ists
praise it, as well as the nobility. They say they have never seen a more
sublime, a more charming painting."

The Venetian Government offered Duerer a handsome pension if he would
remain in Venice, and he declined many orders for the sake of returning to
Germany, which he believed to be his duty. From the time of his return, in
1507, to 1520, there is very little to tell of the personal history of
this artist. Almost all that can be said is that he labored with great
industry; it was the golden period of his art; he had many young men in
his studio, which was the centre of art to Nuremburg. At this time he
probably executed the best carvings which he ever did. During seven years
he made forty-eight engravings and etchings and more than a hundred
wood-cuts. The large demand for these works was a source of good income to
Duerer, and gave him a position of comfort. The Reformation was at hand,
and Duerer's Virgins and Saints and his pictures of the sufferings of
Christ were very well suited to the religious excitement of that period.

The house in which Duerer lived and worked for many years is still
preserved in Nuremburg as public property, and is used as an art gallery.
The street on which it stands is now called the Albrecht-Duerer Strasse. On
the square before the house stands a bronze statue of the master which was
erected by the Nuremburgers on the three hundredth anniversary of his
death.

About 1509 Duerer occupied himself considerably in writing poetry; but,
although there was much earnest feeling in his verse, it was not such as
to give him great fame as a poet. It was at the same period that he carved
the wonderful bas-relief of the "Birth of John the Baptist," now in the
British Museum. It is cut out of stone, is seven and one-half by five and
one-half inches in size, and is a marvellous piece of work. Two thousand
five hundred dollars were paid for it nearly a century ago. He made many
exquisite little carvings in stone, ivory, and boxwood, and in these
articles the result of his work as a goldsmith is best seen.

In 1512 Duerer was first employed by the Emperor Maximilian, and for the
next seven years there was a close relation between the sovereign and the
artist; but there are few records concerning it. It is said that one day
when the painter was making a sketch of the emperor the latter took a
charcoal crayon, and tried to draw a picture himself: he constantly broke
the crayon, and made no progre