PETER VISCHER 
been who could select that pose of the head, that 
poise of the limbs, who could carve those robes, 
which, in purity and flow have never been surpassed 
in German art, and who could express in the sup- 
pliant hands such poignant emotion? Man wezss 
nicht! And whose touch was so delicate that 
with his chisel he could stamp on the upturned 
face those mingled feelings of sorrow so supreme, 
yearning so intense, love so human, hope so divine ? 
For all this we can read there still, even through 
the grey-green coat of paint which certainly had 
no place in the original intentions of the artist. 
Man weiss nicht! But this much one may hazard 
—that it was some German artist, touched by the 
spirit of the Italian Renaissance till he rose to 
heights of artistic performance never elsewhere 
attained by him, and scarcely ever approached by 
his fellows.” | 
So I have written elsewhere of this beautiful 
gem of German art. But is it so certain that the 
author is unknown ? The temptation to attribute 
it to Peter Vischer the younger is extremely strong, 
especially when we compare it with the figure of 
Lazarus’ sister. 
It has, at different times and by various writers, 
been attributed to-almost every conceivable Ger- 
man craftsman—to Adam Krafft, of course, and 
to Veit Stoss in turn, amongst others. But the 
work of none of these artists approaches the style, 
the beauty, the refinement of this figure, and is, in 
many essentials, distinctly opposed thereto. But 
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