of this order at a
somewhat earlier date are said to have produced the "tarsia," or inlaid
work, to which some allusion has already been made.

The Renaissance in Germany.

German Renaissance may be said to have made its debut under Albrecht
Duerer. There was already in many of the German cities a disposition to
copy Flemish artists, but under Duerer's influence this new departure
became developed in a high degree, and, as the sixteenth century advanced,
the Gothic designs of an earlier period were abandoned in favour of the
more free treatment of figure ornament, scrolls, enriched panels and
mouldings, which mark the new era in all Art work.

Many remarkable specimens of German carving are to be met with in
Augsburg, Aschaffenburg, Berlin, Cologne, Dresden, Gotha, Munich, Manheim,
Nuremberg, Ulm, Regensburg, and other old German towns.

Although made of steel, the celebrated chair at Longford Castle in
Wiltshire is worthy of some notice as a remarkable specimen of German
Renaissance. It is fully described in Richardson's "Studies from Old
English Mansions." It was the work of Thomas Rukers, and was presented by
the city of Augsburg to the Emperor of Germany in 1577. The city arms are
at the back, and also the bust of the Emperor. The other minute and
carefully finished decorative subjects represent different events in
history; a triumphal procession of Caesar, the Prophet Daniel explaining
his dream, the landing of Aeneas, and other events. The Emperor Rudolphus
placed the chair in the City of Prague, Gustavus Adolphus plundered the
city and removed it to Sweden, whence it was brought by Mr. Gustavus
Brander about 100 years ago, and sold by him to Lord Radnor.

As is the case with Flemish wood-carving, it is often difficult to
identify German work, but its chief characteristics may be said to include
an exuberant realism and a fondness for minute detail. M. Bonnaffe has
described this work in a telling phrase: "_l'ensemble est tourmente,
laborieux, touffu tumultueux_."

[Illustration: The Steel Chair, At Longford Castle, Wiltshire.]

There is a remarkable example of rather late German Renaissance oak
carving in the private chapel of S. Saviour's Hospital, in Osnaburg
Street, Regent's Park, London. The choir stalls, some 31 in number, and
the massive doorway, formed part of a Carthusian monastery at Buxheim,
Bavaria, which was sold and brought to London after the monastery had
been secularised and had passe