According to the law of Germany, upon the Emperor's decease the supreme control of the government, pending the election of a successor to the throne, devolved upon Frederic, Elector of Saxony, as Vicar of the Empire; and until that successor had been determined on, it was impossible Durer could know to whom, or in what quarter, to apply for the vacant office.

In the first place the seven electors who exercised the privilege of selecting a successor offered the imperial crown to Frederic as the head of the German Confederacy. He, however, declined the honour on the ground "that he was not equal to contend with the difficulties of the times," and assuredly in no other act of his life did he evince to a greater extent that "wisdom" with which his name is so intimately associated.

The honour thus declined by him was, however, of too mighty import to lack candidates for its possession. Accordingly, from the moment his refusal was known no less than three of the most powerful princes of Europe put forth their respective claims to the imperial dignity. These potentates were Henry VIII. of England, Francis I. of France, and Charles V. of Spain.

Henry's pretensions were very soon withdrawn, and the contest for the honour of succeeding Maximilian was fiercely waged between the two other monarchs; ultimately, however-viz., on the 28th of June, 1519, five months and ten days after Maximilian's decease Charles was, by the unanimous voice of the Electorate College, raised to the imperial throne, his election being mainly brought about by the influence of the Elector of Saxony, in opposition to the wishes of the Pope.

This important intelligence was conveyed to Charles in nine days, from Frankfort to Barcelona, where he was then detained by the obstinacy of the Catalonian Cortes.

In the November following, the Count Palatine, at the head of a solemn deputation, offered Charles the throne, in the name of the electors, and the King declared his intention of setting out soon for Germany, in order to take possession of it. This was the more necessary because, according to the forms of the German constitution, he could not, before the ceremony of a public coronation, exercise any act of jurisdiction or authority.

Charles accordingly sailed from Corunna on the 22nd of May, 1520, and having landed at Dover he remained at Canterbury four days, and reached the court of his niece Margaret early in June.

These events could not but prove of the highest conceivable interest to Durer. His office of court painter to the Emperor of Germany ended, as before mentioned, with the death of Maximilian, and could only again be conferred by his successor subsequently to his coronation. For the reasons above stated, Durer, until July, 1519, was necessarily precluded from adopting any steps to secure his reappointment. From the moment, however, of Charles's election all doubt was ended, and the direction in which Durer should attempt to make interest became clearly indicated, viz., with Margaret, Duchess of Savoy, governess of the Pays-Bas, daughter of Durer's great patron the late Emperor Maximilian, and aunt to the Emperor elect, Charles V.

No sooner, therefore, was it known at Nuremberg that Charles was on his way to take possession of his empire, than Durer felt it necessary to decide on the course he should adopt to secure the much-coveted post of honour. His reputation at that time was at its zenith, and it was of the highest importance to him that the preeminence he sought should not escape him. The small pecuniary emolument attached to the appointment of court painter was, of course, the least of its attractions, but the honour was everything to Durer, as well from the advantages connected with it as from the keen sense of disappointment he would naturally have felt had the office been conferred on any but himself. To have relied on written applications, or the promised interest of friends at court, would have materially weakened if not absolutely destroyed his chance of success, and at the same time have inspired other candidates for the office with a hope, and given them a strength his presenee would in all probability deprive them of.

Of such paramount importance was this matter to Durer that it may readily be conceived it became a subject of the most serious consideration to himself and his friends. Many questions had to be considered-the distance, the expense, personal fatigue and risk, all had their part in their debates. Durer's friends were numerous at this period. The artists grouped about him, proud of their friend, zealous for his reputation, and, anxious that he should secure the office of court painter under the new Emperor, of course expressed their views and opinions on the momentous question. In those discussions the experience of Bilibald Pirkheymer doubtless was appealed to before arriving at a decision. On the one hand, Charles V. had been born at Ghent, and might therefore reasonably be sup

posed to have a preference for a Fleming, and further, would doubtless on his arrival be besieged with applications for the post of honour. Again, Durer had never seen Margaret or the Emperor elect, and he possessed no positive interest on which he could reasonably depend; hence it became a very serious question whether, in the face of these undeniable disadvantages, the chances of his success in gaining the appointment were not too slight to compensate him for the risk, expense, and fatigue of the journey; on the other hand, Durer's admitted position as the first artist in Germany, the distinguished favour in which he had been held by the late Emperor, and the peculiar claims of a German for the office over those of a foreign artist, were considered sufficient to entitle him to the preference, if by his presence and energy he exerted himself in the right quarter. With such " pros and cons," it is not to be wondered at that all shrunk from giving any decided advice, which might possibly have involved loss of money, position, and disappointment to Durer. He therefore, having heard all the different views and opinions of his friends, finally decided the question himself, and resolved to run all risks and to solicit the office in propria persona. Hence his manly avowal in the first sentence of his diary, viz., that he "undertook the journey on his own responsibility," a record by which he fairly and properly exempted his friends from all blame, even should the object of his expedition terminate in utter failure.

