le, in peace with
everyone and always thankful to God. He had no desire for worldly
pleasures, was of few words, did not go into society and was a
God-fearing man. Thus my dear father was most anxious to bring up his
children to honor God. His highest wish was that his children should
be pleasing to God and man; therefore he used to tell us every day
that we should love God and be true to our neighbors."

Durer sorrowed deeply when his father died in 1502. On his death-bed
he commended the mother to her son. Durer was faithful to his trust
and cared tenderly for his mother until her death, several years
later. Never did boy or man more faithfully keep the command, "Honor
thy father and mother," than did our artist.

For many reasons Albrecht seemed to be his father's favorite child. We
find him, in spite of numerous other cares, taking great pains with
the boy's education. He taught him to read and write well and must
have given him instruction in Latin. These were years when thirst for
learning was abroad in the land. Free Latin schools were established
to meet the needs. Durer's father was filled with this spirit and he
communicated it to his son.

[Illustration: DORMER WINDOW IN THE BISHOP'S HOUSE, NUREMBERG
On the square the oriel window, where in old heroic days,
Sat the poet Melchoir singing Kaiser Maximilian's praise.
--_Longfellow_]

As was customary at the time, the son was trained to follow his
father's trade and so he learned the goldsmith's art in his father's
shop. It is said that in his tender years he engraved, on silver,
events from Christ's passage to Calvary. Albrecht's drawing was
superior to that usually done in a goldsmith's shop. In his free
hours he drew to entertain his companions. After a while he began to
feel that he might paint pictures instead of merely drawing designs
for metal work. He loved the work and so had the courage to tell his
father of his wish to become a painter. The elder Durer was patient
with the boy, regretting only that he had lost so much time learning
the goldsmith's trade. Albrecht, then only sixteen, was surely young
enough to begin his life work! His father put him to study with
Wolgemut, the foremost painter of the city, which is not high praise,
for the art of painting was then new in the prosperous city of the
Pegnitz. Wolgemut was, however, a good engraver on wood and so perhaps
was able to direct the young apprentice in quite as valuable a line