Viewed as works of art, one reads about the cut of the four riders upon horses, "For simple grandeur this justly famous design has never been surpassed." One's sense of proportion receives such a shock as gives one the sensation of being utterly outcast, in a world where such a precious dictum can pass without remark as a sample of the discrimination of the chief authority on the life and art of Albert Dürer. Neither simple nor grand is an adjective applicable to this print in the sense in which we apply it to the chief masterpieces of antiquity and of the Renaissance. To say even that Dürer never surpassed this design is to utter what to me at least seems the most palpable absurdity. There is an immense advance in design, in conception and in mastery of every kind shown over the best prints of the _Apocalypse_ and _Great Passion_, in the prints added to the latter series ten years later, and still more in the _Life of the Virgin_. And still finer results are arrived at in single cuts of later date, and in the _Little Passion_. If we want to see what Dürer's woodcuts at their finest are for breadth and dignity of composition, for richness and fertility of arabesque and black and white pattern, for vigour and subtlety of form, for boldness and vivacity of workmanship, we must turn to the _Samson_ (1497?) (B. 2), the Man's _Bath_ (14-?), (B. 128), among the earlier blocks published before the _Apocalypse_, then to those designed in or about the year 1511. The golden period for Dürer's woodcuts, the date of the publication of his most magnificent series, the _Life of the Virgin_ and several delightful separate prints. Among these we find it hard to choose, but if some must be mentioned let it be the _St. Joachim's Offering Rejected by the High Priest_ (B. 77), the _Meeting at the Golden Gate_ (B. 79) (see illustration), the _Marriage of the Virgin_ (B. 82), the _Visitation_ (B. 84), the _Nativity_ (B. 85) (see illustration), the _Presentation_ (B. _55_), the _Flight into Egypt_ (B. 89). [Illustration: Detail enlarged from "Nativity."--"Life of the Virgin" Woodcut, B. 85] [Illustration: Enlarged detail from "The Embrace of St. Joachim and St. Anne at the Golden Gate."--"Life of the Virgin," Woodcut, B. 79]