Masters of Art - Albrecht Dürer

by Dürer, Albrecht

  He made portraits of Nicholas Kratzer, then professor of astronomy at Oxford University; Hans Plaffroth; and Tomasin’s daughter; and gave several score of his engravings to the Portuguese consul and to his compatriot Ruderigo, who had sent a large quantity of sweetmeats to the artist, and a green parrot to his wife.

  Something of diplomatic tact is shown in Dürer’s making presents to Meister Gillgen, the Emperor’s door-keeper, and to Meister Conrad, the sculptor of the Archduchess Margaret. He seems to have been preparing to seek an invitation to court.

  In September Dürer and Tomasin journeyed to Mechlin, where they invited Meister Conrad and one of his artist-friends to a supper. The next day they passed through Vilvorde, and came to Brussels. Here the master was introduced to a new and splendid society and a city rich in works of art. He speaks of dining with “My Lord of Brussels,” the Imperial Councillor Bannisius, and the ambassadors of Nuremberg; and Bernard van Orley, formerly a pupil of Raphael and now court-painter to the Regent Margaret, invited him to a feast at which he met the Regent’s treasurer, the royal court-master, and the town-treasurer of Brussels. He also visited the Margrave of Anspach and Baireuth, with a letter of introduction from the Bishop of Bamberg; and drew portraits of Meister Conrad, Bernard van Orley, and several others. The Regent Margaret received him “with especial kindness,” and promised to use her influence for his advancement at the imperial court. He presented copies of the Passion to her and her treasurer, and many other engravings to other eminent persons in the city.

  “And I have seen King Charles’s house at Brussels, with its fountains, labyrinth, and park. It gave me the greatest pleasure; and a more delightful thing, and more like a Paradise, I have never before seen.... At Brussels there is a very big and costly Town-hall, built of hewn stone, with a splendid transparent tower. I have seen in the Golden Hall the four painted matters which the great Meister Rudier [Roger van der Weyden] has done.... I have also been into the Nassau-house, which is built in such a costly style and so beautifully ornamented. And I saw the two beautiful large rooms and all the costly things in the house everywhere, and also the great bed in which fifty men might lie; and I have also seen the big stone which fell in a thunderstorm in the field close to the Count of Nassau. This house is very high, and there is a fine view from it, and it is much to be admired; and I do not think in all Germany there is any thing like it.... Also I have seen the thing which has been brought to the King from the new Golden Land [Mexico], a sun of gold a fathom broad, and a silver moon just as big. Likewise two rooms full of armor; likewise all kinds of arms, harness, and wonderful missiles, very strange clothing, bed-gear and all kinds of the most wonderful things for man’s use, that are as beautiful to behold as they are wonderful. These things are all so costly, that they have been valued at 100,000 gulden. And I have never in all the days of my life seen any thing that has so much rejoiced my heart as these things. For I have seen among them wonderfully artistic things, and I have wondered at the subtle Ingenia of men in foreign lands.”

  While at Brussels Dürer was the guest of Conrad the sculptor, and Ebner the Nuremberg ambassador. He returned at length to Antwerp, where his Portuguese friends sent him several maiolica bowls and some Calcutta feathers, and his host gave also certain Indian and Turkish curiosities. The jovial dinners with Planckfelt and Tomasin were again begun, and were supplemented by feasts with the Von Rogendorffs and Fugger’s agent. The master gave away hundreds of his engravings here, either to his friends or to influential courtiers; and all these details he faithfully records. He seems to have been an indefatigable investigator and collector of curiosities, imported trinkets, and china. With childlike delight he narrates the brilliant spectacles around him.

