lad, as he grew up, became a great favorite with his
father, who appeared to discern in him the promise of future ability.
The feeling of attachment was reciprocated in the most filial manner,
and there are extant two well-authenticated portraits of the father
from the facile brush of the son, one in the Uffizi at Florence, the
other in the possession of the Duke of Northumberland. It was the
original intention of the father of the artist that he should follow
the craft of the goldsmith, but after serving a period as an
apprentice in his father's shop, his strong predilection for the
calling of the painter manifested itself to such a degree that the
father reluctantly consented to allow the boy to follow his natural
bent, and placed him under the tutelage of Michael Wohlgemuth, the
principal painter of Nuremberg. Wohlgemuth was a representative artist
of his time, who followed his calling after a mechanical fashion,
having a large shop filled with apprentices who, under his direction
and with his assistance, busied themselves in turning out for a small
consideration altar-pieces and pictures of martyrdoms, which were in
vogue as necessary parts of decoration in churches. Numerous examples
of the work of Wohlgemuth and his contemporaries survive, attesting,
by the wealth of crudities and unintended caricatures with which they
abound, the comparatively low stage of development attained by the art
of the painter in Germany at that day. According to Duerer, the period
of his apprenticeship to Wohlgemuth was spent profitably, and resulted
in large acquisitions of technical skill. The period of his
preliminary training being ended, he set forth upon his "Wanderjahre,"
and travelled extensively. Just what points he visited cannot with
certainty be determined. It is ascertained beyond doubt that he
visited Colmar, where he was hospitably entertained by the family of
Martin Schongauer, the greatest painter of his time on German soil,
but who had died shortly before the visit of Duerer. He also visited
Strasburg, and it is thought by many that he extended his journeyings
as far as Venice. In 1494 he returned to Nuremberg, and in the month
of July was married to Agnes Frey, the daughter of a prosperous
merchant of the city. He was twenty-three years of age, and she
somewhat younger. They lived together happily, though no children were
born to them, and it has been proved that the reputation which has
been given her, of being little