The Case Of The Nun’s Ruby

Louis Kornitzer's book, Gem Trader, is partly autobiographical and partly woven round the lore of pearls. It's educational + explains the distribution chain of gems, as they pass from hand to hand, from miner to cutter, from merchant to millionaire, from courtesan to receiver of stolen goods, shaping human lives as they go + the unique characters in the industry.

(via Gem Trader) Louis Kornitzer writes:

Jacob nodded his head up and down several times, but went away unmoved. When I saw him next he brought out of his pocket a crimson bottle-stopper of no ordinary size, and after pledging me to strict secrecy—confided to me that no king or emperor in the world possessed a finer ruby than that which he then held in his hand. For the time was several months later and poor Jacob was in a mental home where they were treating him very kindly. But he never recovered from the result of his shock when he discovered that he, the infallible Jacob W., had been the victim of his own faulty judgment and this five thousand pound ruby was laboratory grown.

There is a footnote to manufactured rubies: manufactured alexandrites, which are a variety of chrysoberyl, first discovered in 1833. Alexandrites are found in the Ural mountains and were given their name to celebrate the coming-of-age of the young Tsar Alexander II. When faceted and polished they are translucent and lustrous, but they are distinguished from all other gems by the intriguing way in which their blue or dark green daylight color changes into raspberry red in artificial light. (Footnote: Alexandrites are also produced in Ceylon,but not such good ones as in the Urals. For a long time the Ceylon gem dealers thought they were green sapphires until a specimen was consigned to London where it was tested by experts. The Ceylon Observer of January 11th, 1887, has an account of an alexandrite of immense size, 1876 carats—being a carat for almost every year of the date. Its owner refused 10000 rupees for it and it was eventually cut into small pieces).

Good alexandrites of any considerable size are extremely rare and fanciers are willing to pay high prices for really fine specimens. It was I who, more or less unwittingly, was responsible for the introduction of synthetic alexandrites to the world’s markets. The idea would never have occurred to me ordinarily, for most of my career has been spent with real gems and not with imitations and artificial stones. But there used to come to my office in Hatton Garden every month or so an analytical chemist, an exiled Russian resident in Paris, who specialized in the manufacture of high-grade scientific rubies. If I never bought anything from him it was not his fault, for he was an excellent salesman for one who had divided most of his life between laboratory and classroom.

Now I often regretted never being able to reward with a small order the pleasant half-hours I used to enjoy with this scholarly and cultured man. One day when he was unusually anxious to book an order, I pointed to a small alexandrite lying on my work table.
‘What’s that?’ he asked.
‘It is a compatriot of yours,’ I said, ‘but unlike you, it is a turncoat.’ Then I explained to him the peculiar property of the stone.
‘Show me,’ said he, so I took him into a dark corner, lit a wax vesta, and like an unfailing miracle it was red stone and now lay in my hand and not a green stone.
‘Very intriguing,’ he said.
‘Now if you could only turn our scientific alexandrites,’ I suggested, more than half in jest. ‘Why, you could book me for a bushel of them.’
‘I shall have a good try,’ he said soberly, and said no more about it. I had completely forgotten the incident when three of four months later he turned up and without ado laid a small parcel of stones on the table. It did not take long to discover that he had succeeded in what I had thought to be impossible. But I was more surprised still when he quoted me a price per carat extremely moderate. I bought all he had with him, and subsequently arranged to take his entire output. It was my idea to corner the market; but alas for such hopes, secrets of that kind are hard to keep, and within the year others were turning out scientific alexandrites in such quantities that it became unprofitable to handle them in Europe.

I managed, however, to arouse a wide interest in these ‘funny’ stones in China and Japan, and the quantity these two markets absorbed was amazing. While it lasted I had no cause to complain. There was, and I believe still is, a shop in Hong Kong kept by two Chinese brothers where I frequently met a number of prominent Cantonese, both Government officials connected with Dr Sun Yat Sen’s administration and also not a few military officers of higher rank.

Several of these officers were, as the Americans say, ‘tickled to death’ with alexandrites, the stones that could change sides as effectively as any Chinese brigand general. All of them bought these scientific alexandrite novelties of me; not single specimens, but by the handful. Among these friendly customers was a close-cropped military man who one day, not so many years later, would acquire a news value as great as that of the Austrian house painter’s or the Swedish cinema star’s. His name was Chiang Kai Shek.

Heard On The Street

Keep moving. That is the best way to stay in business. Hard work + flexibility + stamina = Solid strength.