  “I have seen, on the Sunday after the Assumption of Our Blessed Lady, the great procession from Our Lady’s Church at Antwerp, when the whole town was assembled, artisans and people of rank, every one dressed in the most costly manner according to its station. Every class and every guild had its badge by which it might be recognized; large and costly tapers were also borne by some of them. There were also long silver trumpets of the old Frankish fashion. There were also many German pipers and drummers, who piped and drummed their loudest. Also I saw in the street, marching in a line in regular order, with certain distances between, the goldsmiths, painters, stonemasons, embroiderers, sculptors, joiners, carpenters, sailors, fishmongers, ... and all kinds of artisans who are useful in producing the necessaries of life. In the same way there were the shopkeepers and merchants and their clerks. After these came the marksmen with firelocks, bows, and cross-bows, some on horseback and some on foot. After that came the City Guards; and at last a mighty and beautiful throng of different nations and religious orders, superbly costumed, and each distinguished from the other, very piously. I remarked in this procession a troop of widows who lived by their labor. They all had white linen cloths covering their heads, and reaching down to their feet, very seemly to behold. Behind them I saw many brave persons, and the canons of Our Lady’s Church, with all the clergy and bursars, where twenty persons bore Our Lady with the Lord Jesus ornamented in the most costly manner to the glory of the Lord God. In this procession there were many very pleasant things, and it was very richly arranged. There were brought along many wagons, with moving ships, and other things. Then followed the Prophets, all in order; the New Testament, showing the Salutation of the Angel, the three Holy Kings on their camels, and other rare wonders very beautifully arranged.... At the last came a great dragon led by St. Margaret and her maidens, who were very pretty; also St. George, with his squire, a very handsome Courlander. Also a great many boys and girls, dressed in the most costly and ornamental manner, according to the fashion of different countries, rode in this troop, and represented so many saints. This procession from beginning to end was more than two hours passing by our house; and there were so many things that I could never write them all down even in a book, and so I leave it alone.”

  Raphael died during this year, and Dürer made strenuous efforts to secure some of his drawings or other remains. He met Tommaso Vincidore of Bologna, a pupil of the great master, and gave him an entire set of his best engravings for an antique gold ring, and another set to be sent to Rome in exchange for some of Raphael’s sketches. He also gave a complete set of his engravings to the Regent Margaret, and made for her two careful drawings on parchment. Vincidore painted his portrait, to be sent to Rome; and it was engraved by Adrian Stock, showing his glorious eyes and long flowing hair, together with a short dense beard overshadowed by a massive moustache, curled back at the points.

  Later in the autumn Dürer journeyed to Aix-la-Chapelle, where he attended the splendid ceremonies of the coronation of the Emperor Charles V. At Aix he saw the famous columns brought from Rome by Charlemagne, the arm of Kaiser Henry, the chemise and girdle of the Virgin Mary, and other relics. His wife was back at Antwerp; and so the reckless artist chronicles his outlays for drinking, gaming, and other reprehensible expenses. After being entertained for three weeks at the Nuremberg embassy, Dürer went to Cologne, where he remained a fortnight, distributing his engravings with generous hand, visiting the churches and their pictures, and buying all manner of odd things. Early in November, by the aid of the Nuremberg ambassadors, he obtained from the Emperor his Confirmatia, “with great trouble and labor.” This coveted document, which formed one of the main objects of his journey to the North, confirmed him in the pension which Maximilian had granted him, and made him painter to the Emperor.

  From Cologne he returned with all speed down the river to Antwerp, being entertained at Bois-le-Duc, “a pretty town, which has an extraordinarily beautiful church,” by the painter Arnold de Ber and the goldsmiths, “who showed me very much honor.” On arriving at Antwerp, he resumes his accounts of the sales and gifts of his engravings, and the enumeration of his domestic expenses. Soon afterward he heard of a monstrous whale being thrown up on the Zealand coast, and posted off in December to see it, taking a ve
ssel from Bergen-op-Zoom, of whose well-built houses and great markets he speaks. “We sailed before sunset by a village, and saw only the points of the roofs projecting out of the water; and we sailed for the island of Wohlfärtig [Walcheren], and for the little town of Sunge in another adjacent island. There were seven islands; and Ernig, where I passed the night, is the largest. From thence we went to Middleburg, where I saw in the abbey the great picture that Johann de Abus [Mabuse] had done. The drawing is not so good as the painting. After that we came to Fahr, where ships from all lands unload: it is a fine town. But at Armuyden a great danger befell me; for just as we were going to land, and our ropes were thrown out, there came a large ship alongside of us, and I was about to land, but there was such a press that I let every one land before me, so that nobody but I, Georg Kotzler, two old women, and the skipper with one small boy, were left in the ship. And when I and the above-named persons were on board, and could not get on shore, then the heavy cable broke, and a strong wind came on, which drove our ship powerfully before it. Then we all cried loudly for help, but no one ventured to give it; and the wind beat us out again to sea.... Then there was great anxiety and fear; for the wind was very great, and not more than six persons on board. But I spoke to the skipper, and told him to take heart, and put his trust in God, and consider what there was to be done. Then he said he thought, if we could manage to hoist the little sail, he would try whether we could not get on. So with great difficulty, and working all together, we got it half way up, and sailed on again; and when those on the land saw this, and how we were able to help ourselves, they came and gave us assistance, so that we got safely to land. Middleburg is a good town, and has a very beautiful Town-house with a costly tower. And there are also many things there of old art. There is an exceedingly costly and beautiful seat in the abbey, and a costly stone aisle, and a pretty parish church. And in other respects also the town is very rich in subjects for sketches. Zealand is pretty and marvellous to see, on account of the water, which is higher than the land.”

