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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