PETER VISCHER 
Now the teeming brain of - Maximilian—for 
whom no plan for his own exaltation was too 
srandiose, and no project for the advancement of 
his fame was to be despised-——conceived the idea 
of building for himself a lordly tomb, wherein, after 
he had been gathered to his forefathers, he might 
rest, surrounded by the forms of those who had 
cone to his making. To-day twenty-eight bronze 
over life-size figures of ancient heroes stand round 
and guard the Emperor's cenotaph at Innsbruck. 
Two of these are most markedly superior to the 
rest as works of art; and these two come from 
the foundry of Peter Vischer. They are the 
statues of King Arthur, the very perfect flower 
of chivalry (Ill. 15), and of Theodoric, King 
of the Goths. (Ill. 14.) Documentary evidence 
reveals the fact that in the year 1513 Peter 
Vischer the elder received from the imperial 
chest one thousand florins for “zwei grosse mes- 
sene  Pillder” (two large bronze figures). But 
apart from the teaching of the archives their re- 
semblance to the other works of this foundry leaves 
no doubt as to the origin of these noble figures. 
[n feeling, in poetry, in grace, as well as in the 
minute and exquisite finish of the detail, they are 
indeed worthy of the blossom period of the house 
of Vischer. Both figures are eloquent of the artist's 
joy in production, and not of the tradesman’s mere 
delight in a commission. Not that the Vischers 
were at all to seek on the business side of their 
craft; they worked, as the modern dealer would 
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