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harvard University 
 
 HAND BOOK 
 
 OF 
 
 THE GERMANIC MUSEUM 
 
 BY 
 
 KUNO FRANCKE 
 
 CURATOR 
 
 THIRD EDITION 
 
 CAMBRIDGE 
 Published by the University 
 1908 
 
 KRANNERT ART MUSEUM AND 
 KINKEAD PAVILION 
 University of Illinois 
 500 E. Peabody Dr. 
 Champaign, IL 61820 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 HE ultimate aim* of the Germanic Museum of Har- 
 
 vard University is to illustrate by reproductions ¢ of 
 typical works of the fine arts and the crafts the development 
 of Germanic culture from the first contact of Germanic tribes 
 with the civilization of the Roman empire to the present 
 day. Its plan, therefore, includes, for the earliest times, as 
 full a representation as possible of the modes of habitation 
 and dress, the armament, and the religious rites of Germanic 
 tribes previous to the Karolingian epoch. Particular empha- 
 sis is to be laid within this primitive age upon Frankish, 
 Norse, and Anglo-Saxon antiquities. The era of Charle- 
 magne and his immediate successors is to be brought to 
 view, as far as possible, by reproductions of Karolingian 
 art, miniatures, fictile ivories, and architectural works. 
 From the tenth century on, 2. e¢., with the development of 
 a distinct German nationality, the selection of objects is 
 
 to be limited, in the main, to the Germanic territory included 
 
 * Cf. Kuno Francke, Deutsche Kultur in Amerika und das Germanische 
 Museum der Harvard Universitat, in Deutsche Rundschaw (Berlin), April, 
 1902, the first presentation of this subject. 
 
 + This limitation to reproductions has been decided upon, because 
 only in this way the restriction of the Museum to really typical works 
 can be assured. Wherever possible, these reproductions are to be in 
 
 the full size of the original. 
 
iV 
 
 in the Holy Roman Empire. The Middle Ages proper 
 are to be represented chiefly by works of architecture, sculp- 
 ture, and painting, illustrating the development of the 
 Romanesque and the Gothic styles; but reproductions of 
 mediaeval armament and dress, both ecclesiastical and sec- 
 ular, will, if possible, be included. The fifteenth century is 
 to be brought to view chiefly by painting and sculpture from 
 the Van Eycks to Diirer, Holbein, and Peter Vischer. From 
 the Reformation on, the two main divisions of the Museum 
 will be devoted to princely art on the one hand, and popular 
 art on the other; and an attempt will be made by repro-. 
 ducing types of provincial styles, such as the Alemannian, 
 the Bavarian, the Saxon farmhouse, and by reproducing 
 certain dwellings of striking historical significance, such as 
 rooms from the Diirer House at Nurnberg, or rooms from 
 the Goethe House at Frankfurt, to bring into a condensed 
 conspectus the outward forms of living in a particular epoch 
 or a particular territory. The principal schools of sculpture 
 and painting from the Renaissance to Rauch and Cornelius 
 and their successors are to receive due attention. Con- 
 temporary German art also is, as far as possible, to be 
 represented. 
 
 This comprehensive plan, the final execution of which 
 will probably demand the work of decades to come, has 
 thus far led at least to a successful beginning in one or 
 two directions. ‘The success of this beginning is largely 
 due to the generous interest taken in it by His Majesty 
 the German Emperor; and it is fitting that the following 
 
Vv 
 
 description of the present collections of the Museum should 
 be introduced by the expression of sincere and respectful 
 gratitude for his splendid gifts. To the officers and mem- 
 bers of the Germanic Museum Association, also, and to 
 other friends of the Museum, both in America and Europe, 
 hearty thanks are due for valuable services rendered to this 
 cause. 
 
 The formal opening of the Museum took place on 
 November 10, 1903, the date of Schiller’s birth, before an 
 audience including delegates from many American colleges 
 and universities, and in the presence of a special represen- 
 tative of the German Emperor. The principal address 
 was delivered by Carl Schurz, the foremost American citizen 
 of German blood. 
 
 From November, 1903, to July, 1906, the Museum was 
 visited by some 70,000 persons, although it was regularly 
 open to the public only on two entire days and two after- 
 noons of the week. Lectures on German religious sculp- 
 ture of the Middle Ages were given in the Museum by the 
 Curator to advanced students in 1903-04 and 1905-06. 
 
 August, 1906. 
 
 The second edition of this Hand-book brings the descrip- 
 tion of the collections up to date, 7. és to November, 1907. 
 The foremost additions to the Museum made since the first 
 edition was published are: the bronze gate of the Cathedral 
 of Augsburg, the pulpit and the crucifixion group of Wech- 
 
 selburg, the tomb of Emperor Louis the Bavarian from 
 
vi 
 
 the Church of Our Lady at Munich, and the relief of 
 the Niirnberg Town-Weigher by Adam Kraft. That of 
 these gifts, one should have come from His Majesty the 
 King of Saxony, another from the Municipal Government 
 of the city of Niirnberg, is a fresh and gratifying proof 
 of the importance attached to this Museum in Germany. 
 The difficulty encountered in placing these monuments 
 properly emphasizes anew the necessity of a new and suitable 
 building. Indeed, not until the money for such a new 
 building has been provided, will it be possible to make 
 this Museum truly representative of the history of German 
 culture. 
 
 The number of visitors to the Museum has now risen 
 above 100,000. During the present winter semester, Professor 
 Clemen, of the University of Bonn, is holding a seminary on 
 mediaeval German sculpture, in the Museum. I am in- 
 debted to Professor Clemen for numerous suggestions in 
 
 preparing this revised edition of the Hand-book. 
 
 Kon: 
 November, 1907. 
 
 The only accession made to our collections since the second 
 edition of this Hand-book was published is Peter Vischer’s 
 Theoderic, described on page 43, a gift of the Bostoner 
 Deutsche Gesellschaft. With the installation of this statue 
 the limit of placing objects properly in the present museum 
 building has been reached. Our work has therefore come 
 
 to an end, unless a new building is provided. 
 Koes: 
 June, 1908. 
 
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT 
 
 HE collections of the Germanic Museum, in its 
 present shape, may be summed up under three 
 
 principal heads, namely : — 
 
 I. ANTIQUITIES OF THE PRE-KAROLINGIAN PERIOD. 
 
 Il. MoNUMENTAL GERMAN SCULPTURE OF THE MIDDLE 
 AGES AND THE RENAISSANCE. 
 
 Ill. German MetaLt WoRK FROM THE TWELFTH TO THE 
 EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 Although these three divisions differ widely from each 
 other, both in number and in importance of the objects 
 constituting them, it seems best, in a description of the 
 main features of the present collection, to follow the outline 
 suggested by this tripartite grouping. 
 
 The numbers in brackets after the different objects refer 
 to the numbers attached to the pedestals of the casts. 
 
a 
 
 sec Pad padi a 
 
l. ANTIQUITIES OF THE PRE-—KAROLINGIAN 
 PERIOD 
 
 a 
 
 THis section contains only a few detached objects, illus- 
 trating various phases of life on Germanic territory from 
 the Roman invasion to the Merovingian epoch. The 
 earliest monument is a series of RELIEFS FROM THE 
 Marcus AURELIUS CoLuMN IN Rome [1],* representing 
 scenes from the wars of the Romans against the Marco- 
 manni (166-180 a.p.). These reliefs, mounted on the wall 
 to the right and left of the entrance to the Museum, are 
 interesting as historical documents, giving graphic accounts 
 of the hostile clash between the Roman and the Germanic 
 world in the centuries preceding the age of the Migrations, 
 and showing, incidentally, the Roman view of Germanic 
 racial type and manner of living. The following scenes 
 are represented: embarkation of captive Germanic nobles 
 for transport across a river (the Danube?); abduction of 
 three fettered Germanic chieftains and two noble youths, 
 likewise in chains; trial of prisoners of war before the 
 Emperor; execution of a prisoner of war in the presence of 
 the Emperor; destruction by fire of a Germanic village, 
 
 * Cf. Eugen Petersen, Alfred von Domaszewski u. A., Die Marcus- 
 Sdule auf Piazza Colonna in Rom. Miinchen, 1896. 
 
4 
 
 and acts of violence done to Germanic women and children. 
 In all these scenes, the bodily and mental features of the 
 Germanic type are well defined: strongly built, tall figures; 
 massive, mane-like beard and hair; dignity and stateliness 
 in gait and posture; a striking sincerity in gesture and 
 address. The nobles are distinguished from the common 
 people by full, freely flowing mantles; princes and people 
 alike are distinguished from the Romans by the wearing 
 of trousers. ‘The habitations consist of huts, partly round, 
 partly rectangular, built apparently of reed and roofed 
 with the same material. 
 
 In the middle of the aisle on either side of the Museum 
 entrance are placed two figures of heroic size, from the 
 Rémisch-Germanisches Museum at Mainz, representing 
 a Roman Leaionartus [2] with reproductions of arms 
 found in the neighborhood of Mainz, and a FRANKISH 
 Warrior [3] of the Merovingian epoch. The former,* 
 protected by a leather armor, a helmet of steel and bronze, 
 and a wooden shield, and armed with sword, dagger and 
 pilum, gives an idea of the equipment of the Roman troops 
 that for centuries guarded the limes, or boundary line of 
 the Empire, running from the Westerwald near Bonn to 
 the Danube near Ratisbon. The latter,t with his spear, 
 his missile axe (the francisca), his short, broad knife (the 
 
 * Cf. L. Jacobi, Das Rémerkastell Saalburg (Homburg, 1897), p. 
 481 ff. 
 
 + Cf. L. Lindenschmitt, Handbuch der deutschen Altertumskunde 
 (Braunschweig, 1880), I, p. 189 ff. 
 
5 
 
 scramasax), and his long, broad sword (the spatha), suggests 
 the aggressiveness and impetuosity of the hosts through 
 whom Clovis subdued the larger part of Middle Europe to 
 Merovingian rule. ‘That the shape and ornamentation of 
 arms and weapons of the Frankish warrior show both the 
 influence of Roman armament and deviation from it, is 
 obvious. 
 
 The only specimen of North Germanic antiquities in- 
 cluded in the collection is a model of the Nypam Boar [4],* 
 in the north wing of the Museum. The original, which is 
 of oak and measures 75 feet in length and 104 feet in width 
 of the middle part, was dug out in 1863 from a peat bog 
 near the village of Nydam on Flensburg harbor, Schleswig- 
 holstein, and forms now one of the principal treasures of 
 the Museum Vaterlindischer Altertiimer at Kiel. Within 
 and about the boat there were found 28 oars, hundreds of 
 spears, bows, arrow shafts and arrow points, shield buckles, 
 and 34 Roman coins of the years 69-217 a.p. ‘The char- 
 acter of the ornaments of the arms and weapons seems to 
 point to the fifth century as the time when the boat with 
 its contents was left on the strand where it gradually sank 
 into the bog. Probably an engagement between some 
 hostile tribes had taken place on and off the shore, and the 
 victors left part of the booty on the battleground as a thank- 
 offering to the gods. It is impossible to assign the boat 
 with certainty to a definite tribe. From the fact that it 
 
 * Cf. Sophus Miiller, Nordische Altertumskunde (Strassburg, 1898), 
 typ. 137 ff, 
 
6 
 
 was found near the original seats of the Angli, one might 
 feel inclined to conjecture that it is a type of the boats in 
 which the Anglo-Saxons in the fifth century crossed over to 
 Britain. The position of the rudder on the right-hand side 
 of the boat is an illustration of the etymology of the word 
 “star-board ”’ (= steering board). 
 
