city of his imagination enable him, in this order of creations,
to touch the highest point of human achievement. The four angels
keeping back the winds that they blow not, the four riders, the
loosing of the angels of the Euphrates to slay the third part of
men--these and others are conceptions of such force, such grave or
tempestuous grandeur, in the midst of grotesqueness, as the art of no
other age or hand has produced."

At this period Duerer was also engaged in experimenting upon the art of
copper-plate engraving, in which he restricted himself mainly to
reproducing copies of the works of other artists, among them those of
Jacopo de Barbari, a painter of the Italian school, who was residing
in Nuremberg, and who among other things gave the great artist
instruction in plastic anatomy. The influence of his instructor is
plain, when we compare engravings executed about 1504 with those
published at a previous date, and especially when we examine his
design of the Passion of our Lord painted in white upon a green
ground, commonly known as "The Green Passion," which is treasured in
the Albertina at Prague. He also during these twelve years finished
seven of the twelve great wood-cuts illustrating the passion, and
sixteen of the twenty cuts which compose the series known as "The Life
of the Virgin." The activities of Duerer in Nuremberg were temporarily
interrupted by a journey to Italy, which he undertook in the fall of
the year 1505. What the immediate occasion for undertaking this
journey may have been is not plain, though it seems most likely that
one of his objects was to enable him to recuperate from the effects of
a protracted illness, from which he had suffered during the summer of
this year, and also incidentally to secure a market for his wares in
Venice, the commercial relationships of which with Nuremberg were very
close at this period. A German colony, composed largely of Nuremberg
factors and merchants, was located at this time in Venice, and they
had secured the privilege of dedicating a great painting in the church
of St. Bartholomew. The commission for the execution of this painting
was secured by Duerer. It represents the adoration of the Virgin, but
has been commonly known under the name of "The Feast of the Rose
Garlands." After having undergone many vicissitudes, it is preserved
to-day in a highly mutilated condition in the monastery of Strachow,
near Prague. Duerer's stay in Venice was signalized not