THE SHRINE OF ST. SEBALD
marked out for him by the traditions of his house
and of his art. The sarcophagus should be placed,
according to his old design, upon a base adorned
with reliefs illustrating the miracles of the Saint:
figures of apostles should guard the coffin, and
above it should rise a canopy of lofty fretted Gothic
pinnacles. Now this original design was for a shrine
intended to be over forty feet high, and something
after the manner of Adam Krafft's Pyx. On this,
or rather on some slight modification of it, he be-
gan to work, and, as he went on, introduced very
important alterations under the influence of his
sons’ new knowledge. It is due to this process of
modification probably that we have to pass the
criticism on the Sebaldusgrab that the parts are
oreater than the whole, though the beauty and
finish of the details are so great that, once we are
within range of their charm, we forget and forgive
any fault in the proportionment of the complete
structure. Beginning with the base, most likely at
that end where the statue of himself in his leather
apron is to be seen, and where the inscription
“ Beginning by me, 1508,” may be read, Vischer
made such good progress with the work that by
1512 Cocleus could write of it in his Cosmograp/na
with amiable exaggeration ;—* Quis vero solertior
Petro Fischer in celandis fundendisque metallis ?
Vidi ego totum sacellum ab eo in aes fusum im-
aginibusque celatum, in quo multi sane mortales
stare missamque audire poterunt.” (What more
skilful founder is there than Peter Vischer ? I my-
19 E