Il MONUMENTAL GERMAN SCULPTURE 
 OF THE MIDDLE AGES AND THE RENAISSANCE 
 
 By far the largest part of the Museum is devoted to 
 monumental German sculpture of the Romanesque, Gothic, 
 and Renaissance periods; indeed, it may be said that there 
 are few museums either in America or Europe where this 
 phase of the history of German culture is as impressively 
 represented as here. Most of the largest casts of these 
 monuments were given by His Majesty the German Em- 
 peror; many important gifts from American citizens also 
 and from princes and governments and other friends of 
 the Museum in Germany and Switzerland are included in 
 this section. 
 
 The background of this remarkable collection is formed 
 by some two hundred large photographs (chiefly from the 
 Kgl. Preussische Messbildanstalt at Berlin) of German archi- 
 tectural masterpieces from the early Middle Ages to the 
 eighteenth century, including views of exteriors and interiors 
 of the principal German cathedrals, castles, city halls, 
 guild halls, and patrician houses. A model of the Hon- 
 KONIGSBURG [5, north wing],* near Schlettstadt in Alsace, 
 
 * Or, more correctly, of the form which the Hohkénigsburg will 
 
 present after the work of restoration, which is now going on, will have 
 been completed. 
 
8 
 
 one of the most perfect types of secular mediaeval archi- 
 tecture, is likewise intended as a part of the historical setting 
 for the collection of monumental casts. And a similar 
 purpose is served by reproductions, in water colors, pho- 
 tographs, and colored prints, of a number of Romanesque 
 
 mural paintings from Rhenish churches, Gothic and Renais- 
 sance altar pieces, and religious paintings of the Flemish 
 school. 
 
 The earliest group of monumental sculptures, exhibited 
 in full size reproductions, belongs to the ancient bishopric 
 of Hildesheim, where at the beginning of the eleventh 
 century, mainly through the efforts of Bishop Bernward 
 (992-1022), a remarkable plastic activity was called to life. 
 Of the many artistic productions which owe their origin to 
 Bernward’s suggestion and initiative,* the Germanic Museum 
 possesses the two most important: the Bronze GATES OF 
 HILDESHEIM CATHEDRAL [6] and the so-called BERNWARD 
 Cotumn [7], both originally belonging to the Church of 
 St. Michael. The Bronze Gates, finished in 1015, are the 
 earlier work. ‘The eight panels on either wing represent, 
 on the left: the fall of man, 7. e., various scenes from Gene- 
 sis, beginning with the creation of Eve and ending with the 
 curse placed upon Cain; on the right: the redemption of 
 man, 2. €., various scenes from the life of Christ, beginning 
 with the Annunciation and ending with the appearance of 
 the risen Christ before Mary Magdalen. While the influ- 
 
 ence of Byzantine conventionalism is clearly visible in these 
 
 * Cf. Thancmar, Vita Bernwardi, c. 5, 6. 
 
9 
 
 reliefs, particularly in the arabesque-like forms of plants 
 and trees, there is in them also striking evidence of a dia- 
 metrically opposed tendency, a crude, but naive, realism 
 which above all aims at an unmistakable presentation of 
 facts. A similar impression is produced by the spirally 
 arranged reliefs of the Bernward Column, representing in 
 twenty-eight scenes the life of Christ from the baptism in 
 the Jordan to the entry in Jerusalem, with an intermezzo 
 of the martyrdom of John the Baptist.* It should, how- 
 ever, be added that the grouping in the column is more 
 compact and serves better the purpose of an artistic filling 
 out of a given space. ‘hat the influence of Roman models, 
 such as the Column of ‘Trajan or Marcus Aurelius, is herein 
 betrayed, seems indisputable. Originally, the Column was 
 crowned by a capital with a superadded cross. It was 
 probably completed in the last years of Bernward’s life. 
 As is the case with nearly all mediaeval German sculptures 
 no name of an artist is attached either to the Cathedral 
 Gates or the Bernward Column. 
 
 Considered together, these two Hildesheim monuments 
 from the beginning of the eleventh century are remarkable 
 as showing essential characteristics of German art from a 
 time when German sculpture had not yet been affected by 
 French influence. The German genius for homely truth- 
 fulness and directness of characterization manifests itself 
 
 * Cf. E. O. Wiecker, Die Bernwardssdéule zu Hildesheim. Hildes- 
 
 heim, 1874. Franz Dibelius, Die- Bernwardstiir zu Hildesheim, in 
 Studien zur deutschen Kunstgeschichte, LXX XI, Strassburg, 1907. 
 
10 
 
 in them with a truly childlike simplicity. Crudeness is 
 the most palpable quality of this art; but it is a crudeness 
 thoroughly wholesome and full of power, and therefore 
 refusing to submit to conventional canons. ‘There is noth- 
 ing in the art of France of the eleventh century which in 
 animation and fulness of life could at all be compared with 
 these Hildesheim monuments; and even the best French 
 works of the beginning of the twelfth century, such as the 
 impressive sculptures of Vézelay and Autun, show a far 
 stricter adherence to conventional arrangement of drapery 
 and grouping. Nothing could exceed the plainness of 
 speech and the instinctive grasp of essentials with which 
 the Hildesheim artists tell their tale. How God the Father, 
 after the fatal apple bite, appears in the garden of Eden 
 calling Adam to account, Adam on his part putting the 
 blame upon Eve; how Cain deals the deadly blow to his 
 brother; how the Virgin receives reverently and devoutly 
 the blessed message of the angel Gabriel; how John the 
 Baptist sermonizes to Herod and Herodias, the latter sitting 
 in her husband’s lap; how the daughter of Herodias dances 
 at the king’s feast — all this is told with a popular homeli- 
 ness and freedom from restraint which betray truly indige- 
 nous art. All in all, these Hildesheim monuments afford a 
 worthy counterpart to the direct and simple manner of German 
 religious poetry* of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, pre- | 
 vious to the introduction of courtly fashion from France. 
 
 * Compare, e.g., the description of the Creation of Man in the 
 Wiener Genesis with the first panel of the Hildesheim Bronze Gates. 
 
11 
 
 A striking contrast to the reliefs of the Hildesheim gates 
 is formed by the panels of the BronzE Door or AuasBuRG 
 CATHEDRAL [Ta],* belonging to the fifth or sixth decade 
 of the eleventh century. While the Hildesheim reliefs in 
 their crude, but vigorous realism give evidence of a decidedly 
 indigenous and original North German art in the eleventh 
 century, the Augsburg reliefs show unmistakable influence 
 of classical tradition. ‘Their technique approaches the 
 finely chiselled forms of the silversmith’s work; the types 
 represented in them betray affinity with types not uncom- 
 mon in Byzantine and Italian ivory tablets. ‘There are 
 altogether thirty-five panels, each of them containing some 
 representation of sacred legend, secular allegory, or mytho- 
 logical symbolism. The fact that not a few of these scenes, 
 — such as a manna gatherer, Samson tearing the mouth of 
 a lion, Samson striking the Philistines with the jawbone 
 of an ass, shooting Centaurs, a woman feeding chickens, 
 and others — appear in more than one panel, makes it 
 clear that the door in its present form has been welded to- 
 gether out of two separate doors, and that the original 
 arrangement of the panels has been destroyed. A satis- 
 factory interpretation of the composition as a whole has not 
 yet been given. 
 
 Most of the German plastic work from the height of the 
 
 Middle Ages shows distinct traces of French manner. In 
 
 * Cf. G. Karch, Die Rétselbilder von der Bronzetiir der Domkirche 
 zu Augsburg, Augsburg, 1869. -J. Merz, Die Bildwerke an der Erztiire 
 des Augsburger Doms, Stuttgart, 1885. 
 
12 
 
 the Golden Gate of Freiberg, in the Founders’ Statues and 
 the Rood Screen of Naumburg, in the sculptures of Bam- 
 berg and Strassburg, this influence is clearly discerned; as. 
 clearly as the influence of French models is to be seen in 
 the great German court-epics, such as Wolfram’s Parzival 
 or Gottfried’s Tristan, and in the courtly German minne- 
 song. In the drapery, in the arrangement of the hair, in 
 facial expression, in peculiarities of bearing and gesture, all 
 these monuments show a decided affinity to the French 
 type, a clear adaptation to a common standard of decorum. 
 Yet even here it would be a mistake to think of the German 
 work merely as a copy of the French. Over and over again, 
 the German individuality asserts itself and gives to these 
 creations their own peculiar life.* 
 
 We shall now consider the principal representatives, in 
 the Germanic Museum, of this fully developed German 
 plastic art from the end of the twelfth to the end of the thir- 
 teenth century, — the Classic Epoch, as it may be called, 
 of German mediaeval sculpture. 
 
 The least admixture of French elements during this 
 epoch is found in North German monuments. Of these, 
 some of the finest specimens are exhibited in the Museum, 
 namely, the Choir Screen of St. Michael’s at Hildesheim, 
 the Baptismal Font of Hildesheim Cathedral, the Tomb 
 of Henry the Lion at Braunschweig, the Wechselburg 
 
 * Cf. G. Dehio, Ueber den Hinfluss der franzdsischen auj die deutsche 
 Kunst im XIII. Jahrhundert, in Historische Zeitschrift, Vol. LXXXVI 
 (1901), p. 398 ff. 
 
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13 
 
 Pulpit and Crucifixion Group, the Freiberg Golden Gate, 
 and the Naumburg Portrait Statues and Rood Screen. 
 The CHorr SCREEN OF THE CHURCH OF St. MICHAEL 
 at Hi_pEsHEIM [8], mounted on the wall of the north aisle 
 of the Museum, belongs probably to the end of the twelfth 
 century.* It is a beautiful example of Romanesque stucco 
 work, which seems to have been not uncommon at that 
 time in the region between the Harz mountains and Thur- 
 ingia. The reliefs of the lower part are framed by seven 
 arches supported by Romanesque pillars. In the middle 
 arch, distinguished from the others by its clover-leaf shape, 
 stands the Virgin with the Christ-child on her right arm, 
 her head reverently bending toward it. ‘The child playfully 
 reaches out with its left hand for Mary’s chin, and the left 
 hand of the mother instinctively follows this motion. A 
 charming mixture of solemnity and grace characterizes this 
 group. ‘The three arches on either side contain the stand- 
 ing figures of altogether six apostles and saintly bishops, 
 all of them remarkable for dignity and seriousness of bear- 
 ing. Fantastic architectural vistas between and above the — 
 seven arches suggest a vision of the heavenly Jerusalem. 
 Above this, there is a frieze combining in weird profusion 
 arabesque-like designs with grotesque forms of fabulous 
 beasts and monsters. And on top of this frieze there runs, 
 as a crowning entablature of the whole screen, an open 
 gallery of twelve low arches, supported by thirteen little 
 columns, on the capitals of each of which there sits an angel 
 
 * The church was dedicated in 1186. 
 