  The tide had carried off the stranded whale; and so Dürer returned to Antwerp, staying a few days at Bergen. Soon afterwards he gave Von Rafensburg three books of fine engravings in return for five snail-shells, nine medals, four arrows, two pieces of white coral, two dried fish, and a scale of a large fish. Improvident collector of curiosities! how did the matronly Agnes endure such tradings? Many dinners with the Genoese Tomasin are then recorded, and fresh collations with new friends, in the hearty and hospitable spirit of the easy-living Netherlanders. He repaid the quaint presents of his admirers with many copies of his engravings, and occasionally made some money in the practice of his profession.

  “On Shrove Tuesday early the goldsmiths invited me and my wife to dinner. There were many distinguished people assembled, and we had an extremely costly meal, and they did me exceeding much honor; and in the evening the senior magistrate of the town invited me, and gave me a costly meal, and showed me much honor. And there came in many strange masks.” He then records his exchanges of engravings for such singular returns as satin, candied citron, ivory salt-cellars from Calcutta, sea-shells, monk’s electuary, sweetmeats in profusion, porcelains, an ivory pipe, coral, boxing-gloves, a shield, lace, fishes’ fins, sandal-wood, &c. The Portuguese ambassador invited him to a rich Carnival feast, where there were “many very costly masks;” and the learned Petrus Ægidius entertained him and Erasmus of Rotterdam together. He climbed up the cathedral tower, and “saw over the whole town from it, which was very agreeable.” Many of the curiosities which he had acquired were sent as presents to Pirkheimer, the Imhoffs, the Holzschuhers, and other noble friends in Nuremberg. Arion, the ex-Pensionary of Antwerp, gave him a feast, and presented him with Patenir’s painting of “Lot and his Daughters.”

  Soon after Easter, Dürer made another pleasant tour in the Netherlands, attended by the painter Jan Plos, passing by “the rich Abbey of Pol,” and “the great long village of Kahlb,” to “the splendid and beautiful town” of Bruges. Plos and the goldsmith Marx each gave him costly feasts, and showed him the Emperor’s palace, the Archery Court, and many paintings by Roger van der Weyden, Hubert and Jan van Eyck, and Hugo van der Goes, together with an alabaster Madonna by Michael Angelo. “We came at last to the Painters’ Chapel, where there are many good things. After that they prepared a banquet for me. And from thence I went with them to their guild, where many honorable folk, goldsmiths, painters, and merchants, were assembled; and they made me sup with them, and did me great honor. And the Rath gave me twelve measures of wine; and the whole assembly, more than sixty persons, accompanied me home with torches.

  “And when I arrived at Ghent, the chief of the painters met me, and he brought with him all the principal painters of the town; and they showed me great honor, and received me in very splendid style, and they assured me of their good-will and service; and I supped that evening with them. On Wednesday early they took me to St. John’s Tower, from which I saw over all the great and wonderful town. After that I saw Johann’s picture [Van Eyck’s ‘Adoration of the Spotless Lamb’]. It is a very rich and grandly conceived painting; and particularly Eve, the Virgin Mary, and God the Father, are excellent.... Ghent is a beautiful and wonderful town, and four great waters flow through it. And I have besides seen many other very strange things at Ghent, and the painters with their chief have never left me; and I have eaten morning and night with them, and they have paid for every thing, and have been very friendly with me.”

