PETER VISCHER 
of this railing is not yet finished. It was re- 
moved in 1806 by the Bavarian Government, and, 
just for the mere value of the metal contained in it, 
sold to a merchant in Fiirth. From him it passed 
again into the possession of a Nuremberger, and 
some years later found its way to the South of 
France. There all trace of this beautiful work 
of art has disappeared, and one is forced to the 
reluctant conclusion that it was melted down by 
the purchaser for the sake of the bronze of which 
t was composed. Our knowledge of it at the 
oresent day is owing to a careful set of drawings 
which were made of it in 1806, and which have 
been reproduced excellently and in full detail by 
Dr. Liibke in the work to which we have so often 
referred. 
The Railing was of bronze throughout, wrought 
with equal care and finish on. both sides, and 
composed of one hundred and fifty-eight separate 
nieces. In length it measured nearly forty feet, 
and stood sixteen feet high, rising at the highest 
point to twenty-five feet. The drawings which 
have come down to us show that the fertility of 
the artist's invention did not interfere with his 
harmonious conception of the whole. For though 
there is a truly wonderful wealth of decorative 
detail, all in the style of the full Renaissance, it is 
admirably arranged and subdued to its proper 
proportion. 
Eight Corinthian pillars, with richly ornamented 
capitals, carried (I base this description on Liibke’s 
114