14 
 
 with spreading wings, so that a continuous line of wings 
 touching each other is formed above the arches. The 
 whole monument is a striking proof of the great advance 
 in mastery of form and refinement of expression that had 
 been made in North German art since the days of Bishop 
 Bernward.* 
 
 The BaprismaL Font or HiLDESHEIM CATHEDRAL [9],f 
 belonging to the first decades of the thirteenth century, is 
 in regard to technique one of the finest specimens of bronze 
 work in the period of transition from the Romanesque to 
 the Gothic style; as to the subject matter of its plastic orna- 
 ments, it illustrates in a remarkable way the wealth of sym- 
 bolism characteristic of the best in mediaeval art. All 
 the decorative work which in great profusion spreads both 
 over the bowl and the cover of the font, is expressive in 
 one way or another of the ablution from sin and of inner 
 purification. This is, in the first place, the meaning of 
 the four kneeling figures, each pouring water from an urn, 
 on which the whole structure rests, the four rivers of Para- 
 dise: Tigris, represented as a knight; Phison, a bearded 
 man with serious face; Euphrates, lifting his urn with both 
 hands; Geon, a naked youth of remarkable freedom of 
 carriage. From each of these figures, vertical ornaments 
 run upwards over the surface of the bowl and the cover, 
 
 * The central motif of this composition, the grouping of the apostles 
 around a middle figure, reaches its height about 1200 in. the choir 
 screens of the Church of Our Lady in Halberstadt. 
 
 + Cf. A. Bertram, Das eherne Taujfbecken.im Dom zu Hildesheim. 
 Hildesheim, 1900. 
 
RAR SRE 
 
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15 
 
 connecting the four rivers of Paradise in the first place 
 with the four cardinal virtues, Fortitude (corresponding to 
 Tigris), Prudence (corresponding to Phison), Justice (corre- 
 sponding to Euphrates), and ‘Temperance (corresponding 
 to Geon); next with the four Evangelists; and finally with 
 four Prophets. ‘Through these four vertical lines of plastic 
 ornament a framework is formed for eight large reliefs 
 filling the whole surface of bowl and cover, all of them 
 symbolic of spiritual regeneration: (1) Christ’s Baptism in 
 the Jordan; (2) the Passage of the Jews through the Red 
 Sea; (3) the Passage of the Jews through the Jordan; (4) 
 the Slaughter of the Innocents (baptism by blood); (5) 
 Mary Magdalen at Christ’s feet (baptism of tears); (6) the 
 Six Works of Christian Charity; (7) the Virgin enthroned 
 between Saints; (8) the Rod of Aaron sprouting on the 
 altar. ‘The arrangement of these scenes and their inter- 
 play, as well as the characterization of individual figures, 
 are admirable. 
 
 The WeEcHSELBURG PuLpit [10] and Crucirrxton Group 
 [11] are among the finest specimens of the fully developed 
 Romanesque style of German sculpture in the early thir- 
 teenth century.* Both pulpit and crucifixion group were 
 originally part of the rood screen separating the transept 
 from the choir. In the reliefs of the pulpit — Christ as 
 Judge of the World, the sacrifice of Isaac, and the healing 
 
 * Count Dedo, the founder of the church, died 1190. The comple- 
 tion of the rood screen, to which these sculptures belonged, took place 
 probably between 1210 and 1220. 
 
16 
 
 of the Jews by the brazen serpent — it seems as though the 
 artist was still grappling with the problem of form. In the 
 majestic figure of Christ himself, seated on the throne, 
 surrounded by the symbols of the Evangelists, he has indeed 
 attained to mastery of form, to classic solemnity, exalted 
 repose. In the more animated scenes of the sacrifice of 
 Isaac and the healing of the Jews, there is a curious con- 
 trast between grandeur and awkwardness, sweetness of 
 feeling and naive naturalism. A similar contrast is found 
 in the Crucifixion Group. ‘The figures of Mary and John 
 standing under the cross, as well as that of Joseph of Arima- 
 thea holding out the cup to receive the blood of the Saviour, 
 are remarkable for nobility of outline, depth of feeling, and 
 measured beauty of expression. ‘There is a fine sweep in 
 the two angels on the cross beam, gentle sadness in the 
 figure of Christ, and a mild tenderness in the attitude of 
 God the Father appearing above. ‘The symbolical figures, 
 however, — probably Jewdom and Pagandom, — on which 
 Mary and John are standing, are tortuous and forced. ‘The 
 material of the Pulpit is sandstone, that of the Crucifixion 
 Group oakwood. 
 
 The GoLDEN GATE OF THE CATHEDRAL OF FREIBERG 
 IN Saxony [12],* placed on the west side of the central 
 
 * The traditional name of ‘‘Golden Gate,” perhaps going back to 
 the Porta Aurea in the palace of the emperor Diocletian at Spalato, 
 and occurring in connection with several mediaeval churches, refers 
 to the wealth and splendor of architectural design and, possibly, to 
 the bright effect produced by the gilding of a part of the sculptures, 
 
 such as crowns, sceptres, halos, the borders of garments, etc. The 
 material of the portal is sandstone. 
 
17 
 
 octagon of the Museum, marks the climax of Romanesque 
 architectural sculpture of the thirteenth century. In the 
 arrangement of plastic figures both on the sides of the portal 
 and on the archivolts, French influence is clearly seen. But 
 the plastic figures seem here much more independent of 
 the architectural framework than is common in the French 
 sculptures which served as models to the German artist; 
 and the human type and bodily proportions are unmistak- 
 ably original. 
 
 A thoroughly satisfactory interpretation of all the figures, 
 human, animal and fantastic, which cover the sides of the 
 portal, the tympanum and the archivolts, and of the funda- 
 mental conception underlying them, has not yet been given, 
 although Anton Springer* has done a great deal for the 
 identification of individual personages. Springer thinks 
 that the fundamental conception of the whole is the mystic 
 marriage between Christ and the Church, and that all the 
 scenes and figures of the portal may be interpreted as sym- 
 bolic of this mystic idea. Simpler and more plausible it 
 would seem to find in this portal a plastic counterpart to 
 dramatic scenes from the cycle of the Christmas plays, the 
 popularity of which in the thirteenth century is proven, for 
 Germany, by a particularly complete example, the Bene- 
 diktbeuren Christmas Play. Clearly a scene from the Christ- 
 
 * Cf. A. Springer, Ueber die Quellen der Kunstdarstellungen im Mit- 
 telalter, in Berichte der Sdchsischen Gesellschaft der Wéissenschajten 
 (Leipzig, 1879), XX XI, p. 1 ff. 
 
 Also, Freiherr von Mansberg, Daz hohe liet von der maget. Symbolik 
 der Skulpturen der Goldenen Pjorte. Dresden, 1888. 
 
18 
 
 mas cycle is the one represented in the tympanum of the 
 portal: the Adoration of the Magi, the three kings approach- 
 ing from the left, Mary with the child enthroned in the 
 middle, the archangel Gabriel and Joseph at the right. 
 And no less plausibly than this scene may the eight some- 
 what under life-size figures which flank both sides of the 
 portal be connected with the subject of the Christmas plays. 
 Prophet and Sibyl scenes, as Sepet * has shown, were very 
 frequently used as introducing the Nativity play proper, 
 one prophet or Sibyl after another entering to testify to the 
 coming of the Saviour. While retaining most of the names 
 suggested by Springer for these eight figures, we may call 
 them collectively witnesses to Christ’s Nativity. ‘The oppo- 
 site figures in most cases correspond to each other. Begin- 
 ning from the door itself, we have on the left (from the spec- 
 tator) John the Baptist, opposite him on the right John the 
 Evangelist. Next there are seen on the left King Solomon, 
 on the right King David. ‘There follow two female figures 
 opposite each other, called by Springer the Queen of Sheba, 
 and Bathseba; but the scroll in the hand of each might 
 justify the conjecture that they are intended as Sibyls.7 
 The outside pair are unquestionably Daniel on the left, 
 Aaron on the right, forming a fine contrast of youth and 
 
 old age. 
 
 * Marius Sepet, Les Prophétes du Christ, in Bibliotheque de l’école 
 des chartes (Paris, 1877), XX XVIII, p. 397 ff. Cf. E. Male, L’Art Rels 
 gieux au XIII. Siecle, Paris, 1904. 
 
 + Possibly they might be Jewdom and Pagandom. 
 
19 
 
 As to the plastic representations on the four archivolts 
 encircling the tympanum, they are, to be sure, not taken 
 from any actual scene of a Christmas play; but they are 
 entirely in keeping with the joyous, idyllic character of these 
 plays. On the innermost archivolt, nearest to the Adora-. 
 tion of the Magi, there are at the sides the four archangels, 
 in worshipful attitude; in the middle, the Coronation of 
 Mary by Christ. ‘The next archivolt contains six apostles, 
 three at each side, and in the centre Abraham with a soul 
 of the blessed in his lap, while an angel reaches out another 
 soul toward him. ‘The third archivolt shows eight figures 
 of apostles * and in the centre the dove of the Holy Ghost 
 surrounded by angels. On the outermost archivolt, finally, 
 the resurrection of the flesh is represented by ten figures 
 rising from their graves with manifoldly varying expressions 
 of faith, hope, and exultation; while the central group, an 
 angel receiving by either hand a saved soul, fittingly sym- 
 bolizes the last and highest stage of human redemption. 
 All these sculptures, as well as those of the tympanum and 
 the sides of the portal, are distinguished by a remarkable 
 symmetry and adjustment to architectural demands, and 
 
 by a wonderful mellowness and purity of form and an extra- 
 
 * Fourteen apostles, including Matthias (who was chosen in place 
 of Judas), Paulus, and Barnabas, are represented in other mediaeval 
 monuments also, e.g., in the Adoration of the Lamb, the centerpiece 
 of the altar triptych at Ghent by the brothers van Eyck. The remarks 
 of Hasak, Geschichte der deutschen Bildhauerkunst im XIII. Jahrhun- 
 dert (Berlin, 1899), p. 26 f., about the figures in these two archivolts, 
 are wide from the mark. 
 
