over by his mother and friends. It is
peculiarly brilliant in colour, and there is considerable force in the
deep rich draperies with which the figures are clothed, but it has the
defect visible in the works of Duerer's master--a love of hard black
outlines. In this picture the faces, hands, and feet are delineated by
lines very slightly relieved by shadow, and reminding the spectator too
much of his woodcuts. This love for expressing firm outline is better
adapted to such works as his wall-paintings in the Rathhaus, or
Town-hall. They are executed on the north wall of the grand saloon, and
are divided by the principal door leading from the gallery; on one side
of which is an allegory of the "Unjust Judge" (which formed one of the
series of moral broadsheets published by Hans Sachs); and a group of
musicians in a gallery, probably representing those that belonged to the
town; on the other side of the door the entire length of the wall is
occupied by the allegorical triumphal car of the Emperor Maximilian I.,
a work which Duerer copied on wood in a series of large cuts, published
in 1522. In a fanciful car, drawn by many horses, sits the emperor in
regal state, attended by all the virtues and attributes which may be
supposed to wait on moral royalty. The very nature of such a work is
beset with difficulties, and it is seldom that any artist has entirely
surmounted them. State allegories present small fascinations to any but
the statesman glorified; but Dr. Kuegler in his criticism of this work,
while he acknowledges its defects, is prepared to say that some of the
figures "display motives of extraordinary beauty, such as might have
proceeded from the graceful simplicity of Raphael."[218-*] This painting
has suffered from time, and "restoration;" the design may be best
studied in the woodcut made from it.

[Illustration: Fig. 240.--House of Melchior Pfintzing.]

The Emperor Maximilian was a great patron of the arts, but particularly
of that branch which had newly arisen--the art of wood-engraving--which
he fostered with continual care, and by the help of such men as Duerer,
Burgmeyer, Schaufflein, and Cranach, produced works which have never
been excelled. During this period, extending over the first quarter of
the sixteenth century, a series of elaborate woodcuts were executed
under his own auspices, which were, however, principally devoted to his
own glorification. Two of these are the well-known "Adventures of Sir
Th