of the monument to Archbishop Ernst, in the Magdeburg
Cathedral, which was done in 1495.

The bones of St. Sebald had been inclosed in a sarcophagus of the Middle
Ages, and the work required of Vischer was a fitting tomb for such
precious and honored relics, for St. Sebald is the special patron saint
of Nuremberg, and dwelt in a cell near that city. His legend relates
that he was the son of a Danish king, who came to Germany as a
missionary and settled at Nuremberg, where he did many miraculous works
of charity. On one occasion, during very cold weather, he is said to
have found a family nearly frozen and without fuel; he commanded them to
bring the icicles hanging from the roof and make a fire of them. They
obeyed, and were thus warmed. Many such wonders are told of him, and
Vischer in his statue makes him to appear as a pilgrim, with shell in
hat, staff, rosary and wallet, while in his hand he holds a model of a
church intended to represent that in which the tomb is erected. This
Church of St. Sebald is now used for the Lutheran service, and the
shrine still stands in the centre of the choir. (Fig. 94.)

[Illustration: FIG. 94.--TOMB OF ST. SEBALD. _By Peter Vischer._
_Nuremberg._]

The architecture of this remarkable work is of the richest style of
Gothic, and the whole of it is in bronze, except that the oaken
sarcophagus is encased in silver plates. This rests beneath a fret-work
canopy supported on slender pillars. There is an abundance of ornament
everywhere, but the close examination of its detail shows beauty and
fitness in every part. For example, if we compare the statue of the
saint, of which we have spoken, which stands at the end of the shrine
most exposed, with the statue of Vischer himself, which is at the
opposite end, we shall see how the saint, with his symbols and his
flowing drapery, is an ideal work, and seems to be advancing with
authority and the air which befits the son of a king, while Vischer,
with his round cap, leather apron, and German face, is simply the
representation of a worker bent upon doing his best (Fig. 95).

[Illustration: FIG. 95.--PETER VISCHER'S STATUE.]

The sarcophagus rests upon a base on which are four reliefs of scenes
from the life of the saint, all in the purest manner of the time. One of
these represents the burning of the icicles recounted above (Fig. 96).

This base and sarcophagus and the fret-work above it form the centre of
the tomb. Then outside of this are