Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/251

POPULAR LIFE AS REFLECTED BY ART 239 old German houses. There are no chairs in the room, but instead several cushioned seats. The table is mas- sive, and the national carved chest, the repository of the choice household linen, stands in the corner. St. Anna lies in a canopied bed, and is in the act of taking some soup or other refreshing beverage. Every- thing around her bespeaks the perfection of housekeep- ing. The sponsors and neighbours gathered together are also refreshing themselves with food and drink, and one stout housewife in full armour of side-pocket, bunch of keys, and chatelaine, seems particularly anxious for a drink. A maid-servant is in the act of brinoincr in a cradle and a bath for the infant Mary. One of the most beautiful pictures of German domestic life is Diirer's ' Holy Family at their Daily Duties.' Mary sits outside the door with spindle in her hand, while the infant Jesus lies in His cradle, and Joseph is making a wooden trough. Little angels, in the shape of boys, are collecting the chips in a basket and at the same time indulging in childish pranks ; one of them brings a bunch of lilies of the valley to the young mother. It is a faithful representa- tion of German life, where 'everything is open and well regulated ; where all is peace, and freedom, and joy-' The domestic hearth was the central point in the lives of our forefathers, and we cannot cease to admire their skill in making home comfortable and attractive. Nothing that was in daily use was too trivial or ignoble to be beautified. The hand of the artist was observ- able in the balustrades, the ceilings, the doors and win- dows, the stoves and the candelabra. Even tjie com- mon kitchen furniture of a burgher's house, of which