Central Statistical Organization, Burma

Here is an interesting statistics via Burma's Central Statistical Organization on foreign investment + I believe the main investors in Burma are from China, Russia, South Korea, Singapore, India, Thailand, Malaysia, United Kingdom, to mention a few.

Useful link:
http://www.csostat.gov.mm/S11MA02.asp

Rare Wine Auctions Titillate Tipplers

Dominique Schroeder writes about rare wine auctions in Paris + the new trend among the wealthy international buyers, especially from China and Russia + other viewpoints @ http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071215/lf_afp/lifestylewineauction_071215033214

Useful links:
www.idealwine.com
www.conseildesventes.com
www.artcurial.com

Next-Gen Travel Sites + Better Deals

(via Wired/John Brandon): These startups search airline and travel-booking sites to find the best deal + hand you off to the site offering that fare when you're ready to buy.

FareChase
http://farechase.yahoo.com

Farecast
www.farecast.com

SideStep
www.sidestep.com

Kayak
www.kayak.com

The 400 Blows

The 400 Blows (1959)
Directed by: François Truffaut
Screenplay: François Truffaut, Marcel Moussy
Cast: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claire Maurier, Albert Rémy

(via YouTube): Criterion Trailer 5: The 400 Blows
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYCD1IBzzC0

François Truffaut / Les Quatre cents coups(400 Blows)trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUSMbawWUIo&feature=related

Realistic + experimental + a good story. I enjoyed it.

Under The Hammer

Tim Kelly writes about a renaissance in Japanese art + Japan's leading art auction house, Shinwa Art Auction + other viewpoints @ http://www.forbes.com/global/2007/1224/068.html

Yang Yong And The Four Elephants

Jonathan Napack writes about the emerging avant-garde of China’s Pearl River Delta + a unique urban laboratory + the impact + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnewsonline.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=665

The Dawn Of The Reformation

(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:

In a letter to his friend Pirkheimer, Durer relates how the Doge and the Patriarch of Venice came to see his picture, and still more interesting in his account how the veteran Venetian painter Giovanni Bellini praised the picture in public and further proved his admiration for the work of the Northern painter. Bellini, Durer wrote, ‘wanted to have something of mine, and himself came and asked me to paint him something and he would pay well for it. All men tell me what an upright man he is, so that I am really friendly with him. He is very old, but is still the best painter of them all.’ It was at this time that the incident about the paintbrush already narrated occurred.

Altogether this visit to Venice was a success. It definitely established Durer’s reputation as a painter, his small panels sold well, and later he went to Bologna, where he received a great ovation, but even the flattery of a Bolognese who declared he could ‘die happy’ now he had seen Durer did not turn the artist’s head, and he returned to Nuremberg the same modest, conscientious artist he had always been.

The succeeding years were very fertile in paintings, his principal productions being the ‘Crucifixion,’ now at Dresden, the ‘Adam’ and ‘Eve’ in which he tried to give his ideal of beauty of form, and the important altarpiece which he painted for the Frankfurt merchant Jacob Heiler.

But the artist still found that painting did not bring him in so much profit as engraving, and after he had completed his great ‘Adoration of the Trinity’ in 1511 he gave most of his time to engraving, continuing the first ‘Passion’ series and the ‘Life of the Virgin.’ It was after the death of his mother in 1514 that he produced his famous print ‘Melancholia’ a composition full of curious symbolism in which a seated female figure is shown brooding on the tragedies of existence.

Equally famous and still more difficult wholly to understand is the copper engraving known as ‘The Great Fortune’ or ‘Nemesis’. It is supposed that this engraving was suggested by a passage in Poliziano’s Latin poem, which may be thus translated:

There is goddess who, aloft in the empty air, advances girdled about with a cloud....She it is who crushes extravagant hopes, who threatens the proud, to whom is given to beat down the haughty spirit and the haughty step, and to confound over-great possessions. Her the men of old called Nemesis.....In her hand bears bridles and a chalice, and smiles for ever with an awful smile, and stands resisting mad designs.

No work has aroused more controversy than this design; some have regarded it as a splendid rendering of the physical attributes of mature womanhood, but others have pronounced the ugliness of the figure to be ‘perfectly repulsive’ while others again have found it hard to reconcile the extreme realism of the woman’s form with the fanciful imagination shown in her environment.