20 
 
 ordinary sweetness and serenity of expression, making an 
 artistic whole of unsurpassed beauty and perfection. 
 
 The Toms or Henry THE Lion, DUKE oF Saxony, 
 AND HIS Wire Maruirpis [12a],* from Braunschweig 
 Cathedral, placed in the east transept of the Museum, is 
 perhaps the finest of all German sepulchral monuments 
 of the thirteenth century. The figures of the great Welfish 
 adversary of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and his Plan- 
 tagenet spouse, a daughter of King Henry II of England, are 
 resting side by side, their heads supported by cushions, their 
 feet placed against consoles of early Gothic design. ‘The 
 duke holds in his right arm a model of Braunschweig Cathe- 
 dral, his foundation, in the left his sword wound around 
 with its hangings; the duchess holds her hands folded in 
 prayer under her chin. In the faces of both there is a 
 wonderful blending of the ideal human type with the char- 
 acteristic features of a portrait, reminding one of the best 
 manner of Greek sepulchral sculpture. Indeed, one might 
 say that one such monument as this would be sufficient to 
 demonstrate the noble and free conception of humanity 
 reached by mediaeval civilization at its height. ‘The only 
 artistic defect in these figures is a curious contrast in the 
 folds of the drapery between the upper and the lower half 
 of the bodies. From the shoulders to the waist the drapery 
 is treated as belonging to a standing person; from the waist 
 to the feet the drapery suggests, in part at least, a lying 
 
 * Henry the Lion died 1195, his wife 1189. The tomb was probably 
 not completed before 1225. 
 
21 
 
 figure. ‘This contrast, which is very common in mediaeval 
 sepulchral monuments, may perhaps be explained by he 
 fact that sepulchral slabs, although for the most part placed 
 horizontally on tombs, were sometimes immured vertically 
 on the walls of the church. ‘The material of this tomb is 
 sandstone. 
 
 The Portrair STATUES OF FOUNDERS AND PATRONS 
 oF NAUMBURG CATHEDRAL [12bcd, 13], from the west choir 
 of that church, may be definitely assigned to the middle of 
 the thirteenth century.* ‘These statues, together with that 
 of a young Eccuiestastic [14] from the same church, are a 
 striking refutation of what since Jacob Burckhardt’s “ Kul- 
 tur der Renaissance in Italien’ has come to be a popular 
 axiom, the assumption, namely, that modern individualism 
 had its origin in the era of the rinascimento; they show con- 
 clusively that Burckhardt’s phrase of “the discovery of 
 the individual” by the great Italians of the quatro-cento 
 is misleading, that, in other words, the Middle Ages them- 
 selves contain the germs of modern individualism. ‘There 
 is nothing in the art of the Renaissance which surpasses 
 these Naumburg statues in fulness, distinctness, and vigor 
 of individual life. Every one of these figures is a type by 
 itself, a fully rounded personality. ‘The two pairs of princely 
 husband and wife [12b], one of the men full of power and 
 determination, the other of youthfully sanguine appearance, © 
 
 * Cf. the edict of Bishop Dietrich of Naumburg from 1249, printed 
 in Hasak, l.c., p. 68. 
 
 Lack of space unfortunately has made it necessary to scatter these 
 
 statues through the Museum. 
 
22 
 
 one of the women broadly smiling, the other, with a gesture 
 full of reserved dignity, drawing her garment to her face; 
 the canoness [12c] standing erect, but with slightly inclined 
 head, thoughtfully gazing down upon a book which she 
 supports with one hand while the other turns over its leaves; 
 the princess [12d] drawing her mantle about her; the young 
 ecclecsiastic [14], with his carefully arranged hair flowing 
 from his tonsure, holding the missal in front of him; the 
 various knights [13], one looking out from behind his shield, 
 another leaning upon his sword, a third resting both shield 
 and sword in front of him on the ground, while with his 
 right hand he gathers his mantle about his neck, others in 
 still different postures and moods, — there is not a figure 
 among them which did not represent a particular individual 
 at a particular moment, and which did not, without losing 
 itself in capricious imitation of accidental trifles, reproduce 
 life as it is. It is impossible in the face of such works of 
 sculpture as these not to feel that they proceeded from artists 
 deeply versed in the study of human character, fully alive 
 to the problems of human conduct, keenly sensitive to im- 
 pressions of any sort,—in other words, fully developed, 
 highly organized, complicated individuals. One feels that 
 here are seen the mature artistic fruits of the great Hohen- 
 staufen epoch,—an epoch rent by tremendous conflicts 
 in church and state, and convulsed by the throes of a new 
 intellectual and spiritual birth.* 
 
 * Cf. Kuno Francke, The Inner Lije in German Sculpture in German 
 Ideals of Today, Boston, 1907. It is worth while to note that the 
 
23 
 
 Almost contemporary with these statues, though probably 
 somewhat younger, is the NaumsurG Roop Screen [15] 
 separating the west choir of the Cathedral from the nave. 
 The sculptures of this rood screen form an interesting con- 
 trast to the sculptures of the Freiberg Golden Gate, opposite 
 which it has been mounted in the Museum. While the 
 Freiberg sculptures present a plastic counterpart to the 
 mediaeval Christmas plays, we have in the Naumburg rood 
 screen a plastic counterpart to the Passion plays. On the 
 middle beam of the door leading through the screen, which 
 has the shape of a cross, the figure of the dying Saviour is 
 suspended, while on each side of the door there stand in 
 niches the over life-size figures of Mary and John. The 
 other scenes of the Passion, from the Last Supper to the 
 Bearing of the Cross, are brought to view in high reliefs 
 which as a continuous frieze, crowned by a Gothic canopy, 
 give to the whole structure a most impressive attic-like top. 
 These sculptures seem to mark a stage of development 
 somewhat beyond that reached by the Naumburg portrait 
 statues. ‘They are signalized by intense dramatic power. 
 
 Some of the scenes of the frieze * in particular impress one 
 
 first great epoch of monumental German sculpture from the Hildes- 
 heim Gates to the Naumburg Portrait Statues antedates by far the 
 revival of Italian sculpture, marked by the epoch-making activity of 
 the Pisani (about 1260). 
 
 * They are in order of sequence from left to right: The Last Supper; 
 the Selling of Christ; the Kiss of Betrayal and the Malchus scene; 
 Pilate’s Washing of his Hands; the Flagellation; the Bearing of the 
 Cross. The last two are restorations, belonging to the end of the 16th 
 
24 
 
 as direct transpositions into stone of scenes from the Passion 
 Play stage. ‘They excel even the portrait statues in free- 
 dom and sweep of movement and in keenness of realistic 
 characterization. On the other hand, they show a tendency 
 toward exaggeration, which occasionally (as in John and 
 Mary) leads to a strained and distorted expression of feel- 
 ing; and, in the portrayal of the vulgar and the common- 
 place, they occasionally (as in the representatives of the 
 Jewish rabble) diverge into caricature. They are, then, 
 clear anticipations of the ultra-naturalistic, and therefore 
 
 unnatural tendency of later Gothic sculpture. — 
 
 With these Naumburg sculptures we have reached the 
 limit of North German plastic art of the classic epoch of 
 the Middle Ages as far as it is represented in the Germanic 
 Museum. South German art of the same epoch is much 
 less fully represented; indeed, only a few important. speci- 
 mens from Bamberg, Trier, and Strassburg are exhibited. 
 
 BAMBERG CATHEDRAL is a particularly rich storehouse of 
 Romanesque sculpture, from its early stage in the twelfth 
 century to its fullest growth in the middle of the thirteenth. 
 Some characteristic monuments of this development are 
 here reproduced. Perhaps the earliest is a part of the 
 SCREEN OF THE East Cuorr [16], showing two Prophets 
 
 or the beginning of the 17th century. Unfortunately, on account of 
 lack of space, two of these scenes, the Selling of Christ and the Flagel- 
 lation, had to be placed separately from the rest in the east transept 
 of the Museum. 
 
25 
 
 conversing with each other. ‘This relief, as indeed the 
 whole series of similar groups covering both screens of the 
 east choir, presents a curious mixture of archaic constraint 
 and conyentionalism with a freer movement and individual 
 animation. ‘The attitude of the two Prophets, the one pre- 
 ceding the other and turning back to him in conversation, 
 is decidedly awkward; in the figure at the right, in partic- 
 ular, the body and the lower limbs do not seem to be on the 
 same axis. Both hair and garments are treated very con- 
 ventionally. On the other hand, there is an extraordinary 
 life in gesture, pose of the heads and facial expression. 
 Artur Weese * has made it probable that both in subject- 
 matter and in manner of presentation these reliefs go back 
 to the art of France, where in the twelfth century such 
 groups of conversing prophets and apostles were very com- 
 mon. Decidedly French in style are TwEeLtve ApostTLEs 
 STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF PROPHETS, on the sides 
 of the north portal of Bamberg Cathedral, of which the 
 Germanic Museum possesses only one pair [17]. There 
 are found here the same archaic solemnity and austerity of 
 motion and, contrasting with this, the same eagerness for 
 portrayal of individual feeling. In the types of the heads, 
 however, there seems to show itself a greater readiness to 
 
 accept a normal standard of dignity and beautiful form. 
 
 * A. Weese, Die Bamberger Domskulpturen. Strassburg, 1897. 
 Cf. K. Franck-Oberaspach, Zum Eindringen der franzésischen Gotik in 
 die deutsche Sculptur in Repertorium ftir Kunstwissenschajt, XXII, 
 D..1007 A ALLL, p, 24: 
 
26 
 
 Quite different from these works, and much more nearly 
 approaching the noble realism of the Naumburg portrait 
 sculptures, are six life-size statues flanking one of the east 
 portals and six others arranged in front of the north screen 
 of the east choir, all of them probably executed about 1237, 
 the year of the consecration of the cathedral. Of these, the 
 Germanic Museum contains three: Emperor Henry II 
 [18], Empress KuNIGUNDE [19], and the so-called Srpyt, 
 more correctly to be designated as ELISABETH, THE MOTHER 
 OF JOHN [20], belonging to a scene of the Visztatio. ‘That 
 these statues are adaptations from French models in Rheims 
 Cathedral seems beyond dispute;* but it seems equally 
 clear that they are not slavish imitations, but re-creations 
 having their own independent life, worthy counterparts on 
 the German side to the great creations of the French school. 
 The statue of Emperor Henry has several prototypes in 
 Rheims; but it is not copied directly from any of them, and 
 it is superior to most of them in noble dignity and serious- 
 ness. As to the Empress Kunigunde, no distinct model 
 of French origin seems to have been traced as yet;} and 
 although the general character of drapery, hair, and head- 
 dress suggests a French source, one feels inclined to ascribe 
 the facial type and the peculiar, awkwardly naive gesture 
 of the left hand to German influence. As patron saint of 
 
 * Cf. Weese, J. c., pp. 89-101. 
 
