Effect of the Refr-mation.—It is not our task to describe the work of the Reformation nor to recount how an intended purification of the Church resulted in a separation from it; how classical studies were not ignored by the Reformers, but were even cultivated by them; how they contributed gradually to spread these studies over a wider range; how it was precisely the educated princely class and the ecclesiastical party which adhered to the Reformation—those who by their power helped the Reforma tion into authority, who brought their intellect and interest to bear in spreading the outward education and refinement of the Italians; how in Germany also the educated class increased, and how their journeys into Italy brought both the spirit and the art of the Italians nearer to those who declared themselves independent of the Catholic Church.
But even the eyes of the people became gradually accustomed to the originally foreign forms which soon underwent a transformation, bringing them nearer to German tastes. They became even more decorative, and so could better adapt themselves to the old methods of construction, which still gave expression to the slightly-changed needs.
construction of churches was first suspended; in isolated cases only it became necessary to build a modest town-church. The reverse was the case with the burghers' dwellings, and still more so with the erection of castles. Soon there was developed in Ger many a palace-architecture proper for which isolated Italian structures in Germany, especially the Castle of Landshut, formed the basis. We may first mention the Rybisch House at Breslau (1540), the property of the same imperial counsellor Heinrich Rybisch who had erected for himself a splendid tomb during his lifetime (p. 261), also the Collegium Saxoni cum, at Erfurt, founded in 1521, and having an escutcheon with the date 1542; and the old Hall of Justice at Stuttgart (1543).
At the Castle of Heidelberg, Frederick II. (1544-1556) executed a large building which exhibits many Gothic features, but for whose inner decoration stucco-workers were brought from Wiirtemberg, from which it resulted that the finish and decoration belong entirely to the spirit of the new style. He also caused to be executed in the older portions of the edifice chimney-pieces and other decorative features which display the Renaissance in its most brilliant aspect; such a chimney-piece in the Rnprechtsban at Heidelberg bears the date 1545. To this year
belongs also the Schwarzenberg Palace at Prague, whose façade is adorned with ornaments. The ornate lectern in Hildesheim Cathedral dates from 1546, the Piastenschloss at Brieg from 1547, the house of the Teu tonic Order at Heilbronn from 1548. The hall of the Rathhaus at Posen was built in 155o, the small older portion of the Hofburg at Vienna in 1552, and in the same year part of the university at Freiburg in Breisgau, and the town-hall at I\Iiilhanseu, in Alsace. In all these Gothic features almost preponderate, and it is only through the rich picturesque decora tion that the new style produces most impression.
In 1553 the architect Abertin Treltsch began the erection of the now old castle at Stuttgart—one of the most prominent works of the German Renaissance. In the same year the prince's palace at Wismar was com menced. A characteristic brick structure after the Italian model, this palace continues the traditions of the Gothic brick-construction. The old castle at Schwerin, which has recently been rebuilt with great splendor, dates from r555; the massive round towers of the Nuremberg fortifica tions were built between 1555 and 1568, the town-hall at Leipsic in 1556, the Castle of Heldburg in 1558, and the Castle of Giistrow between 1558 and 1565.
Otto the most brilliant work of this period is Otto Heinrichsbau (1556), at the Castle of Heidelberg, whose elegant architec ture recalls the ornate works of the early Renaissance. Three storeys, each 6 metres (nearly zo feet) high—an exceptional height for Germany— rise above a high basement. The windows are regularly spaced, two in each of the compartments, which are separated by pilasters, while com plete entablatures divide the storeys. In the uppermost floor Corinthian half-columns take the place of the pilasters; between each two windows there is a niche with a figure, and above each niche a console bearing the entablature. The windows have stone mullions decorated with figures of Hermes, while pilasters and half-columns form the lateral framework and bear above the windows an entablature which is also decorated with an orna mental termination. The windows of the lower storeys have pediments, and have also what appears to be a later lengthening, obtained at.the bot tom below the former sill—probably because their position in the rooms was found to be too high for the purposes of a dwelling.