That diary commences in the following words:" On WhitSunday have I, Albert Durer, at my cost and responsibility, with my wife, departed from Nuremberg for the Netherlands," &c.

The journey now determined on, Durer, who was well assured of the hearty welcome which would await him from the artists in the Pays-Bas, resolved that the partner of his early struggles-his faithful and affectionate wife, Agnes-should accompany him, and both witness and share his expected honours. It was to be their first journey together after a marriage of twenty-six years, and Durer accordingly desired that, in order that nothing should be wanting to secure her comfort, Agnes should be accompanied by her waitingmaid or companion, Susannah; whilst his old and esteemed friend, Hans Springinklee, undertook to remain at Nuremberg in charge of his house and property. In fact, every arrangement was made that the journey should be undertaken not only in comfort, but in a manner and on a scale consistent with the object of Durer's visit and his position as the acknowledged leader of German art, which the

prosperous state of his finances at this period well enabled him to do. Durer's attentions to his wife, however, did not end there. In 1508 he had painted her portrait as the "Madonna holding on her lap the Divine Infant wrapped in swaddling-clothes; "a and with the especial object of making his wife known and commemorating her visit with him, he executed his elaborate engraving from his drawing of the portrait, merely altering the countenance of the Virgin so as

A. Durer's original sketch of “The Great Fortune." (See p. 15.)

more accurately to represent his wife as she then was. That engraving (declared by Mariette to be one of the best Durer ever executed) has secured a world-wide reputation as "La Vierge avec l'Enfant Jésus emmaillotté."-Bartsch, p. 38.

It requires no great stretch of imagination to conceive the stir which such a departure created at Nuremberg, or that Durer, his wife, and Susannah set out on their journey accompanied by a host of

This Madonna was sold by Durer, in 1508, to Johann, the fifth Bishop of Breslau.-Vide Durer's letter to Heller, dated at Nuremberg the Saturday after All Saints'-day, 1508.

friends and artists to wish them "God speed, success, and a safe and happy return."

The object of his journey being thus made clear, it is evident that all the conjectures mentioned in the introduction altogether fail. Indeed, the circumstances detailed by Durer himself, when properly considered, utterly annihilate the silly reasons attributed to him, and at the same time clearly disclose the true and only object of his journey-viz., to secure from the newly-elected Emperor the appointment of court painter.

The detail in his diary gives so clear an account of his progress as to render any special notice of it unnecessary, except so far as any allusion to it may assist in conveying a correct version of the efforts he made to obtain his desired object, and for which he had undertaken so long a journey and incurred so great an expense.

He contrived to visit Antwerp before the arrival of the Emperor, and availed himself of the opportunity afforded him to inspect, in the painters' working place there, the preparations then making for the triumphal reception of the Emperor elect, who was daily expected. He also, with a better knowledge of human nature than is generally awarded him, paved the way for conciliating the ArchDuchess Margaret, by sending from Antwerp presents of his engravings to those in office about her, and who it was presumed could influence her. He followed up the same good policy with Margaret herself, as on his arrival at Brussels he obtained the much-wished-for audience of the Governess, and presented her with a copy of his copper-plates and wood-engravings, which were graciously accepted. That Durer perfectly succeeded in obtaining the interest of that all-powerful and illustrious lady is shown by an entry in his diary

"Item. Madonna Margarita received me at Brussels, and promised she would be my introductress to King Charles, and showed a special kindness towards me."

Margaret fulfilled her pledged word, and on the Emperor's arrival at Brussels she secured from him a promise that the much-coveted appointment of court painter should be bestowed on Durer, although it could not, for the reasons hereinbefore explained, be legally conferred upon him until after the coronation of the Emperor. To that coronation Durer was bidden, and accordingly he went to Aix-laChapelle, the place appointed by the Golden Bull for the coronation of the Emperor; and there, on the 23rd October, 1520, in the