PETER VISCHER 
later and natural variation of the allegory of 
earthly life represented by the other and earlier 
work. There the female figure of Life is standing 
with her foot upon a skull, trampling on the 
amblem of Death, and is pointing to herself, 
vazing self-centred, as who should say, “ Enjoy 
life, think on me and forget the death that cometh 
with the morrow.” And on the tablet at her feet 
recurs the legend, “ VITAM NON MORTEM RECOGITA!” 
She is teaching the Renaissance love of beauty 
and the lesson of the joy of existence and the 
frank delight in the things of this earth. Probably, 
then, this work was executed shortly after the 
young craftsman’s sojourn in Italy, when he was 
filled with the joy of life and had been studying 
the nude with all the enthusiasm of the early 
Renaissance school. A mixture of early Renais- 
sance and of medieval elements isindeed distinctly 
observable. For the four-cornered vase and its 
lid is eminently Gothic in character. On the four 
ander sides of the vase we find repeated the sign of 
the two fish which we have learnt to associate with 
Peter Vischer the younger, and on the four upper 
sides the same medallion of a man’s head. Medal- 
lions, we know, Peter Vischer the younger turned 
his hand to frequently after his return from Italy. 
The Medusa head with the winged helmet, and 
the club on the base, recall the style of Sansovino, 
whilst the lion’s feet on which the vase rests, and 
much of the decoration, correspond with details 
on the Sebaldusgrab. The pose and the rhythmic 
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