that, such was the wealth of material stored in the
mind, that he went on inventing without aid from usual outward
appliances. He still sought utmost tranquillity, and any intrusion on
the hours of study became extremely painful to him. Latterly he had been
engaged on a small composition of _The Last Judgment_; also he was
occupied on designs illustrative of human life--a series which had
advanced as far as the _Return from Church of the Wedding Party_. Such
were the congenial avocations when, on the fourteenth day after the
return home, he was seized with a severe cold on the chest. Yet the
symptoms so far yielded to medical treatment that in eight days the
danger had passed. Suddenly, however, ensued a total failure of power,
yet for the most part the mind remained unclouded. A day or two before
death he asked for a piece of charcoal, and added a few touches to a
design on which lately he had been working; and at times, when
apparently unconscious, he would look upwards, raise and move his hand
as if in the act of drawing. He prayed almost without ceasing, was
grateful for each kindness, and with dying lips had a loving and
comforting word for everyone. The last sinking came in quietness;
sustained by the consolations of religion he fell asleep towards six
o'clock in the evening of Friday, the 12th of November, in the eightieth
year of his age. He lay as he had lived--in peace; and near his bed was
placed the drawing on which he had lately worked, also the small cartoon
of _The Last Judgment_.

The next day, according to the painter's wish, the body was taken by the
hands of his brother artists to San Bernardo, the little parish church
near his house, where he worshipped, and where he is still remembered.
An eye-witness writes from Rome to Lubeck, on the 18th of November: "I
have just come from the burial of our great fellow-countryman. Amid
universal grief the funeral mass took place this morning. The mournful
ceremony was performed by a German bishop assisted by Cistercian monks;
many artists and German students were present, and joined in psalms
composed by the Abbe Liszt. The whole function was most solemn, as if
the pious spirit of the departed had entered the whole assembly. Around
the bier were gathered Protestants as well as Roman Catholics; the
coffin bore the many orders which the artist had received, but was never
seen to wear; and at the feet lay the crown of laurels which his Roman
brethren reverently off