At the time of Maximilian’s death, which happened in 1519, this great work was not finished; and it is said that Durer himself did not live to see it completed, as one small block remained to be engraved at the period of his death, in 1528. At whatever time the work might be finished, it certainly was commenced at least four years before the Emperor’s death, for the date 1515 occurs in two places at the foot of the subject. Though Durer’s mark is not to be found on any one of the cuts, there can be little doubt of his having furnished the designs for the whole. In the ninth volume of Von Murr’s Journal it is stated that Durer received a hundred guilders a year from the Emperor,--probably on account of this large work; and in the same volume there is a letter of Durer’s addressed to a friend, requesting him to apply to the emperor on account of arrears due to him. In this letter he says that he has made many drawings besides the “_Tryumps_”[V-34] for the emperor; and as he also thrice mentions Stabius, the inventor of the Triumphal Arch, there can be little doubt but that this was the work to which he alludes. [Footnote V-34: “Item wist auch das Ich K. Mt. ausserhalb des Tryumps sonst viel mancherley Fisyrung gemacht hab.”--“You must also know that I have made many other drawings for the emperor besides those of the Triumph.” The date of this letter is not given, but Durer informs his friend that he had been already three years employed for the emperor, and that if he had not exerted himself the beautiful “work” would not have been so soon completed. If this is to be understood of the Triumphal Arch, it would seem that the designs at least were all finished before the emperor’s death.--Von Murr, Journal, 9er Theil, S. 4.] As a work of art the best single subjects of the Triumphal Arch will not bear a comparison with the best cuts in Durer’s Apocalypse, the History of the Virgin, or Christ’s Passion; and there are several in which no trace of his effective style of drawing on wood is to be found. Most of the subjects illustrative of the emperor’s battles and adventures are in particular meagre in point of drawing, and deficient in effect. The whole composition indeed appears like the result of continued application without much display of talent. The powers of Durer had been evidently constrained to work out the conceptions of the historiographer and poet, Stabius; and as the subjects were not the suggestions of the artist’s own feelings, it cannot be a matter of surprise that we should find in them so few traces of his genius. The engraving of the cuts is clear, but not generally effective; and the execution of the whole, both figures and letters, would occupy a single wood engraver not less than four years; even allowing him to engrave more rapidly on pear-tree than a modern wood engraver does on box; and supposing him to be a master of his profession.