PREFACE 
1 Germans have by nature the gift of 
working in metal, and, among them, in the 
realms of bronze, Peter Vischer stands easily first. 
His position as a craftsman may, in fact, be com- 
pared with that held by his contemporary and 
fellow citizen, Albert Diirer, as an artist. The 
history of his works and of those of his house, 
have a peculiar interest to the student of art, in- 
asmuch as they illustrate the gradual but easily 
traceable passage of the German craftsmen from 
the style of late Gothic to that of complete neo- 
paganism, and from the school of the Northern 
painters and sculptors to that of the great Italian 
masters successively. 
I speak of the works of Peter Vischer “and his 
house,” because, in tracing this development, we 
have to take into consideration not only his works 
but also those of his father Hermann and of his 
sons, Hermann and Peter and Hans. The pen- 
dulum of criticism has indeed swung more than 
once since the Emperor Maximilian used to visit 
Peter Vischer’s foundry in Nuremberg, and the 
questions as to what are actually the works of the 
Master and what position is to be assigned to 
him in the world of art, have been answered in 
more ways than one. For many years, owing 
partly to the ignorance of most people, and partly