PETER VISCHER 
Renaissance work which ever issued from a Ger- 
man workshop—the Rathaus Railing, destined to 
be sold in the fulness of years and melted down 
for the value of its metal ! 
The life of Peter Vischer was simple and do- 
mestic, but very full of toil and trouble and private 
grief made bearable perhaps by his absorbing 
enthusiasm for his work. A few years before his 
father’s death, probably in 1485, he married Mar- 
garetha, daughter of Hans Gross. A document, 
dated October 4th, 1490, gives us a slight glimpse 
of her character. Therein her father records that 
he makes a present to his daughter of the green 
mantle and veil with which he had provided her 
on her wedding day, but at the same time he binds 
Peter Vischer with all the paraphernalia of judges, 
witnesses and solemn pledges not to allow her to 
sell or pawn the said articles. The date of this 
document led to the erroneous conclusion that the 
marriage only took place in 1489, but Dr. Seeger 
has recently pointed out that on a medallion by 
Peter Vischer the younger he expressly states that 
he was twenty-two years of age when he wrought 
it, and this in the year 1509. Since Neudérffer, 
the Nuremberg Vasari, refers to Hermann as 
“the famous Peter Vischer’s eldest? son,” the mar- 
riage must have occurred somewhere about 1485. 
There was also a third son by this union, known 
afterwards as Hans der Giesser. Margaretha died 
shortly after the birth of this last son, and in 1493 
we find Peter married again to Dorothea von 
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