availed themselves of the fine fancy and rich invention of the Flemish master. There is besides a nude figure of our Saviour Christ, cut in wood by the hand of Dürer, with the mysteries of the Passion around him. The Redeemer is weeping over the sins of the world with his face concealed in his hands; it is a small work, but not without merit.
The power and the boldness of Albert increasing with time, and as he perceived his works to obtain increasing estimation, he now executed engravings on copper, which amazed all who beheld them. On one plate, of half-folio, he delineated Melancholy, surrounded by all those instruments which are wont to bring thoughts of sadness to him who uses them, or to the man who listens to their strains; the whole being so well expressed that it is not possible for the burin to produce more delicate effects.[1] In small plates he likewise engraved three figures of Our Lady, all varied, the one from the others, and of the most subtle and delicate workmanship. But if I were to attempt the enumeration of all the works which proceeded from the hand of Albert Dürer it would lead me much too far; for the present, therefore, let it suffice thee, oh reader, to know that having designed a Passion of Our Lord in thirty-six plates, and afterwards engraved it,[2] he agreed with the Bolognese Marcantonio to publish the same, in company with him;[3] and repairing to Venice for that purpose, this work afterwards became the cause of, and gave the impulse to, those admirable productions of the same character which were subsequently brought forth in Italy, as will be related hereafter.
At the time when Francesco Francia was pursuing the art of painting in Bologna, there was a youth among his disciples named Marcantonio, who, as being more ingenious than the rest, was brought much forward by Francia, from whom, having been many years with that master, and being greatly beloved by him, he had acquired the surname de'
- ↑ This admirable plate presents the seated figure of a winged woman, in a thoughtful attitude, and with much sadness of expression. It bears the date 1514.
- ↑ Bartsch, Peintre Graveur, and Zani, Enciclopedia Metodica, &c., remark that Albert did not engrave these works himself, but, having designed them, caused them afterwards to be executed by able artists.
- ↑ This is not in accordance with what Vasari afterwards says, nor yet with the facts known, since Albert’s journey to Venice took place in 1506.