But however many opinions there may be as to the success of this engraving as an illustration, there is only one view about its merits as a decoration. Mr T Sturge Moore, himself an expert and gifted engraver, has well emphasized this point by reminding the readers of his book on Durer ‘that it is an engraving and not a woman that we are discussing: and that this engraving is extremely beautiful in arabesque and black and white pattern, rich, rhythmical and harmonious.’ If the experiment be made of turning the print upside down, so that attention is no longer concentrated on its meaning as an illustration, its extraordinary ingenuity and interest as a pattern will at once become apparent.

In 1518 Durer again resumed his activity as a painter: in that year he was summoned by the Emperor Maximilian to Augsburg, where he was employed in painting portraits of the emperor and of many of his nobles. In 1521 he visited the Netherlands and received much attention in Brussels and Antwerp; though he drew and painted several portraits during his travels, he took up engraving again when he returned to Nuremberg. The series he then began is known as the ‘Second Passion’; this set he did not live to complete. He died in 1528. Two years earlier he painted his celebrated ‘Four Apostles,’ which have a peculiar interest not only as Durer’s last effort in picture making, but also as an indication of the artist’s attitude towards the Reformation.

The Dawn Of The Reformation (continued)

The Case Of The Nun’s Ruby

Louis Kornitzer's book, Gem Trader, is partly autobiographical and partly woven round the lore of pearls. It's educational + explains the distribution chain of gems, as they pass from hand to hand, from miner to cutter, from merchant to millionaire, from courtesan to receiver of stolen goods, shaping human lives as they go + the unique characters in the industry.

(via Gem Trader) Louis Kornitzer writes:

The De Maderos also experienced bad fortune above the average. They, in turn, during another revolutionary upheaval in 1908 (if there was indeed ‘bad luck’ in the stones it had taken, you see, a long time to descend upon the De Maderos, for Maximilian was executed in 1867), had to flee the country. They stowed away on an east bound liner. Their ship encountered a storm during which the Princess Charlotte’s rubies went down in the Chesapeake Bay, never presumably to rise again until the earth gives up its dead and the sea its treasures.

England’s great ruby, which has a place in the King’s state crown, has probably the longest European pedigree of all rubies, for it was a gift to the Black Prince from a King of Castile some hundred years ago. But the Black Prince’s ruby is after all only a spinel ruby, which, as has been said, is a thing of comparatively low degree.

Then there were the celebrated rubies of Queen Marie of Roumania, who died a little while ago. These gems came to her from her mother, a Russian Tsar’s daughter, and she in turn handed them onto her daughter, Princess Ileana, now Archduchess Anton of Hapsburg. She is reported to have said at the time that they would go better with Princess Ileana’s dark beauty than with her own English fairness, and in truth rubies are jewels that prefer brunettes.

Of great and noble rubies the tale is unending. Queen Mary has some exquisite rubies set in a brooch and pendant which she inherited under the will of the Countess Torby, wife of the Grand Duke Michael of Russia. These jewels had originally been chosen for the Empress Alexandra of Russia and are magnificent. There is a portrait of Queen Mary by David Jagger in which these jewels appear as the principal ornaments worn by the royal sitter.

Then there is the freak ruby said to be the most famous in the world because so much spiritual and religious significance has been attached to it by its owner and others. This is, or was, owned by a member of the Indian Legislative Council, and has deep within it, veiled by scarlet cloud, what appears to be the tiny image of a dark-skinned man robed in white and with his head swathed in a white turban.

But enough of individual rubies in the grand style. I have said enough to show what the world ancient and modern thinks of rubies. Indeed, there is a magnificence and color about a fine ruby that makes it peculiarly suited to the treasure chests of kings as well as extravagantly rich enough for the haversacks of romance.

There are other rubies, as I have said. I have mentioned the spinel ruby already. The balas ruby or rubicelle are just other names for spinel; but rubellite is the name frequently bestowed upon a wine-red tourmaline, which is a much softer stone and of rather complex chemical composition into which corundum enters. The finest rubellites come from the Ural mountains.

The New World has its ‘rubies’, too. A stone which occurs in Australia and which, because it is red, translucent and lustrous, is called by some native sons an Adelaide ruby, is really no more than an almandine garnet. The garnet is the Jack of all stones and in its time plays many parts in the credulous eye, for to the layman everything that is red is ruby, everything that is white, diamond, and so on, in spite of color being perhaps the least of identifying signs.

A Brazilian ruby, however, is no garnet. It is dark red topaz, whether its color is natural or has been brought about by application of heat. Part of the name is right, for the stone does, in fact, come from Brazil.

