PETER VISCHER 
And surely the pose of the sister of Lazarus on 
the left hand and that of the Madonna is substan- 
tially the same, although, in the case of the latter, 
it has been refined and improved. That pose of 
the bent leg is one of the most beautiful and elo- 
quent of all the positions of the human body." But 
the similarity does not end there. 
The right leg, the left arm and hand resting on 
the hip, the poise of the head and the style of dress 
are all in the same manner. Nothing, again, is 
more characteristic of an artist than his treatment 
of hands. And with those expressive hands of the 
Madonna we may confidently compare the hands 
of the woman who is behind the body of Christ or 
the hands of Joseph in the Pieta of 1522, or the 
hands of St. John in the Sebaldusgrab, or of the 
female figure on the inkstand of 1525. Vischer- 
like also is the pure, refined expression and type 
of face, which recalls on the one hand the yearning 
gaze of the aforesaid figure, and the soulful look 
of Eurydice on the other. 
But enough has been said. Peter Vischer the 
younger was, we think, capable of producing such 
a work of art as the Madonna, and of no one else 
whose work we know can we say as much. Yet 
such a masterpiece is not thrown off by an un- 
practised hand. There is good reason, then, for 
accepting the theory suggested by the remarks of 
' That it was a favourite one with the young Vischer may be 
seen by comparing the female figures of the Inkstands, pp. 96, 
07. 
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