The so-called “magic square” lends color to the latter interpretation. Dürer’s mother died on May 17, 1514. The figures in the diagonally opposite corners of the square can be read as follows, 16 + 1 and 13 + 4, making 17, the day of the month; as do the figures in the center read crosswise, 10 + 7 and 11 + 6, and also the middle figures at the sides read across, 5 + 12 and 8 + 9. The two middle figures in the top line, 3 + 2, give 5, the month in question, and the two middle figures in the bottom line give the year, 1514.
Artistically the plate suffers from the multiplicity of objects introduced, and the loving care which Dürer has lavished upon them. He has wished to tell his story—whatever it may be—with absolute completeness in every particular, and in so doing he has weakened and confused the effect of his plate. It were idle to speculate upon what might have happened had so sensitive a master as Martin Schongauer possessed adequate technical skill for the interpretation of such a subject. What a masterpiece of masterpieces might have resulted if he had subjected it to that process of simplification and elimination of which he was so splendid an exponent! However this may be, Melancholia has been, and probably will continue to be, one of the signal triumphs in the history of engraving. We may never solve the riddles which she propounds; but is she less fascinating for being only partially understood?
St. Jerome in his Cell, all things considered, may be accounted Dürer’s high-water mark. There is a unity and harmony about this plate which is lacking in Melancholia. Nothing could be finer than the lighting; and, judged merely as a “picture,” it is altogether satisfying from every point of view. The accessories, even the animals in the foreground, take their just places in the composition. It is surprising that, although the plate is “finished” with minute and loving care, there is not the faintest evidence of labor apparent anywhere about it; but this is only one of its many and superlative merits. The light streaming in through the window at the left and bathing in its soft effulgence the Saint, intent upon his task, and the entire room in which he sits, has been for centuries the admiration of every art lover.
ALBRECHT DÜRER. ST. JEROME IN HIS CELL
Size of the original engraving, 9½ × 7¼ inches
In the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
ALBRECHT DÜRER. VIRGIN SEATED BESIDE A WALL
Size of the original engraving, 5¾ × 3⅞ inches
In the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
To this year, 1514, also belongs the Virgin Seated Beside a Wall, a plate in which the variety of texture has been carried further than in any other engraving by Dürer. The flesh is simply treated, in line for the most part; but the undergarment, the fur-trimmed wrapper, and the scarf which covers the head of the Virgin, hanging down the back and thrown over the knee, are all carefully differentiated. Again, the various planes in the landscape leading up to the fortified city are beautifully handled, as is also the wall to the right. It is hard to say what technical problems remained for Dürer to solve after such a little masterpiece as this.