I remember not without sadness a conversation I had a few years ago in my office about rubies. There came to see an old friend, Jacob W., a well-known expert and dealer in precious stones, and we were meeting for the last time in ‘the Garden’, though neither of us knew it.

After some beating about the bush in a vain effort to provoke my curiosity, Jacob brought out above the level of my desk a good-sized ruby and said: ‘What price this?’

But I showed no eagerness to inspect, and although the stone appeared to be a fine one, expressed none of the admiration that at first sight I felt. For we dealers in gems never go into ecstasies over each other’s goods. A gem we have once praised overmuch may some day seek us out a potential buyer. Studied indifference is the safest policy, however fine the gem.
‘A good stone this, Jacob,’ I said without enthusiasm.
‘It is a good stone if I know one,’ he said grimly. ‘I’ve actually overdrawn my account to the tune of two thousand pounds without advising my bank. If I had not closed with the owner, I’d never have seen the stone again. And I had to have it.’
‘What do you want me to do?’ I said. ‘Lend you the money?’
‘No, I’d rather owe the bank than my best friend. I want to know what you think of it. Was I justified in putting myself into a hole over it?’
‘How can I tell until I know what you paid.’
‘Five thousand pounds,’ he said. ‘It’s a lot for an eight carat stone.’
‘I’ve not been handling first grade rubies much lately,’ said I. ‘But yours seems to be top-notcher, though too dear, in my opinion.’
Secretly I thought better of the stone than I let on, but when Jacob saw that I was not going to give myself away, he pocketed the stone and we drifted into a general talk on rubies.
‘What a vogue they are having,’ said Jacob. ‘Burma rubies, that is. It beats me why Siam and spinel rubies aren’t keeping pace with Burmas. They’re good enough stones, after all.’
‘Yes, but you wouldn’t pay much of a price for them yourself,’ I said. ‘Burma rubies get the big prices because they’ve got the hardness and refractive power and charm.’
‘Textbook stuff,’ he said contemptuously. ‘I know all that. But what makes the fashion for one gem one year and for a different gem the next? Why should rubies be in now and soon maybe pearls or emerald again? I’ve never got to the bottom of that.’
‘Because the woman say so,’ I said with a laugh. ‘Did you think it was the jewelers or the dealers who made the prices?’
But he was following another line of thought. ‘At any rate, we dealers in rubies and sapphires and emeralds have to be thankful that the precious stones don’t have quite the ups and downs of the others. My rubies, for instance, have been precious since the beginning of time and women have always wanted them.’
‘Do you remember when the scientific ruby, and before it the reconstructed ruby, seemed likely to knock the bottom out of the ruby market?’
‘I heard something about it once,’ said Jacob indifferently. But the gem dealer is not interested in ancient history—anything that happened more than five or six years before—and I saw that I should have to speak quickly to hold his interest at all.
‘Well, it began when the the Frenchman, Professor Verneuil, succeeded in producing small rubies in his laboratory,’ I said. ‘He used inferior, almost worthless Burma stones, which he crushed to powder. Then he introduced a suitable coloring matter and fused the powder electrically. The resulting mass, when it had been cut and polished, could hardly be told from the natural stone. The professor called his products ‘reconstructed rubies’ and took no more interest in them.
‘If it had stopped there, all would have been well. But there was the usual bunch of smart fools with short sight about. One fellow in particular—and I shan’t say who, because I never had any use for him—got to know the professor’s method. He was a goldsmith of sorts, not very good at his job, and he of all men took to making rubies. Naturally he didn’t know any better than to unload his trash wholesale, and when he didn’t make the expected fortune he sold the secret process to anyone who would buy. Of course, rubies went flop.’
Jacob grunted his contempt for all fools, particularly in the gem business.
I said: ‘Well, then this Professor Verneuil was struck by another idea. He started off, not with powdered ruby, but—since ruby is but corundum, after all—with corundum itself. Corundum is a form of alumina, which occurs abundantly in the soil anywhere, so the professor took some alumina, experimented with it for a while, and finally produced the true scientific or synthetic ruby.’
‘And a lot of good synthetic rubies have done anyone,’ snorted Jacob.
‘Well,’ said I, ‘if by ‘anyone’ you mean the trade, I grant you the synthetic ruby hasn’t done any good. But for industrial purposes it is just as good as the Burma, and after all, most manufactured rubies are absorbed by industry. As for the trade, there are the usual tests. By the way, Jacob, I suppose you’ve had the tests applied to your latest acquisition?’
‘Bah,’ said he irritably. ‘Scientific bosh. I trust my own knowledge all my life. You can’t teach the old dog new tricks, my friend.’
‘Precaution is precaution,’ I said. ‘Did I tell you what happened to me? My late partner in Paris had a ruby consigned to him from Amsterdam and I sold it in London to an expert, and he sold it a West End jeweler. All honest men! But the ruby was a dud. The experts all along the line had trusted each other to apply the test. It was the Amsterdam dealer who lost. He’d taken the gem from an exiled Russian Grand Duchess who hadn’t any money to pay him back.’

