The Crozier and the Censer furnish unmistakable proof, were such needed, that as a goldsmith-designer, no less than as an engraver, Schongauer is entitled to the loftiest place in German art. They are masterpieces, alike in invention and in execution. His influence was not confined to his contemporaries, but can be traced in many ways, and in many media, long after his death. His School, however, produced no engraver worthy, for a moment, of comparison with him.
MARTIN SCHONGAUER. THE MILLER
Size of the original engraving, 3½ × 4⅞ inches
In the Albertina, Vienna
MARTIN SCHONGAUER. CENSER
Size of the original engraving, 11½ × 8¼ inches
The Master L Cz alone seems to have caught something of Schongauer’s spirit while, at the same time, preserving his own individuality. The face of the Redeemer in Christ Entering Jerusalem is reminiscent of the earlier engraver; and, among the Apostles to the left, two, at least, are taken, with slight modifications, from Schongauer’s Death of the Virgin.
Christ Tempted has a singular charm. The figure of Satan, realistically treated, is an interesting example of that passion for the grotesque from which even the greatest artists in the North seemed unable to shake themselves wholly free. The wood in the middle distance, to the left of Christ, evinces a close study of natural forms, while the landscape takes its place admirably in the composition. The excessive rarity of engravings by L Cz alone has prevented them from being appreciated at their true worth. They are original in composition, full of fantasy and charm. Even so universal an artist as Albrecht Dürer did not disdain to borrow, from Christ Tempted, the motive of the mountain goat gazing downward, which reappears, slightly modified, in Adam and Eve, his masterpiece of the year 1504.
ENGRAVERS AND ETCHERS