 + The Queen of Sheba of Rheims Cathedral, which Weese and 
 Dehio consider its prototype, is essentially different from the Bamberg 
 statue. 
 
27 
 
 Bamberg Cathedral, she carries a model of the church in 
 the other hand. Elisabeth, finally, has a clear prototype 
 in a well known statue of Rheims Cathedral. Compared 
 with her French ancestress, the German Mother of John 
 is lacking in grace and matronly gentleness; but she is dis- 
 tinguished by austere dignity and a well nigh superhuman 
 grandeur. It is the prophetess, the mystic seer, which her 
 ascetic, almost uncanny features bespeak; and the name 
 “Sibyl,” by which she was formerly known, designates her 
 character perhaps even better than the more correct name 
 now generally accepted. ‘That she is imdeed Elisabeth, 
 and not a Sibyl, is made evident by the fact that she stands 
 at Bamberg as well as at Rheims next to Mary, the two 
 women together representing the scene of the Visitation. 
 
 An interesting monument of the transition from Roman- 
 esque to Gothic manner is the small Norra Porta or 
 THE CHuRCH OF OuR Lapy AT TRIER (T'réves), mounted 
 on the wall of the inner octagon of the Museum. It belongs 
 to the middle of the thirteenth century [21]. This church 
 is the oldest church in‘ Germany of predominantly Gothic 
 forms; only in the portals the architect still makes conces- 
 sions to Romanesque designs. Wonderfully delicate is the 
 leaf ornament of the archivolts; the relief of the tympanum, 
 representing the Coronation of Mary, shows unmistakably 
 
 French influence.* 
 
 * The church was built after the model of the church of St. Yved 
 de Braisne near Soissons. 
 
28 
 
 In STRASSBURG CATHEDRAL,* also, the transition from 
 Romanesque to Gothic style is clearly discernible. ‘The 
 east choir and the transept, executed in the main during 
 the last decades of the twelfth century and the first decades 
 of the thirteenth, are still prevailingly Romanesque, although 
 with Gothic additions; the main body of the church, the 
 nave with its two side aisles, was carried out in the decades 
 preceding the year 1275 in fully developed Gothic style; 
 from 1277 on, Master Erwin von Steinbach added the noble 
 west facade; the work on the towers was carried on until 
 toward the middle of the fifteenth century. ‘The Germanic 
 Museum possesses a number of sculptures illustrating 
 various phases of the history of this masterpiece of German 
 architecture. ‘They are placed partly in the south aisle, 
 partly in the east transept of the Museum. 
 
 The earliest are the Death of Mary, from a tympanum 
 of the double gate of the Romanesque south portal of the 
 transept, and the statues of Ecclesia and Synagoga, flanking 
 the sides of this portal. The Dears or Mary [22] is one 
 of the noblest creations in the whole history of art. The 
 Virgin is represented reclining on a couch, wrapped in a _ 
 garment which reveals with rare delicacy the lines of her 
 body. Her face is majestic, Juno-like. Although the 
 moment represented is after her death, her eyes are still 
 open and have a look of heavenly exaltation. Behind her 
 couch, in the middle of the tympanum, stands Christ, hold-— 
 
 * Cf. E. Meyer-Altona, Die Skulpturen des Strassburger Miinsters. 
 Strassburg, 1894. 
 
29 
 
 ing Mary’s soul (in the form of an infant)* in his left hand, 
 his right hand raised in blessing. Mary Magdalen cowers 
 in front of the couch, wringing her hands, her face express- 
 ing deepest sorrow. ‘T'he space at the sides and back of 
 the death bed is filled with the figures of the Disciples, some 
 of them giving way to grief, others contemplative, others 
 transfigured, all of them filled with holy awe and deep 
 religious feeling. ‘lhe graceful vine which runs along the 
 edge of the Romanesque arch of the tympanum gives to 
 the whole composition a fitting enclosure. In this monu- 
 ment the French sense of form and German feeling seem 
 most happily blended. 
 
 Of no less refinement are the statues of Ecciesia [23] 
 and Synacoca [24]. To contrast the Church triumphant 
 and the Synagogue defeated was a very common conception 
 both in the religious sculpture and in the religious drama 
 of the Middle Ages.t| Noteworthy instances of their occur- 
 rence in sculpture are the statues of Rheims Cathedral, 
 the north portal of Bamberg Cathedral, and the vestibule 
 of the Cathedral of Freiburg im Breisgau; t{ of their intro- 
 
 * In the first Christian centuries there occur representations of 
 the soul in the form of a young woman (cf. F. X. Kraus, Realency- 
 klopaedie der christlichen Altertiimer, Il, p. 286); possibly in adaptation 
 from the Greek Psyche (cf. Erwin Rohde, Psyche (3 Aufl. 1903), I, 
 p. 244). In the Middle Ages the infant symbol is the prevailing one. 
 A famous instance of this latter representation is Orcagna’s. Triumph 
 of Death in the Campo Santo at Pisa. 
 
 + Cf. Paul Weber, Gevstliches Schauspiel und Kirchliche Kunst. 
 Stuttgart, 1894. 
 
 t Cf. K. Moriz-Eichborn, Der Skulpturencyklus in der Vorhalle des 
 Freiburger Mimsters. Strassburg, 1899. 
 
30 
 
 duction into the drama, the part played by them in the 
 Ludus de Antichristo and the Alsfeld Passion Play.* Of 
 all plastic representations, these Strassburg statues are the 
 most exquisite.t ‘The Church, with wide flowing mantle, 
 the crown on her head, her right hand holding the standard 
 of the cross, her left bearing the communion chalice, stands 
 erect and dignified at the left side of the portal, looking 
 with pride and disdain at her adversary on the opposite 
 side. The Synagogue wears neither crown nor mantle; in 
 her left hand she holds the table of the Mosaic law turned 
 downward, in the right a standard the shaft of which is 
 broken in many places; her eyes are bandaged (to indicate 
 that she does not see the true light), and her face is turned 
 away from the Church and is bent slightly down. In spite 
 of her humiliation, she appears more human and lovable 
 than her victorious rival. Both figures together are per- 
 haps unsurpassed in mediaeval sculpture for grace and 
 delicacy of outline; only in the somewhat coquettish twist 
 of the hips there is observable a slight indication that the 
 highest point in the classic epoch of plastic art has already 
 been passed and that the age of extravagant emotion and 
 artificiality is setting in. 
 
 Most of Gothic sculpture shows traces of this latter ten- 
 
 * Cf. R. Froning, Das Drama des Mittelalters. Stuttgart, 1892. 
 
 + K. Franck-Oberaspach, Der Kistler der Ecclesia und Synagoga 
 im Strassburger Minster, Diisseldorf, 1905, proves that the artist came 
 from Chartres. His direct predecessor was the artist of the Visitatio 
 in the North vestibule of Chartres Cathedral. 
 
31 
 
 dency. The Germanic Museum contains a few Strassburg 
 monuments from the west facade which partly at least 
 reveal this defect. Particularly forced is the attitude of two 
 VIRTUES CRUSHING VicEs [25]. ‘These tortuous, over-elegant 
 and courtly ladies, who with a certain fashionable non- 
 chalance direct their spears against the heads of the dwarf- 
 like vices at their feet, entirely lack the seriousness and 
 sincerity of earlier art; and it is hard to see how Hasak, in 
 his Geschichte der deutschen Bildhauerkunst im XIII. Jahr- 
 hundert,* should prevail upon himself ‘to characterize these 
 figures as among the noblest female statues ever produced. 
 Simpler and more natural are the figures of a WISE [26] 
 and a FoorisH Virein [27] from the same facade. ‘The 
 Foolish Virgin in particular is remarkable for the unaffected 
 and intense expression of despairing grief. ‘The frequent 
 occurrence of the plastic representation of the Wise and 
 Foolish Virgins in company with the Heavenly Bridegroom 
 and the Prince of the World} suggests that here again, as 
 in the case of the representations of the Nativity and the 
 Passion, sculpture was strongly influenced by the drama. 
 A play of the Wise and Foolish Virgins,{ remarkable for 
 intensity and fervor of emotion, was produced at Eisenach 
 
 FAL.C. Dr loo te 
 
 t+ One of the most noteworthy of these is the group in the vestibule 
 of Freiburg Cathedral, the Prince of the World in particular being a 
 striking parallel to the Strassburg figure. Cf. Moriz-Eichborn, 1. c., 
 p. 7 £., 57, 67. 
 
 t Das Spiel von den zehen Jungfrauen, ed. M. Rieger, Germania, X, 
 p. 311 ff. 
 
32 
 
 about the same time that these Strassburg sculptures were 
 
 executed, 7 ¢., at the beginning of the fourteenth century. — 
 
 These Strassburg sculptures complete the survey of the 
 best of mediaeval German plastic art as far as the repro- 
 ductions of the Germanic Museum permit it. The rest. of 
 the collection of sculptures consists of a number of selected 
 works of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, 
 both in the later Gothic and in the Renaissance manner, 
 and of a few conspicuous specimens of Baroque and Neo- 
 Classic art of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 
 
 The fourteenth century is represented by two sepulchral 
 monuments only: the funeral slab of a Swiss nobleman, 
 Ulrich von Regensberg (+c. 1280), and the tomb of 
 Saint Aurelia at St. Emmeran in Ratisbon. The FuNERAL 
 SLAB OF ULRICH VON REGENSBERG [28], now in the Swiss 
 National Museum, was found imbedded, in 1903, in one 
 of the last remnants of the old fortifications of Ziirich, face 
 down, serving as the lower shelf of an embrasure of a tower. 
 Apparently, it had been carried thither in the sixteenth cen- 
 tury, when the interior of the Church of the Barefooted 
 Augustinians, its original receptacle, was partly demolished 
 and used as building material for secular purposes. ‘Through 
 the rounding off of one of its longer sides, so as to conform 
 its shape to the round wall of the tower, the slab lost part 
 of its inscription. Otherwise it has not suffered from the 
 vandalism to which it was subjected. It shows engraved 
 upon it, in the manner of the nzello technique, the standing, 
 
 somewhat over life-size figure of a mediaeval nobleman, 
 
33 
 
 bareheaded, with long curly hair, in tunic and mantle, his 
 shoes pointed, pressing the sword with his right hand to 
 his right hip, with the left hand drawing the string of his 
 mantle forward (a very common gesture of courtly bearing). 
 The figure is remarkable for its freedom, gracefulness, and 
 
 sweep of outline. ‘The inscription reads :— 
 SEPVLT’ DNS’ VLRIC’ . DE REGENSBERG . QVI . OBIIT A... 
 
 Unquestionably it refers to a member of the baronial family 
 of Regensberg, which, in the latter part of the thirteenth 
 century and the beginning of the fourteenth, played an 
 important part in Ziirich history. 
 