The Case Of The Nun’s Ruby (continued)

Deadly Ascent

(via Nova) Deadly Ascent explores the difficulties of climbing Denali (Mt McKinley) + what is interesting is the intriguing parallels between mountaineering + gem/art trading. Experienced climbers describe Denali as not a technically difficult task but the fact of the matter is it's full of surprises + at times you have a situation where a group of climbers may make the ascent in good weather, return and tell their friends how easy it was (just like in gem/art business), and friends will put together a team, make an attempt and die.

Top 10 Graphic Novels 2007

(via Time/Chris Onstad) Top 10 Graphic Novels 2007

#1. Achewood http://achewood.com
Written by Chris Onstad
#2. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier
Written by Alan Moore, illustrated by Kevin O'Neill
#3. All Star Superman
Written by Grant Morrison, illustrated by Frank Quitely
#4. Marvel Zombies 2
Written by Robert Kirkman, illustrated by Sean Phillips and Arthur Suydam
#5. Jack of the Fables, Vol. 1: The (Nearly) Great Escape
Written by Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges and Tony Aikins, illustrated by Andrew Pepoy
#6. Erfworld http://www.erfworld.com
Written by Rob Balder, illustrated by Jamie Noguchi
#7. The Principles of Uncertainty
Written by Maira Kalman
#8. Exit Wounds
Written by Rutu Modan
#9. Sentences: The Life of M.F. Grimm
Written by Percy Carey and Ronald Wimberly
#10. The Complete Peanuts, 1963-1964
Written by Charles M. Schulz

Carlos Santana

Carlos Santana is a Grammy Award-winning Mexican-born American Latin rock musician + guitarist + he combines salsa + rock + blues + jazz fusion to create a unique and recognizable sound of music. There is energy in his music + he is a musical genius + love his music.

‘Everybody gets wet when it rains, from the prostitutes to the pope. My music strives to communicate that message of unity.’
-Carlos Santana

Useful links:
www.santana.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Santana

Top 10 Museum Exhibits 2007

(via Time/Richard Lacayo): Top 10 Museum Exhibits 2007

#1. Richard Serra Sculpture: Forty Years
Museum of Modern Art, New York City
#2. Matisse: Painter as Sculptor
Dallas Museum of Art and Nasher Sculpture Center
#3. Vija Celmins: A Drawings Retrospective
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
#4. J.M.W. Turner
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
#5. Martin Puryear
Museum of Modern Art, New York City
#6. Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City
#7. Van Gogh and Expressionism
Neue Galerie, New York City
#8. Howard Hodgkin: Paintings 1992-2007
Yale Center for British Art
#9. Wack! Art and the Feminist Revolution
The Geffen Contemporary at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art
#10. Take Your Time: Olafur Eliasson
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

10 Top Places Travelers Stumbled Upon

(via users of travel website www.igougo.com + based on their experiences):

1. Amarante, Portugal - a magnificent little city.
2. Sigulda, Latvia - a beautiful little town.
3. Avebury, England - a Stonehenge alternative.
4. Sorata, Bolivia - a mythical Shangri-La.
5. Camargue, France - for a Spanish/Gypsy flavor.
6. Victoria, Argentina - the 'City of the Seven Hills'.
7. Budva, Montenegro - on a dramatic coastline.
8. Bohol, Philippines - one of Philippines' secrets
9.Cuyutlan, Mexico - black sand, green waves, sea turtles.
10. Perthshire, Scotland - in the heart of highlands.

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Screenplay: Melissa Mathison
Cast: Henry Thomas, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore

(via YouTube): E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial - Original Trailer (1982)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4yUQJeKZNs&feature=related

E.T.- The Extra Terrestrial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAP9f_GJQxI

E.T Funny Scene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHApjDCkt9U&feature=related

I think E.T is a lovely film + the little creature with feelings was a moving experience . I enjoyed it.

