ret, they say, by feigning to be a gentleman
and going to the newcomer and sitting for his picture. He it was who
discovered that Antonello mixed his colors with oil. Oho!

Of course, not all of the pictures in his studio are painted by the
boys: some are painted by that old Dutchman what's-his-name--oh, yes,
Durer, Alberto Durer of Nuremberg. Two Nuremberg painters were in that
very gondola last week just where you sit--they are here in Venice now,
taking lessons from Gian, they said. Gian was up there to Nuremberg
and lived a month with Durer--they worked together, drank beer
together, I suppose, and caroused. Gian is very strict about what he
does in Venice, but you can never tell what a man will do when he is
away from home. The Germans are a roystering lot--but they do say they
can paint. Me? I have never been up there--and do not want to go,
either--there are no canals there. To be sure, they print books in
Nuremberg. It was up there somewhere that they invented type, a lazy
scheme to do away with writing. They are a thrifty lot--those
Germans--they give me my fare and a penny more, just a single penny,
and no matter how much I have talked and pointed out the wonderful
sights, and imparted useful information, known to me alone--only one
penny extra--think of it!

Yes, printing was first done at Mayence by a German, Gutenberg, about
sixty years ago. One of Gutenberg's workmen went up to Nuremberg and
taught others how to design and cast type. This man, Alberto Durer,
helped them, designing the initials and making their title-pages by
cutting the design on a wood block, then covering this block with ink,
laying a sheet of paper upon it, placing it in a press, and then when
the paper is lifted off it looks exactly like the original drawing. In
fact, most people couldn't tell the difference, and here you can print
thousands of them from the one block.

Bellini makes drawings for title-pages and initials for Aldus and
Nicholas Jenson. Venice is the greatest printing place in the world,
and yet the business began here only thirty years ago. The first book
printed here was in Fourteen Hundred Sixty-nine, by John of Speyer.
There are two hundred licensed printing-presses here, and it takes
usually four men to a press--two to set the type and get things ready,
and two to run the press. This does not count, of course, the men who
write the books, and those who make the type and cut the blocks from
which they print the pi