 The ‘Toms or St. AURELIA IN THE MONASTERY OF ST. 
 EMMERAN AT RaTIsBon [29] is a good instance of the ten- 
 dency of fourteenth century art toward life-likeness of 
 expression and individualization of features. In the drap- 
 ery there is still something of the noble manner of the thir- 
 teenth century. Beautiful is the grape-vine which runs 
 parallel to the recumbent figure. Its symbolic meaning is 
 
 finely interpreted by the inscription: 
 
 HIC PIA FLORESCIT AURELIA VIRGO SEPULTA 
 QUE PENAS NESCIT CELI DULCEDINE FULTA. — 
 
 The fifteenth century is represented by Jérg Syrlin; 
 Master Hans, the author of the tomb of Emperor Ludwig 
 at Munich; Niklas Lerch; Adam Kraft; and the unknown 
 master of the Niirnberg Madonna. 
 
 JORG SyRLIN’s BisHop’s SEAT IN ULM CATHEDRAL 
 
 [30], mounted at the north wall of the inner octagon of the 
 
d4 
 
 Museum, is one of the masterpieces of wood carving in 
 later Gothic style. It stands in the middle of the entrance 
 to the choir of the cathedral, placed with its back against 
 an altar. It was finished in 1468, a year before the master 
 undertook the work on the equally elaborate choir stalls 
 of the same church. ‘The bench of the Bishop’s Chair is 
 divided into three seats; the desk in front of these seats, 
 decorated with rich foliage, contains at the sides the busts 
 of two Sibyls protruding above the edges. ‘They are desig- 
 nated as Sibilla Samia and Eritria. Above the bench there 
 rises to the height of nearly thirty feet a Gothic canopy, 
 surrounded on its base by eight relief busts of Prophets, 
 and crowned by three pyramids of partly open tracery, in 
 the central one of which there stands the nearly life-size 
 figure of Christ as Judge of the World. ‘The richness and 
 delicacy of ornamentation of the whole structure are re- 
 markable. 
 
 The Toms or Emperor Lupwic THE BaAvaRIAN [31] in 
 the Church of Our Lady at Munich, finished about 1468, 
 is one of the finest sepulchral monuments of the fifteenth 
 century. It represents the emperor enthroned on a richly 
 ornamented dais, in his hands sceptre and globe, while two 
 angels are holding a canopy over his head. Beneath this 
 group, two princes, one of them in a long flowing mantle, 
 the other in full armor with his heraldic lion at his side, 
 are engaged in animated conversation. This scene has 
 been interpreted as representing the reconciliation between 
 
 Duke Ernst of Bavaria and his son Albrecht, the husband 
 
35 
 
 of the unfortunate Agnes Bernauer, whose tragic death 
 had driven the son into rebellion against his father. Of 
 the artist of this monument nothing is known except his 
 first name, Hans. he Renaissance canopy which now 
 nearly hides the tomb proper was completed in 1622, by 
 Hans Krumper. 
 
 Of Niklas Lerch of Leyden (+ 1493), the master of the 
 Tomb of Emperor Frederick III in the Church of St. 
 Stephen at Vienna, the Germanic Museum, possesses only 
 two small Busts or a PropHet [31a] AND A SIBYL [32], from 
 the former Chancellery at Strassburg, until its destruction 
 in 1870 preserved in the Strassburg Library. An unauthen- 
 ticated tradition designates these busts as portraits of a 
 Count Jacob von Lichtenberg, and his mistress, Barbara 
 von Ottenheim, about whom local chronicles contain ro- 
 mantic anecdotes.* ‘The designation as Prophet and Sibyl 
 seems justified by the frequent juxtaposition of these figures 
 in mediaeval art ¢ and by the fantastic head-dress particu- 
 larly of the male figure. These heads are unsurpassed 
 masterpieces of psychological analysis, and are worthy 
 plastic counterparts to the portraits of the Flemish school — 
 of painting. 
 
 Adam Kraft’s ENTOMBMENT OF CHRIST [33] is perhaps 
 the finest of the so-called Stations which the master, from 
 
 * Cf, Charles Gérard, Les artistes de l’ Alsace pendant le Moyen Age 
 (Colmar, 1873), II, p. 374 ff., who repeats these anecdotes without 
 doubting their authenticity. 
 
 + Cf. the remarks on the Freiberg Golden Gate and the Ulm Bishop’s 
 Chair, swpra, pp. 18 and 34. 
 
36 
 
 1490 on, carried out to be placed at stated distances from 
 each other on the road leading from the city wall of Niirn- 
 berg to the cemetery of St. John. Kraft shows himself 
 here a3; an artist kindred to Diirer in seriousness, truthful- 
 -ness, and moral power. Compared with the Strassburg 
 Death of Mary, next to which it is mounted in the Museum, 
 this relief has less refinement of outline, less harmony of 
 composition. ‘There is a certain grossness in it, an appar- 
 ently wilful emphasis laid on the ordinary and common- 
 place. But after all, this ordinary and commonplace ex- 
 terior serves to make us understand all the more fully the 
 eternal human emotions throbbing beneath its surface. As 
 in Rembrandt’s paintings, we seem here to have the most 
 direct, untrammelled access to the secrets of the heart. ‘The 
 speechless woe expressed by Mary’s clutching her son’s 
 head and drawing it to her lips in frantic ecstasy, calls up 
 before us the deepest tragedy of a mother’s life and stirs 
 feelings of profound compassion. 
 
 The RELIEF OF THE Town-WEIGHER [33a], by the same 
 master, from the facade of the former Municipal Cus- 
 ‘ toms-House at Niirnberg, belongs to the year 1497. It is 
 remarkable for its directness and a simple humor. ‘The 
 Town-Weigher himself stands in the midst of the group, 
 conscientiously noting the balancing of the scales. ‘To the 
 left, an attendant is in the act of adding another weight; | 
 while opposite to him the merchant, whose bales of mer- 
 chandise are about to have the duty settled upon them, puts 
 
 his hand reluctantly into his purse. The whole composi- 
 
37 
 
 tion presents an admirable and graphic scene from German 
 burgher life in the fifteenth century. 
 
 In grace and harmony of form no work of fifteenth cen- 
 tury sculpture in Germany can be compared with the 
 Mater Dororosa [34], from the Germanisches Museum 
 at Niirnberg, formerly, but without sufficient reason, attri- 
 buted to Veit Stoss.* The figure, carved of oak, probably 
 belonged originally to a crucifixion group, such as is seen 
 in the Naumburg Rood Screen.t ‘This explains the upward 
 turn of the head and the slight leaning forward of the body, 
 which is accentuated by the wringing of the hands over the 
 breast. She closes one hand over the other in the manner 
 observable in the Mary Magdalen of the Strassburg Death 
 of Mary,t—a treatment of the hands not uncommon in 
 mediaeval art to denote intense emotion. While the whole 
 attitude of the figure is expressive of grief, there is only 
 subdued sadness in the face. What it loses thereby in 
 religious fervor, it gains on the other hand in measured 
 beauty. On the whole, this work may well stand as a sym- 
 bol of the union of mediaeval and modern feeling charac- 
 
 teristic of the early Renaissance. — 
 
 The sixteenth century is represented by some pieces of 
 decorative art, such as a RENAISSANCE DOOR FROM THE 
 HIRSCHVOGELSAAL [35], a DRAGON CHANDELIER FROM THE 
 
 * By some critics ascribed to Peter Vischer. Cf. Berthold Daun, 
 Peter Vischer und Adam Krajt, Leipzig, 1905, p. 41. 
 
 + Cf. supra, p. 23. 
 t Cf. supra, p. 28. 
 
38 
 
 Direr House [36], both at Niirnberg,* and the FigurE oF 
 A Swiss LAaNDSKNECHT [37] from a fountain at Schaff- 
 hausen. ‘The latter is a characteristic production of popu- 
 lar Swiss handicraft, — plump, but energetic and full of 
 life. It is the work of a certain Jérg Dies, surnamed 
 Schwab. ‘The shaft on which it stands bears the date 1524 
 
 and the following inscription: — 
 
 KER IN KER IN 
 
 BIS WOHLGEMUTH 
 ICH SCHENK DIR IN 
 AN GELD UND GUT. 
 
 The figure was presented to the Museum by the Swiss 
 
 Government. — 
 
 The specimens of plastic art in the highest sense are 
 limited to a few works by Hans Briiggemann and Peter 
 Vischer and his school. 
 
 The TrrerycH OF SCHLESWIG CATHEDRAL [38] by Hans 
 Briiggemann, executed from 1515 to 1521 for the convent 
 church of Bordesholm, is one of the greatest masterpieces 
 of wood sculpture. It consists of twenty separate compo- 
 sitions, mostly from the Passion of Christ, centering in an 
 elaborate representation of the Crucifixion. Altogether it 
 
 * The Hirschvogel house, situated near the castle of Nirnberg, 
 was the residence of a patrician family of that name. The chandelier 
 from Diirer’s house is said to have been designed by the master him- 
 self. Both these objects are intended to show how easy it would be 
 
 to reproduce in the Museum the whole interior of a German burgher 
 house of that time. 
 
39 
 
 contains 385 figures. In wealth of imagination, grasp of 
 life, and nobility of purpose, this work stands on a plane 
 with the best that Diirer ever produced. ‘That Diirer’s 
 Little Passion directly influenced it, is beyond question.* 
 While the whole altar is brought to view in the Museum by 
 a large “Messbild,” three of its scenes are reproduced in 
 the original size: the COVENANT BETWEEN ABRAHAM AND 
 MELCHISEDEC and the INSTITUTION OF THE PASSOVER, 
 both Old Testament prefigurations of the Last Supper, 
 and the Ecczk Homo. Here, one might say, is reached the 
 fulfilment of that which the master of the Naumburg Pas- 
 sion + strove for. There is complete mastery of form, 
 entire freedom of movement, deepest knowledge of human 
 character, intense delight in reproducing the greatest variety 
 _ of types of the outer world, and with it all an unshaken faith 
 in Holy Writ and spiritual truth. ‘The first of these scenes 
 is dominated by the contrast between Abraham, the warrior, 
 followed by a retinue bristling in arms, and Melchisedec, 
 the priest and man of peace. ‘The second presents a won- 
 derful gallery of character types grouped about the central 
 figure of Moses. ‘The third is distinguished by the contrast 
 between the vulgar rabble and the noble dignity of the suffer- 
 
 ing Saviour. 
 
 * Compare particularly the scenes of the Betrayal and the Har- 
 rowing of Hell in both works. A fine analysis of the whole triptych 
 is given by Friedrich Eggers, Der Altarschrein der Domkirche in Schles- 
 wig. Flensburg, 1866. 
 
 + Cf. supra, p. 23 f. 
 
