The Germans did not fail to avail themselves of this discovery as well as their neighbours beyond the Alps ; but, deprived of any opportunity of studying the antique, or profiting by the burst of excellence which at this junc ture began to blaze forth in various quarters of Italy, they were left to improve their primitive taste in their own homely way, and to continue to follow nature as their sole instructress and guide. And this improvement consisted in refining to the full stretch that laborious minuteness and accuracy of imitation which seemed to count every hair of the beard, and express the accidental inequalities and imperfections of the skin with most odious and of fensive fidelity. Of this class of painters was Martin Schoen, or Schoenhauer, of Colmar, called Bonmartino by Italian writers, who died in 1436, and is described by Al bert Durer as the first German artist who raised for him self a lasting fame. There are some of his pictures at Munich. He was, moreover, according to the usual prac tice of the times, both an engraver and a goldsmith. Israel Von Mechelu was a painter of the same period and taste, some of whose pictures on a gilt ground are in the collection at Munich.
The Pietro Perugino of Germany, the master of Albert Durer, who stands pre-eminent among their artists, was Michael Wohlgemuth of Nuremberg, born in 1434. Though far outshone by his pupil, Wohlgemuth was a painter of no mean merit, as his works in Nuremberg and Munich demonstrate. Lucas Kranach was one of the most celebrated of these old German masters. He was born in the year 1470. He was burgomaster of \Vittemberg, and the intimate friend of Luther. 'Muffler was his real name, and Kranach that of the village where he was born. His works are particularly remarked for the clear and uncom mon freshness of their colouring, and, although minute and careful to excess, are free from the littleness which might be expected to result from that mode of painting. Speci mens of his laborious pencil are to be found in various parts of Germany, where they are much prized. His son, of the same name, likewise pursued the practice of paint ing with success, and succeeded his father in his honours of burgomaster. To these may be added the names of Burgmair of Augsburg, Gruinewald of Aschaffenburg, 'Manuel, who painted the first Dance of Death at Basil, and Altdorfer, all painters of the same manner.
Hans Holbein, whose long residence in England has brought him more into view than any other of the old German painters, was a native of Grimstadt, and practis ed his art at Basle. The celebrated Dance of Death in the churchyard of the Predicants of that city is attribut ed to his pencil, but is doubted by some. Although a work of extraordinary fancy and merit, it is not indispen sable to Holbein's credit to have painted it, as his numer ous works of undoubted authenticity sufficiently support his fame. It was painted in commemoration of a destruc tive pestilence that raged in Basle about the middle of the fifteenth century ; and was as probably the work of Ma nuel, as mentioned above, as Holbein was not born till the end of that century. But Holbein took his hint of the draw ings he executed of Death's dance from the older work, excelling it in richness of fancy, ingenuity, and that species of humour peculiar to himself. There are forty
six distinct subjects in the series, representing the various triumphs of the grim king of terrors over the human spe cies ; in which all the vicissitudes and accidents of life are portrayed with a degree of address and lively humour that is inimitable ;—particularly in the variety of sly ro guish expressions he has been able to throw into so un manageable a subject as the bare skull of the destroyer, accompanied with the most expressive and entertaining attitudes, and contrasted with the unconscious demean our of his victims, as they busy themselves in the various transactions of life, quite unmindful of the presence of so unwelcome an intruder.
Holbein remained neglected and in poverty at Basle until noticed by the learned Erasmus, in consequence of the amusing series of caricatures he had drawn for the Morix Encomium, or The Praise of Folly, of which Erasmus was the author. He soon afterwards came to England, where, under the protection of Sir Thomas More, he rose to great fame as a painter in oil, as well as in distemper and water colours. He painted generally on a green ground, and sometimes on a dark blue, and has left a variety of pictures and drawings of all kinds, both in England and abroad, of which Lord Orford gives a detailed catalogue. He died of the plague in London in the year 1554.
Albrecht Durer, the Raphael of Germany, was a native of Nuremberg, and was a contemporary of Holbein. In point of genius he resembled Leonardo da Vinci more than Raphael, as he excelled in knowledge as well as in art. He published a learned work on the proportions of the human figure, accompanied with plates engraved by himself, in which the figures are more remarkable for so lidity than elegance. His pictures excel in brilliancy of colour and in fecundity of composition; they are finished with all the delicacy and laborious style of his country. Durcr was held in very high estimation by Raphael, and had he possessed the same advantages of studying the an tique, and seeing the works of other great masters, there is little doubt that he would have approached very near to the excellence of that illustrious artist ; hut confined as he was to Germany, and bred up in the taste and style of his countrymen, the efforts of his unaided natural ge nius could do no more than reach pre-eminence in the sphere in which he was destined to move. Vasari, with all his partiality for the artists of Italy, admits, that with the rare genius of Durer, had it arisen in Tuscany as it did in Germany, he would have become the first painter in Italy, as he showed himself the greatest genius of Germany. Durer's father was a goldsmith, and trained his son to the same business, which was held in great estimation at that time, as we learn from the entertaining memoirs of ; and before Albert had taken to the pencil at all, his genius as a carver in silver had brought him into notice, and probably influenced his determination to the study of the fine arts. The discovery of etching on copper is at tributed to Durer, by which he conferred an invaluable benefit on succeeding artists, enabling them to multiply and perpetuate their designs with as great facility as they executed the original drawing. His own works in this manner are numerous, and not less curious and valuable than his paintings.