing arms; above are four others poised in the manner of gargoyles on some gothic building; whilst on the top, at each corner, standing on groups of gothic pilasters are, or rather were, the symbols of the four evangelists; for the eagle has been broken off and has disappeared now from its base.

during the next few years (1497-1508) many works were turned out of the vischer foundry; several of which were based on the designs of other artists, most probably at the request of the patron. some of those which we can identify as coming from vischer’s workshop in this fashion, such as the monument of bishop georg ii. of bamberg, which was executed after the design by wolfgang katzheimer, the bamberg painter, or the monuments of bishop veit and heinrich iii. are of absolutely no interest to the student of peter vischer’s art.

stein photo.] [church, r?mhild

6. monument of count hermann viii

but two monuments, this time of temporal princes, which belong to the same period, have a greater interest and a higher merit. they are the memorials of count eitel friedrich ii. von hohenzollern in the parish church of hechingen (1500), and of count hermann viii., at r?mhild. 32(ill. 6.) no one who has familiarized himself with the master’s manner will fail to perceive that, if these monuments have been executed by him in bronze, they have no less certainly been based upon the design of another hand. and no one who has studied the drawings of albert dürer, and who now compares these knightly figures, for instance, with some of those mail-clad forms of his, whether it be lucas baumg?rtner or another, will be astonished to learn that bergau has discovered and published that design, and that it proves to be indeed by dürer. for that pen-and-ink drawing now at florence, that sketch of the tall, thin knight, who is standing on a lion in a position that is, it must be confessed, both straddling and constrained, and who is apparently speaking to his wife, whose feet are set, according to the convention, upon a dog, the symbol of fidelity, is undeniably the first sketch for the tomb of count eitel and his wife magdalena, countess of brandenburg, which is now to be found in the parish church of hechingen. certain very obvious variations have, however, been introduced, whether by the designer in a second sketch, or, as is most probable, by the bronze-worker on his own initiative. the figures, which in the original are excessively separate, have been brought closer together, and thereby, whilst the lion and dog on which they stand have suffered, an opportunity for the development of the background has been provided. a trace of this process is observable also 33in the position of the count’s right elbow, which protrudes to the extreme outside edge of the frame. the left hand, holding a rosary, is another innovation, but it is not one for which in its execution any gain in grace can be claimed. other minor alterations, also, may be remarked, as in the drapery and in the pose of the countess, which is beautiful and vischer-like. the substitution of the three coats-of-arms for the late gothic work in dürer’s sketch is noteworthy.

unfortunately, as lübke points out, this monument has not come down to us complete. originally it was a freigrab resting on lions, and the sides of it were richly decorated. angels are said to have stood at the four corners, some of them supporting candlesticks and others coats-of-arms. but in this instance, as in a later and still more regrettable one, the craftsman was destined to suffer from the greed inspired by the value of the material in which he wrought. for, in 1782, portions of this tomb were melted down, and twenty-two new candlesticks for the church were cast out of the nearly one thousand pounds of metal resulting. the date of the tomb is fixed approximately by the death of the countess, which occurred in 1496. the count himself died in 1512, and he probably ordered the monument soon after his wife’s death. it bears the date mccccc.

elizabeth, sister of the countess magdalena, daughter of prince albert achilles, of brandenburg, 34had married count hermann viii. of henneberg, and it is doubtless due to this relationship that the double tomb of husband and wife at r?mhild was made from the same sketch and by the same craftsman as the memorial at hechingen. it was indeed probably the earlier of the two. so at least bergau argues, from the fact that it is nearer to the original sketch by dürer. the count, in this version of the design, holds a banner, the floating folds of which form an efficient background. the drapery of the countess instead of being gathered up into her hands is caught up to her sides in graceful flowing folds.

peter vischer knew how to make a thrifty use of accomplished models. here, as originally at hechingen, he repeated the symbols of the four evangelists which he had used for his magdeburg masterpiece. the tomb stands upon six vigorous and life-like lions, and, says lübke, among the various saints who are ranged round the sarcophagus is a madonna pressing to her breast the holy child, who is turning with a quick and very natural movement towards the eldest of the three kings who bring gifts. these are all figures quite in the best manner of peter vischer’s early style. and several of the other saints are almost equally good. as usual the details are worked with admirable skill.

the following letters are engraved on this tomb: m. f. w. s. 15 c. d?bner was inspired to interpret them thus: “meister fischer und fünf 35s?hne”; and again with a second effort: “meister fischer waage sebaldi 15 centner.” these interpretations, i suppose, carry with them their own refutation. they do not encourage one to make a third attempt.