CHAPTER VIII 
THE TOMB OF ELECTOR FREDERICK THE WISE, AND 
THE RATHAUS RAILING 
ID UT the work of Peter Vischer the younger 
B was not yet done. It remained, indeed, for 
him to perform some of his greatest achievements. 
Certain documents quoted by Baader! show that 
it was he who, in the beginning of the year 1527, 
completed the monument to the Elector Frederick 
the Wise at Wittenberg, of which Liibke writes 
that it is “a classic work and through it the Ger- 
man art of that period is worthy to take rank with 
the Italian.” The life-size figure of the great 
Elector stands in strong relief upon a bronze plate 
within a frame of Corinthian pillars, outside which, 
on either side, the sixteen coats of arms of the 
ancestors of the Prince’s house are recorded, whilst 
his own arms form the central. point of the arch 
above his head. Above the latter coat-of-arms 
two sturdy angels, forming a central headpiece, 
hold a laurel wreath, and therewith the ‘Elector’s 
favourite text inscribed in Latin: “The word of 
“ Beitrige zur Kunstgeschichte Niirnbergs.” 
IOI