PETER VISCHER 
spite of all the Popes and princes of Europe), 
‘““ The word of the Lord endureth for ever,” Peter 
Vischer has proclaimed, so it has been suggested, 
the ideal Kaiser for whom Germany was looking 
in vain, the perfect Emperor of the Reformation 
movement. The power of portraiture which his 
practice as a maker of medallions had developed, 
has enabled him to lend to the bronze a wonderful 
force of expression, so that he may even challenge 
a comparison with Diirer, who, thirty years pre- 
viously, had portrayed the protector of Luther. 
The design of this monument was borrowed by 
Hans Vischer, who copied it in 1534 to serve as 
a memorial of Prince John the Stable, producing, 
however, but a feeble version of the original. 
It may be supposed that the relations between 
Peter Vischer the younger and the Guild of 
Coppersmiths were somewhat strained by their 
treatment of him. For this reason, perhaps, and 
also for the reason that the new Italian fashion of 
tombstones, had, by this time, injuriously affected 
the demand for bronze work, he seems to have 
thought seriously of leaving Nuremberg in the 
year following the completion of the Wittenberg 
monument. The quarrel with the House of 
Fugger, which we shall presently relate, may 
likewise have conduced to make him entertain 
the proposal which came to him now from the 
agent of Duke Albrecht of Prussia, or it may be 
that he approached the agent on his own initiative. 
That prince was, for reasons of his own with which 
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