EARLY WORKS 
this Child of Light was wise in his generation, and 
knowing that artists are rare, and that through 
their pen or brush alone can most men achieve an 
earthly immortality, the archbishop had ordered 
his tomb from Peter Vischer in 1494, though he 
himself did not die till 1513. He was not so 
foolish as to leave the matter to the care of un- 
grateful heirs like Browning's Bishop who ordered 
his tomb in St. Praxed’s Church. The date on 
the tombstone, which is the date of the setting up 
thereof, is variously interpreted 1495 and 1497. 
But all Peter Vischer’s 5's are quite unlike the 
final figure in this inscription, although many 
perceive in it a 5 after the manner of the Arabic 
lettering of those days. Moreover Vischer was 
in Heidelberg in 1494, and only returned to 
Nuremberg to stay in 1496. Only at Nuremberg 
can he have had the appliances necessary for so 
elaborate a work, and, even if he paid a flying 
visit there before '96, he had not sufficient time to 
complete his task by 1495. There is yet another 
reason for putting the date of the Magdeburg 
monument as late as possible, and that is its 
amazing superiority to the Breslau tomb of Bishop 
John IV., the setting up of which Peter Vischer 
himself personally superintended in 1496. The 
latter monument is so inferior in style and treat- 
ment that it is incredible that the artist, after 
having made such an advance as is exhibited in 
the Magdeburg memorial, should have gone back 
in the following year to so hard, forced and yet 
25