Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-09-20

i've was epanQone0 Dy al rosPsS
Nurembcrgers to . lonesome, mcrose'
quarrelsome existence. Durer hAd been
under money obligations to him In h's
early years, and on this account seems
TO have written letters TO him when IN
Vienna. There Is no indication in those
letters Of any personal affection. IL Is
hardly TO be doubted that Agnes ao-
horred the fat debauchec. and after her
marriage utterly declined to know him.
She doubtless refused to let him have
the sntlers, and he wrote the letter re-
ferred to in malignant memory oil the
rebufys he had received from her.
The statements about Agnes in the
letter arc proved TO be falsehoods. The
statement that she sold the antlers for
less than their price is inconsistent with
the charge OF parsimony. But the
charge that she had wanted Durer's for
tune and now had her wish was false
hood known to Pirkheimer for it now
appears that on his death she called his
family to her, and Of her own motion.
as the recorded deed rccites, "for love
Of them and her husbands memory"
divided the inheritance with them, al
though she had right to it all during her
life. So, too, she endowed a scholar
ship in the new divinity school ct Wit
tsmberg, whereat Philip Melancthon,
Who had loved Durer and been loved
by him, expressed his gratitude.
The Ssndrart forged story about
Durer's Holland journey was set at
rest by the discovery Of Durer's own
diary Of that journey. Agnes made
the whole journey with him His
diary is full of proof that they had a
good time OF it together
1t is impossible 10 follow one by one
the invented ISLANDERS which have shsd-
owed the memory Of the woman whose
life was sactified by the love Of the
noblest artist Of the fifteenth and six
teenth centuries.
There is one single relic Of that Nu-
renberg home and Life which speaks
with voice Of exquisite power and
tenderness, sounding above the voice OF
detraction. In the Vienna collection OF
Durer's drawings is q slight sketch Of q
young woman, in home dress with an
apron, who, pausing in her housewife
work. has sat down, rested her cheek
on her hand, and fallen asleep. So
doubtless Agnes came once into
the studio (which was in the
house, saying pleasant words to
the artist then working on some
grand theme, and sitting near him fell
of asleep. When he saw her sitting
there he seized bit Of paper and with
swift pencil sketched the face and form
be loved. This is the sketch which her
detractors have falsifed, for the legend
on the border is in queer old letters,
but plainly enough Mem Angnes."
There is q wealth Of meaning in that
one word my" She was his by the
hottest title, his wife, his companion,
counsellor, comforter, love. She was
his in the old Nuremberg house, his in the
wonderful visions which they had to-
gether had Of the life that is to be, his
for this and that life, forever. and be-
cause she was his she ought to have
been ours also, as be has become the
possession Of the generations Of civil
lied men. Her fame should have COM
manded the devout respect Of all men.
But she was woman dead, without
descendant to defend her, and the mis-
cradle love Of SANDER in men and wo-
men has for two centuries led them to
delight in defsming her.
Let him or her who is pure Of heart
imagine the beauty Of that artist
home in the old city of Macmillan.
They have been poor when for love OF
one another they began life together.
They were children Of devout parents,
honOriDg God and looking always hes-
venwNd. In the earliest years Of their
married life he designed those marvel
lous illustrations of the Apocalypse
which for centuries were copied in
Bibles ana other books, teach
ing millions of men, women, and
children. The two were always
together, and doubtless talked much of
these drawings as they progressed, and
Of the great experiment Of publishing
them. Would the people buy them,
understand them? Could the artist
speak to the world through wood en-
craving as the author with
typcg They grew rich and honored
together. They shared all of life
till that dark hour when he " Emigra-
Wit, " and she laid his body in her own
fathers tomb. where she would in time
lie down by him. Little did he dream
IN that parting hour that she whom he
80 loved, and whom he LETT with conf
dence TO the people who loved him and
her, would in after ages be reyiled as
the worst Of women. on the authority
Of the debauchee Pirkheimer.
The lesson Of the history should be
Needed. The good people of Nurem-
berg, nay, the people of all the world,
should emphasize it by a statue Of
Agnes Durer, the artists wife, pure in
all impure world, silent in death while
generations OF men and women have
DETAINED her.