40 
 
 The earliest of Peter Vischer’s works which the Museum 
 possesses is the Toms or CounT HERMANN OF HENNEBERG 
 AND HIS WIFE [39], in the south aisle, executed probably 
 soon after 1507, the date of the latter’s death. On the slab 
 are seen, in standing attitude and facing each other, the 
 Count, in full armor, holding sword and standard, and his 
 wife, in simple, domestic dress, her hands crossed in front 
 of her, the left holding the rosary. ‘The lion and dog be- 
 neath their feet may be symbolic of worldly sins conquered, 
 or they may (more probably) be some heraldic device. 
 The drapery shows no such conflict as is seen in the Tomb 
 of Henry the Lion.* Affinity to portrait paintings by 
 Diirer is unmistakable. ‘The sides of the tomb are elabo- 
 rately decorated with biblical figures and saints, among 
 them the three Magi and St. Christopher. 
 
 Vischer’s masterpiece, the ‘ToMB oF ST. SEBALD [40], 
 in the central octagon, was executed, with the assistance 
 of his sons,t from 1508 to 1519, for the Church of St. 
 Sebald in Niirnberg. The shrine containing the relies 
 of the saint is not Vischer’s work, but goes back to the 
 year 1397. Vischer placed it on a rectangular pediment, 
 the two long sides of which show four reliefs representing 
 scenes from the life of St. Sebald, namely: the transforma- 
 tion, by the saint, of stones into bread and of water into 
 wine, for the relief of his famished companions; the engulf- 
 
 * Cf. supra, p. 20 f. 
 
 t+ Cf. H. Seeger, Peter Vischer der Jiingere in Beitrdége zur Kunst- 
 geschichte N. F., XXIII, p. 81, Leipzig, 1897. 
 
41 
 
 ment of a pagan blasphemer in a fissure of the earth, and 
 his rescue through the intercession of the saint; the trans- 
 formation, by the saint, of icicles into burning fire-brands, 
 for the relief of the poor cartwright and his family in whose 
 hut St. Sebald had found shelter; the restoration to sight of 
 the cartwright whose eyes had been put out by the pagan 
 tyrant of Niirnberg. ‘The two ends of the pediment con- 
 tain in niches, the one a statuette of the saint in pilgrim’s 
 garment, with a model of his church in his hand, the other 
 a statuette of Peter Vischer himself, in working apron and 
 with hammer and chisel in hand. 
 
 Pediment and shrine together are encased in an airy 
 structure of Gothic pillars and arches, crowned by three 
 cupolas of half Romanesque, half Renaissance design; and 
 this casing on its part is profusely decorated with the oreatest 
 variety of figures, — animal, mythological, allegorical, and 
 human. The whole structure rests on colossal snakes, 
 representing the lowest forms of animal life. On the slab 
 supporting the pediment there are, at the corners, the sit- 
 ting statuettes of Nimrod, Samson, Perseus, and Hercules; 
 in the middle spaces between them, the four cardinal vir- 
 tues. On the pillars, on a level with the middle part of 
 the shrine, there stand, supported by consoles, the somewhat 
 larger figures of the twelve Apostles; in line with the points 
 of the arches, set against the background of the cupolas, 
 the statuettes of twelve Prophets. The central cupola, 
 finally, is crowned by a diminutive bambino. Add to this 
 
 a rich profusion of gamboling children, of Tritons, Sirens, 
 
42 
 
 Satyrs, Fauns, Dolphins, scattered all over the structure, 
 and the bewildering wealth of conceptions, the curious mix- 
 ture of Christian and Classic, of mediaeval and modern 
 ideas, contained in this monument, is perhaps sufficiently 
 indicated. It should, however, be pointed out that the 
 dominant part given to the figures of the twelve Apostles, 
 figures of true sublimity and spiritual power, serves to give 
 unity and inner meaning to this varied play of worldly fancy. 
 
 From 1513 on, Peter Vischer, his sons, and his craftsmen 
 were at work on the colossal selpuchral monument which 
 Emperor Maximilian I erected to his own memory * in 
 the Hofkirche at Innsbruck. Of the more than thirty 
 statues of which this monument is composed, the Germanic 
 Museum possesses three: the kneeling figure of EMPEROR 
 MaxtmiiaNn himself [41], modelled probably by Alexander 
 Colin of Mecheln, cast in bronze by Luigi del Duca, and 
 the standing figures of Kina ArTHuUR [42] and ‘THEODERIC 
 [42a], by Peter Vischer. ‘The venerable old Emperor, the 
 crown on his head, his long, richly brocaded mantle trailing 
 behind him, bends in prayer upon his own tomb, commend- 
 ing his soul to the Almighty. King Arthur, steeled from 
 head to foot, the chain of the Golden Fleece hanging around 
 his neck, stands by the tomb as a knightly death-watch. 
 
 His heavy armor does not seem to weigh upon him, his 
 
 * That sepulchral monuments were carried out during the lifetime 
 of the persons to be buried beneath them, was a widely accepted custom 
 in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. For the history of the Inns- 
 bruck monument ef. David von Schonherr in Jahrbuch der Kunst- 
 sammlungen des Allerh. Kaiserhauses. 
 
43 
 
 attitude is as free and elastic as that of an Olympic athlete; 
 mediaeval knighthood seems in him to have assumed the 
 harmonious manhood of the Greek xadoxdéyabia. Its com- 
 panion figure, Theoderic, although not lacking in pictur- 
 esque impressiveness, does not possess the same simple 
 repose, and in its somewhat fantastic grandeur seems to 
 
 foreshadow the exaggerated forms of the Baroque period. — 
 
 Baroque and Neo-Classic art of the seventeenth and 
 eighteenth centuries is suggested rather than represented 
 by a few isolated monuments: Andreas Schliiter’s Eques- 
 trian Statue of the Great Elector and three Masks of Dying 
 Soldiers, and Johann Georg Schadow’s statue of Frederick 
 the Great. In their present largely mediaeval and _ reli- 
 gious surroundings these monuments are somewhat out of 
 place, and their colossal proportions decidedly demand a 
 wider and more impressive background than the present 
 temporary Museum building affords. 
 
 The EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF THE GREAT ELECTOR [43], 
 in the central octagon, completed between 1698 and 1703, 
 is one of the few heroic, and at the same time truthful, his- 
 torical monuments which the art of the Baroque period 
 has produced. Frederick William, the founder of the 
 Prussian monarchy, was a remarkable mixture of autocratic 
 arbitrariness and single-minded devotion to the common 
 weal. Ruthlessly overriding time-honored class privileges 
 and local statutes, he established the sovereignty of the 
 modern state in his widely scattered territories, and thus 
 
 welded them together into a political whole. Obstinately 
 
+4 
 
 adhering to a military absolutism even in matters of civil 
 administration, he was also keenly alive to the demands of 
 industrial progress and commercial expansion. A Prussian 
 from head to foot, zealously maintaining the prerogatives 
 of his principality against other states of the Empire, he 
 was also the only German prince of his time who deeply 
 felt for the national honor, the only one willing to risk his 
 own state in defence of Germany. Nothing could bring 
 the sturdy greatness of this man or the condition of the 
 Prussia of his time more concretely or impressively before 
 our eyes than this statue, erected on the Lange Briicke at 
 Berlin two decades after his death. Clad in the costume 
 of a Roman imperator, the marshal’s staff in his right hand, 
 with the left tightly grasping the reins and holding his horse 
 in check, his head slightly thrown back so that the aquiline 
 nose and the commanding eyes are in full sight, while the 
 mane-like hair (an artistic transformation of the seventeenth 
 century periwig) flows in bold masses over neck and shoul-. 
 ders, he seems the very embodiment of princely absolutism. 
 But there is nothing theatrical or vainglorious in this man, 
 nothing that savors of a Charles II or a Louis XV. His 
 horse is not a showy thing of parade, but a doughty animal 
 of tough sinews and heavy limbs; he rides it free and with- 
 out stirrups; he knows what he is about; he is carrying his 
 destiny in himself; and a victorious future seems to hover 
 before his eyes. 
 
 That Schliiter, although in the main a glorifier of princely 
 splendor and military triumphs, was by no means insensible 
 
 to the frightful sacrifices and sufferings brought upon the 
 
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45 
 
 people by a century of almost incessant war, is proven by 
 his colossal Masks or Dy1NG SotpieErs, which, overtopping 
 the keystones of the window arches, surround the courtyard 
 of the Royal Arsenal at Berlin (begun in 1695). Here the 
 horror of war, the tortures of violent death are represented 
 with a relentlessness and power which remind one of the 
 strongest productions of modern realism. Of all the varie- 
 ties of expression which the moment of death stamps upon 
 the human face, excruciating agony, convulsive distortion, 
 complete exhaustion, quiet resignation, grim defiance, 
 heroic exaltation, hardly one is absent. One feels trans- 
 ported to a battlefield and lives all its terrors over again. 
 The Germanic Museum possesses three of these masks 
 [44], in the south wing, two of them showing the features 
 of youths still fiercely battling with pain, the third showing 
 the torpid features of a bearded old veteran already dead. 
 Schadow’s MARBLE STATUE OF FREDERICK THE GREAT 
 [45], entrance of the north wing, completed in 1793 for the 
 vestibule of the Pommeranian Diet building at Stettin, is 
 one of the monuments marking the return, at the end of 
 the eighteenth century, to a more natural and harmonious 
 style from the exaggerations and artificialities of the Rococo 
 age. The face and the attitude of the statue bring 
 out well the mental force and keenness of the great king; 
 but too much attention is given to minute details of his 
 costume and emblems of sovereignty to produce a truly 
 monumental effect. It was left to Rauch and to Menzel 
 to make the figure of Frederick the Great live in popular 
 
 imagination. 
 
Ill. GERMAN METAL WORK FROM THE 
 TWELFTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 THIs section consists of two parts: (1) a collection of 
 electrotype reproductions of plaquettes, (2) a collection of 
 drinking vessels, both for religious and secular use, and of 
 other pieces of table service, also in electrotype reproduction. 
 
 Plaquettes and medals were in the fifteenth, sixteenth, 
 and seventeenth centuries frequently used as ornaments 
 of chests, caskets, vessels and other domestic utensils, and 
 were a favorite subject of decorative art. ‘The PLAQUETTES 
 oF Prerer FLOTNER * [46], a master of the sixteenth century 
 (+ 1546) whose artistic individuality has only recently 
 come to be fully understood, are good examples of this 
 branch of “Kleinkunst.’”’ ‘They are arranged in three cases 
 in the north aisle of the Museum. Flétner shows himself 
 here as an artist of great originality, fine sense of form, and 
 a wide range of intellectual interests. Remarkable is the 
 perspective in his landscapes and architectural backgrounds, 
 often a wide vista of hills and rivers, or palaces with colon- 
 nades after colonnades, being opened within the compass 
 of a few inches. His sense of nature shows itself in the 
 way in which he transports actions of biblical or classical 
 
 * Cf. Konrad Lange, Peter Flétner, Ein Bahnbrecher der deutschen 
 Renaissance. Berlin, 1897. K. Domanig, Peter Flétner als Plastiker 
 
 und Medailleur. Wien, 1895. F. F. Leitschuh, Flétner-Studien, I. 
 Strassburg, 1904. 
 
