emporaries of Duerer--whose works have given undying
celebrity to the old town of their residence--we must now discourse a
little. Honoured as these works still are by the Nuernbergers, they are
little known out of Germany; although, as exemplars of art in general at
the particular period when they were executed, they may challenge their
due position anywhere. The most remarkable is the bronze shrine of St.
Sebald, the work of Peter Vischer and his five sons, which still stands
in all its beauty in the elegant church dedicated to the saint. The
shrine encloses, amid the most florid Gothic architecture, the oaken
chest encased with silver plates, containing the body of the venerated
saint; this rests on an altar decorated with basso-relievos, depicting
his miracles.[231-[+]] The architectural portion of this exquisite
shrine partakes of the characteristics of the Renaissance forms
engrafted on the mediaeval, by the influence of Italian art. Indeed, the
latter school is visible as the leading agent throughout the entire
composition. The figures of the Twelve Apostles and others placed
around it, scarcely seem to belong to German art: they are quite worthy
of the best Trans-alpine master. The grandeur, breadth and repose of
these wonderful statues cannot be excelled. Vischer seems to have
completely freed his mind from the conventionalities of his native
schools: we have here none of the constrained "crumpled draperies," the
home-studies for face and form, so strikingly present in nearly all the
works of art of this era; but noble figures of the men elevated above
the earthly standard by companionship with the Saviour, exhibiting
their high destiny by a noble bearing, worthy of the solemn and glorious
duties they were devoted to fulfil. We gaze on these figures as we do on
the works of Giotto and Fra Angelico, until we feel human nature may
lose nearly all of its debasements before the "mortal coil" is "shuffled
off," and that mental goodness may shine through and glorify its earthly
tabernacle, and give an assurance in time present of the superiorities
of an hereafter. Dead, indeed, must be the soul that can gaze on such
works unmoved, appealing as they do to our noblest aspirations, and
vindicating humanity from its fallen position, by asserting its innate,
latent glories. Here we feel the truth of the scriptural phrase--"In his
own image made He them."

[Illustration: Fig. 245.--Shrine of St. Sebald.]

[Illustration: F