critic as this
work. But since the mysterious appearance of the Darmstadt painting,
which suddenly turned up in a Paris art collector's possession, from no
one knows where in 1822, the tide of belief has slowly receded from the
Dresden painting. Until now there are only a few judges who do not
hold--especially since the public comparison of the two works at Dresden
in 1871--that the Dresden picture is "a copy by an inferior hand."

Unquestionably the painting now in the Schloss at Darmstadt is the
earlier version. And unquestionably, too, the changes introduced in the
Dresden copy,--the elevated architecture, slenderer figures, and less
happy Child,--are so great as to lend weight to the arguments of those
who still claim that no copyist would ever have made them. But, as has
been said, the contention that the Dresden work is a replica by Holbein
of the older Darmstadt altar-piece, is now maintained by only a very
small minority of judges. The painting of the Darmstadt work is admitted
by all to be more uniformly admirable, more completely carried out;
the details more finished (except in the case of the Virgin), and the
colours richer and more harmonious. Yet both works should be studied to
appreciate fully their claims and differences (Plates 18 and 19).

Illustration: PLATE 18
THE MEYER-MADONNA
_Oils. Grand Ducal Collection, Darmstadt_

Illustration: PLATE 19
THE MEYER-MADONNA
[_Later Version. Held by many to be a copy_]
_Oils. Dresden Gallery_

In the Darmstadt work the Virgin's dress is wholly different in tone
from her robe at Dresden; otherwise the colouring aims to be the same
in each. Here, in the original altar-piece, it is a greenish-blue. The
lower sleeves are golden, a line of white at the wrist, and a filmier
one within the bodice. Her girdle is a rich red; her mantle a
greenish-grey. Over this latter her fair hair streams like softest
sunshine. Above her noble, pity-full face sits her crown of fine gold
and pearls.

The woman kneeling nearest to the Madonna is commonly believed to be
Meyer's first wife, who had died in 1511, the mother of one child--a
daughter--by a previous husband. Between this stepdaughter and Meyer
there was considerable litigation over her property. The younger woman,
whose chin-cloth is dropped in the painting though worn like the others
in the drawing for her portrait, is Meyer's second wife, Dorothea
Kannegiesser, whom he married about 1512, and with whom he w