47 
 
 tradition to German soil, so that, for instance, he makes 
 Abraham receive the three angels in a German farmhouse 
 with thatched roof and with the duck-pond close by, or 
 lets Venus on a winged chariot sweep through the air over 
 a German countryside with mill-wheels turning and castles 
 on hill-tops. He is fond of allegorical representations, 
 such as Virtues and Vices, the Five Senses, the Muses, the 
 Planets; but he knows how to clothe these abstractions 
 with concrete life. His interest in the Germanic past is 
 shown by a series of plaquettes representing twelve fabulous 
 Germanic kings: ‘Tuiscon, Mannus, Wygewon, Heriwon, 
 Eusterwon, Marsus, Gambrivius, Suevus, Wandalus, Ario- 
 vistus, Arminius, Carolus Magnus.* 
 
 Similar in character, but largely belonging to the seven- 
 teenth century, and chiefly consisting of French and Italian 
 pieces, is the AMERBACH COLLECTION OF PLAQUETTES, 
 from the Museum of Basle. Of particular interest in this 
 case [47], in the east transept, are four large plaquettes with 
 allegorical representations of the four continents: Europe 
 (conceived as a queen in a modified Elisabethan costume), 
 Asia, Africa, and America (symbolized by a South American 
 Indian in a luxuriant landscape with heaps of gold at his 
 
 side). — 
 The collection of fifty-five electrotype reproductions of 
 typical German drinking vessels and other pieces of table 
 
 * Cf. Moscherosch’s Gesichte Philanders von Sittewald (1642), in 
 Kiirschner’s Deutsche Nationallitteratur, XX XII, p. 140 ff. 
 
48 
 
 service from the Middle Ages to the Rococo period is a gift 
 to the Museum by distinguished citizens of Berlin and 
 other German cities. For the bringing together of this 
 unique collection from a great number of museums and 
 private owners all over Europe, as well as for the super- 
 vision of the work of reproducing the individual pieces, the 
 Germanic Museum is indebted to Dr. Julius Lessing, the 
 director of the Kgl. Kunstgewerbe-Museum at Berlin.* 
 The collection is arranged in three cases. The first case 
 [48], in the central octagon, contains TyPpES oF CHURCH 
 VESSELS AND OF GOBLETS, from the twelfth to the eigh- 
 teenth century. A communion chalice from Osnabriick, 
 Westphalia, and a communion paten and chalice from the 
 monastery of Wilten, Tirol, present types of Romanesque 
 church vessels of the twelfth century and the early part of 
 the thirteenth. ‘These vessels are equally remarkable for 
 the simplicity and dignity of their outline and for the grace 
 and richness of their ornamentation. ‘The forms of the 
 chalices are compact, yet fully articulated. The round 
 knob which in both divides the cup proper from the shaft 
 and foot gives an easy purchase for handling it; the decora- 
 tions, both arabesques and figures, serve to accentuate and 
 
 enrich the general contour, without in the least forcing 
 
 * Dr. Lessing has put the Museum under further obligation by 
 writing a special catalogue of this collection. This catalogue.has 
 appeared under the title: Verzeichnis der galvanischen Nachbildungen 
 deutschen Silbergeriites, gestijtet aus freiwilligen Betitrdgen dem German- 
 ischen Museum des Harvard College. Berlin, 1903. 
 
49 
 
 themselves into the foreground. ‘The same is true of the 
 niello work and the inscriptions profusely covering both 
 sides of the paten; one gains the impression that the artist 
 could not help pouring out his whole religious feeling and 
 thought into this work, and yet knew very well how to re- 
 strain himself in giving form to it. 
 
 The more fantastic and ornate forms of Gothic and 
 Renaissance goblets are illustrated by a goodly number 
 of fine specimens. As _ possessing particular historical 
 importance, the following may be singled out: a goblet 
 presented in 1462 by King Mathias Corvinus of Hungary 
 to the City Council of Vienna; a goblet given, in 1525, as 
 a wedding present to Martin Luther by the University of 
 Wittenberg; a goblet by the famous Niirnberg silversmith, 
 Wenzel Jamnitzer (1508-1588), crowned by the figure of 
 Emperor Maximilian II, now in the possession of His 
 Majesty the German Emperor. Compared with the round, 
 concentric forms of the Romanesque chalices we see in these 
 Gothic and Renaissance cups a tendency toward elongation, 
 and toward manifold curving and branching out. What 
 is hereby lost in unity and simplicity is gained in variety, 
 picturesqueness, and stateliness. Particularly effective in 
 the Gothic specimens are the embossed bulbs, partly round, 
 partly oval, which surround both the body and the cover of 
 the goblets, reflecting the light at different angles and pro- 
 ducing a fanciful play of color about them, — an effect 
 which is still further heightened by the free use of enamel 
 
 on the flat surfaces. 
 
50 
 
 The second case [49], in the north wing, is entirely 
 given over to pieces from the magnificent TABLE SERVICE 
 OF THE City or LUNEBURG, one of the old Hanse 
 towns. In the year 1600, this treasure consisted of some 
 three hundred pieces; in consequence of the ravages of the 
 Thirty Years’ War and the destruction of civic independence 
 in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it dwindled 
 down in course of time to thirty-seven, which are now in 
 the possession of the Kgl. Kunstgewerbe-Museum at Berlin. 
 Seventeen of these are reproduced here. Strikingly gro- 
 tesque are the two lions, modifications of the mediaeval 
 aquamanile, which were used after the banquet to pour 
 water over the hands, while a large basin such as is placed 
 in the middle of the case was held underneath. ‘Iwo des- 
 sert plates from the fifteenth century, supported by little 
 Gothic pillars, are distinguished by purity of form and 
 chasteness of ornament; the one shows sitting between the 
 pillars the figures of the four Church Fathers, the other the 
 symbols of the four Evangelists. ‘Iwo loving cups, belong- 
 ing to the sixteenth century, are noteworthy for the religious 
 symbolism of their decorative detail. ‘The one shows on 
 its base the recumbent figure of the sleeping Jesse, the father 
 of David;* from his body there grows a gnarly tree the 
 branches of which spread over the cup, holding in their 
 
 * Cf. a similar representation of the pedigree of Christ on the ceil- 
 ing of the Church of St. Michael at Hildesheim, a photographic repro- 
 duction of which is found on one of the pillars in the north aisle of 
 the Museum. 
 
51 
 
 embrace the relief busts of the royal ancestors of Christ, 
 while on the top of the cover there rises from a flower the 
 Virgin with the Child. The other cup gives a picture of 
 militant Protestantism in the figure of Christ (serving as 
 shaft of the bowl) treading upon the dragon of Popery. 
 Every one of the pieces of the Liineburg silver service was 
 a gift made by a citizen to the town, in commemoration of 
 some event of private or public importance. ‘The treasure 
 as a whole, therefore, is a striking instance of the spirit of 
 civic devotion and pride which made possible the great era 
 of German burgherdom in the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- 
 turies. 
 
 The third case [50], in the south wing, contains a some- 
 what miscellaneous number of vessels, chiefly PLaTE IN 
 Later RENAISSANCE, BAROQUE, AND Rococo MANNER. 
 Civic art appears here to have been superseded by princely 
 art. Splendor and elegance have taken the place of solidity 
 and firmness. ‘That, however, even in the courtly art of 
 the ancien régime there was not a little of boldness of inven- 
 tion and delicacy of execution left, is proven by at least 
 one specimen exhibited in this case, the exquisite little 
 Nautilus goblet by a Berlin master of the beginning of the 
 eighteenth century. 
 
 This whole collection of silverware, illustrating impor- 
 tant phases in the development of national culture, is a 
 most instructive supplement to the collection of monumen- 
 tal sculptures. It gives, besides, striking evidence of the 
 high state of efficiency reached by the electrotype technique 
 
 in contemporary Germany. 
 
HIS description of the Germanic Museum of Har- 
 
 vard University in its present condition has, it is 
 hoped, made it clear that even now this Museum contains 
 a larger and more methodically selected number of repro- 
 ductions of objects illustrating the history of ‘Teutonic 
 civilization than any other university museum either in 
 America or Europe. Indeed, it may be said that, apart 
 from the great and incomparable Germanisches National- 
 museum at Niirnberg (which, however, is largely intended 
 as a storehouse of original works of the arts and crafts), no 
 such attempt even as has been made here has been made 
 anywhere else. How desirable it is to carry out on a large 
 scale what has been begun so auspiciously, it is hardly 
 necessary to point out. Even the objects collected thus 
 far require for their proper housing and arrangement a 
 building three times the size of the present one. And it 
 is clear at first sight that the collection of monumental sculp- . 
 tures alone, in order to be fully representative, will have to 
 be enlarged by many and important additions. ‘There 
 should be included, for instance: for the Romanesque period, 
 the golden altar antependium and the Vincentius reliefs 
 from the cathedral at Basle, the Hezilo chandelier from 
 Hildesheim, the archaic reliefs in the Cathedral of Tréves, 
 the choir screens of Halberstadt, the statues from the 
 vestibule of Miinster Cathedral, the Braunschweig Lion, 
 
53 
 
 the tomb of St. Plectrudis in Cologne, the baptismal font 
 of Litge, and a full representation of all the Bamberg 
 monuments; for the Gothic period, a full representation 
 of the sculptures from the west facade of Strassburg Cathe- 
 dral, the sculptures from the vestibule of Freiburg Cathedral, 
 the Wise and Foolish Virgins of Magdeburg Cathedral, 
 sepulchral monuments and altar triptychs of the fourteenth 
 and fifteenth centuries, such as by Pacher and Multscher; 
 for the sixteenth century, a full representation of the work 
 of Hans Briiggemann, Veit Stoss, Adam Kraft, Peter Vischer, 
 Tilmann Riemenschneider; for the time from the seven- 
 teenth century on, characteristic examples of Baroque and 
 Rococo sculpture, and as full a representation as possible 
 of the work of Schadow, Rauch, Rietschel, and their modern 
 successors. 
 
 The necessary prerequisite for such a collection would be 
 a Hall of Sculpture, large enough to display the different 
 periods in separate rooms, and thus to bring to view the 
 sequence of the historical development. By means of 
 galleries and alcoves, such a museum building, a tentative 
 plan of which is given as a frontispiece of this pamphlet, 
 would accommodate also the specimens of metal work and 
 other forms of craft now in our possession or to be acquired, 
 and it would even make possible the enlargement of the 
 collection of pre-Karolingian antiquities, so as to give a 
 comprehensive conspectus of the conditions of life among 
 the various Germanic tribes in the first eight centuries, 
 
 particularly the Franks, the Anglo-Saxons, and the Norse- 
 
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