Landmark Map Of World On Display

(via BBC News) Vincent Dowd writes about the map, which has just gone on permanent display for the first time, bought by America's Library of Congress four years ago (the map is thought to have been drawn exactly 500 years ago by a monk in the present-day French region of Lorraine) + other viewpoints @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7142784.stm

Art, Restored

David Armstrong writes about Julian G.Y. Radcliffe, the founder and chairman of Art Loss Register, which maintains the world's largest database for stolen art + other viewpoints@ http://www.forbes.com/global/2007/1224/090.html

Useful link:
www.artloss.com

Lights, Action, Camera!

Barbara Pollack writes about new direction (s) in photography, taking postmodern theory into the realm of constructed narratives and fabricated realities by international photographers + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnewsonline.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=643

The Dawn Of The Reformation

(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:

Returning to Nuremberg in 1494, Albert Durer—as we shall henceforth call him—married almost immediately Agnes Frei, daughter of a respected citizen. The young artist already had some reputation: in 1497 he painted the portrait of his father, and in the following year the splendid portrait of himself. This comparatively early work, now at Madrid, shows all the characteristics of his later portraits; it has a simple dignity almost amounting to austerity, remarkable penetration into character, and in execution it shows perfect mastery of drawing and coloring.

In 1498 Albert Durer published a series of wood-engravings illustrating the Apocalypse, which greatly increased his reputation, for in these he was able to show not only the perfection of his drawing and design, but also the extraordinary power of his imagination. No design in this series is more famous than ‘The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’, which has recently become still more widely known by the popular novel of Ibanez and the film with the same title, both of which were directly inspired by Durer’s masterpiece.

And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat thereon had a bow: and there was given unto him a crown: and he came forth conquering and to conquer....And another horse came forth, a red horse: and to him that sat thereon it was given to take peace from the earth, and that they should slay one another: and there was given to him a great sword.....And I saw, and behold a black horse; and he that sat thereon had a balance in his hand. And I heard as it were a voice saying, A measure of wheat for a penny....and behold a pale horse; and he that sat upon him, his name was Death.

These are the verses from Revelation (vi. 2-8) which Durer set himself to illustrate; and since it was executed in a period just previous to the Reformation, some critics have argued that its inner meaning is an attack on the Papacy. It is improbable, however, that Durer was at this time in any way actuated by religious bias; the series as a whole certainly attacks corruption, both lay and ecclesiastical, but in this woodcut, the most famous of the series, it is more likely that Durer confined himself strictly to his text. The Holy Roman Empire was in a chronic state of war, and Durer must have seen enough of fighting in his youth and early manhood to know who and what were the grim companions of conquest. The meaning of this magnificent rushing design is clear; it reveals Durer’s view of War, war which sweeps mercilessly on, sparing neither man nor woman, priest nor layman, and inevitably accompanied by Famine, Pestilence, and Death. The most subtle touch of a satire is the third rider with the balances. In portraying Famine as this sleek, well-nourished, handsomely clothed man, Durer seems to hint that he is not ignorant of the existence of the War-Profiteer. The emaciated horse and its rider by his side tell their own tale.

It was by his engravings still more than by his paintings that Durer became famous, for the prints spread throughout Europe and created a great sensation. But though invited to become a citizen of Venice or Antwerp by these municipalities, Durer remained loyal to his native city. He continued to reside in Nuremberg. After his father’s death in 1502 his responsibilities increased, for now in addition to his own family Albert had to look after his mother and his younger brother Hans.

When commissions for portraits and altar-pieces were not forthcoming, Durer’s wife used to hawk at fairs and gatherings her husband’s prints illustrating episodes in the life of the Holy Family, and these wood and copper engravings not only brought in ready money by satisfying a popular demand, but they were the foundation of the artist’s reputation as an engraver. The success of these separate prints was immediate, and soon after the publication of the Apocalypse prints, Durer set to work on other sets of engravings, one of which was to illustrate the Passion of Our Lord and another the Life of the Virgin.

At the instigation and by the kindness of his friend, Wilibald Pirkheimer, who lent him the money for the journey, Durer in 1506 paid a visit to Venice, where he was commissioned by the German merchants to paint a panel for their chapel. At first the painters of Venice were inclined to regard Albert Durer as a mere engraver who did not understand how to use color, but the completion of this panel soon silenced hostile criticism and the work proved to be a veritable triumph for the painter.

The Dawn Of The Reformation (continued)