her Hans, who was then twelve
years old, to learn the art of painting in his studio; and his other
young brother, Andreas, the goldsmith's apprentice, now set forth upon
his _Wander-jahre_. Within two years his mother, the widowed Barbara,
had exhausted her scanty means; and she also was taken into Duerer's
home, and lovingly cared for by her son.

In 1503 Duerer's frail constitution yielded to an attack of illness. A
drawing of Christ crowned with thorns, now in the British Museum,
bears his inscription: "I drew this face in my sickness, 1503." In the
same year he executed a copper-plate engraving of a skull emblazoned
on an escutcheon, which is crowned by a winged helmet, and supported
by a weird woman, over whose shoulder a satyr's face is peering. A
contemporary copper-plate shows the Virgin nursing the Infant Jesus.
The painting of this same subject, bearing the date of 1503, is now in
the Vienna Belvedere, portraying an unlovely German mother and a very
earthly baby.

The celebrated "Green Passion" was executed in 1504, and is a series
of twelve drawings on green paper, illustrating the sufferings of
Christ. Some critics prefer this set, for delicacy and power, to
either of the three engraved Passions. The theory is advanced that
these exquisite drawings were made for the Emperor, or some other
magnate, who wished to possess a unique copy. The Green Passion is now
in the Vienna Albertina, the great collection of drawings made by the
Archduke Albert of Sachsen-Teschen, which includes 160 of Duerer's
sketches, designs, travel-notes, studies of costume and architecture,
&c.

Over 600 authentic sketches and drawings by Duerer are now preserved in
Europe, and are of great interest as showing the freedom and firmness
of the great master's first conceptions, and the gradual evolution of
his ultimate ideas. They are drawn on papers of various colors and
different preparations, with pen, pencil, crayon, charcoal, silver
point, tempera, or water-colors. Some are highly finished, and
others are only rapid jottings or bare outlines. The richest of the
ancient collections was that of Hans Imhoff of Nuremberg, who
married Pirkheimer's daughter Felicitas, and in due time added his
father-in-law's Duerer-drawings to his own collection. His son
Willibald further enriched the family art-treasures by many of
the master's drawings which he bought from Andreas Duerer, and by
inheriting the pictures of Barbara Pirkheimer. He solemn