MINOR WORKS
Peach-blossom marble all, the rare, the ripe
As fresh-poured red wine of a mighty pulse
True peach,
Rosv and flawless ”
So the German Cardinal shared the taste of
Browning’s Roman Bishop. It was a taste that
spread rapidly from Italy about this time, and
brought in its train swift ruin to the industry of
the bronze craftsmen. But the day of disaster
had not yet come, and meantime the young Peter
Vischer was busy with other works. "He had not
yet, however, succeeded in being admitted as a
meister of the Guild of Coppersmiths, and he took
the present opportunity of submitting the Car-
dinal's tomb-plate as his masterpiece. It was
rejected for some obscure reason, just as, two
years later, his splendid memorial of Frederick
the Wise was rejected. Both of these pieces are
signed “Opus M. Petri Fischers . Norimberge.”
[n face of the fact that they were not accepted as
masterpieces we cannot interpret the letter M. in
these inscriptions as the initial of Mag7sty7 (master).
[t must stand rather for Mznoris—< the work of
Peter Fischer the younger.” |
The present memorial takes the form of a life-
size character-study of a mighty prince of the
Church, and it is set in a Renaissance framework.
It is a noble and intense piece of work which has
been spoilt by the inscription tablet which covers
the body.
Unlike his father, but like most other artists of
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