influences, and he returned to Nuremberg unitalianized, and true to his
original principles. The fame which his works enjoyed in Italy only
encouraged him to continue in the path he had already chosen. Perhaps
the exuberance of life displayed in Venetian painting inspired him, even
under the altered circumstances of his home life, with the determination
to devote all his energies to large easel pictures. To the _Adoration of
the Magi_ in 1504, and the _Feast of the Rosary_ in 1506, succeeded the
_Adam and Eve_ in 1507, the _Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand Saints_ in
1508, the _Assumption of the Virgin_ in 1509, and the All Saints picture
or _Adoration of the Trinity_ of 1511. Duerer was at the height of his
power when he created these masterpieces, small, indeed, in number, but
remarkable for their conception, composition, and entire execution by
his own hand. To complete a large picture to his satisfaction, Duerer
required the same time as Schiller did for a tragedy, viz., a whole
year....

It was in the year 1504 that Duerer finished the first great picture,
which, from its excellent state of preservation, must have been entirely
executed with the greatest care by his own hand, even to the most minute
detail. This picture is the _Adoration of the Magi_, now in the Tribune
of the Uffizi at Florence. Mary sits on the left, looking like the
happiest of German mothers, with the enchantingly naive Infant on her
knees; the three Wise Men from the East, in magnificent dresses
glittering with gold, approach, deeply moved, and with various emotions
depicted on their countenances, while the whole creation around seems to
share their joyous greeting, even to the flowers and herbs, and to the
great stag-beetle and two white butterflies, which are introduced after
the manner of Wolgemut. The sunny green on copse and mountain throws up
the group better than the conventional nimbus could have done. The
fair-haired Virgin, draped entirely in blue with a white veil, recalls
vividly the same figure in the Paumgaertner altarpiece. Aerial and linear
perspective are still imperfect, but the technical treatment of the
figures is as finished as in Duerer's best pictures of the later period.
The outlines are sharp, the colours very liquid, laid on without
doubt in tempera, and covered with oil glazes; the whole tone
exceedingly fresh, clear, and brilliant. If it was Barbari's fine work
which incited Duerer to this delicate and careful method o