  The master soon returned to Antwerp, in distress. “In the third week after Easter a hot fever attacked me, with great faintness, discomfort, and headache. And when I was in Zealand, some time back, a wonderful illness came upon me, which I had never heard of any one having before; and this illness I have still.” This low fever never quite left him, and was the cause of many doctor’s bills thereafter. Soon afterward he made a portrait of the landscape-painter Joachim Patenir; and “on the Sunday before Cross-week, Meister Joachim invited me to his wedding, and they all showed me much respect; and I saw two very pretty plays there, particularly the first, which was very pious and clerical.”

  Dürer seems to have had strong Protestant sympathies, though it is claimed that he died in the faith of Rome. His journal in 1521 contains the following significant sentences about Martin Luther: “He was a man enlightened by the Holy Ghost, and a follower of the true Christian faith.... He has suffered much for Christ’s truth, and because he has rebuked the unchristian Papacy which strives against the freedom of Christ with its heavy burdens of human laws; and for this we are robbed of the price of our blood and sweat, that it may be expended shamefully by idle, lascivious people, whilst thirsty and sick men perish of hunger.... Lord Jesus Christ, call together again the sheep of thy fold, of whom part are still to be found amongst the Indians, Muscovites, Russians, and Greeks, who through the burdens and avarice of the Papacy have been separated from us. Never were any people so horribly burdened with ordinances as us poor people by the Romish See; we who, redeemed by thy blood, ought to be free Christians.

  “O God, is Luther dead? Who will henceforth explain to us so clearly the holy Gospel? O all pious Christian men, bewail with me this God-inspired man, and pray to God to send us another enlightened teacher! O Erasmus of Rotterdam, where dost thou remain? Behold how the unjust tyranny of this world’s might and the powers of darkness prevail! Hear, thou knight of Christ; ride forth in the name of the Lord, defend the truth, attain the martyr’s crown; thou art already an old manikin, and I have heard thee say that thou gavest thyself only two years longer in which thou wilt still be fit for work. Employ these well, then, in the cause of the Gospel and the true Christian faith.”

  More junketings, gamings, collecting of outlandish things, visits to religious and civic pageants, new sketches and paintings, doctor’s bills and monk’s fees, minutely recorded. “Meister Gerhard, the illuminator, has a daughter of eighteen years, called Susanna; and she has illuminated a plate, a Saviour, for which I gave
a florin. It is a great wonder that a woman should do so well!... I have again and again done sketches and many other things in the service of different persons, and for the most part of my work I have received nothing at all.”

  After Corpus Christi Day, Dürer sent off several bales of his acquisitions to Nuremberg, by the wagoner Cunz Mez. He and his wife then went to Mechlin; “and the painters and sculptors entertained me at my inn, and showed me great honor; and I went to Popenreuther’s house, the cannon-founder, and found many wonderful things there. I have also seen the Lady Margaret [the Archduchess and Regent], and carried the portrait of the Emperor, which I intended to present to her; but she took such a displeasure therein, I brought it away with me again. And on the Friday she showed me all her beautiful things, and amongst them I saw forty small pictures in oil, pure and good: I have never seen finer miniatures. And then I saw other good things of Johann’s [Van Eyck] and Jacob Walch’s. I begged my Lady to give me Meister Jacob’s little book, but she said she had promised it to her painter.”

  Dürer seems to have been treated with scant courtesy by the Archduchess, and soon returned to Antwerp. Here he was entertained by the eminent Lucas van Leyden, for whom he made a portrait, and received one of himself in return. The stately Nuremberger and the diminutive artist of Leyden were much astonished at each other’s personal appearance, but had a warm mutual respect and esteem. Dürer next struck up a warm friendship with certain of the Augustine monks, and dined often at their cloister. In addition to the bric-à-brac which he still continued to collect, he now began to buy precious stones, in which he was badly swindled by a Frenchman, and dolefully wrote, “I am a fool at a bargain.”

  He was now about to return home, and naturally found it necessary, after having bought such a museum of oddities and curiosities, to borrow enough money to take him to Nuremberg. His friend Alexander Imhoff lent him 100 gold florins, receiving Dürer’s note in return. In some bitterness of spirit he wrote: “In all my transactions in the Netherlands, with people both of high and low degree, and in all my doings, expenses, sales, and other trafficking, I have always had the disadvantage; and particularly the Lady Margaret, for all I have given her and done for her, has given me nothing in return.”