To his latest and most mature period must be assigned the _Man of Sorrows_--in some ways his finest, and certainly his most moving, plate. Not only has he differentiated between the textures of the linen loin-cloth and the coarser material of the cloak; but the column, the cross with its beautiful and truthful indication of the grain of the wood, and the ground itself, all are treated with a knowledge and a sensitiveness that is surprising. The engraver’s greatest triumph, however, is in the figure of Christ. There is a feeling for form and structure, sadly lacking in the work of his successors, and his suggestion of the strained and pulsing veins, which throb through the Redeemer’s tortured limbs, is of a compelling truth. Chief among the engravers who show most clearly the influence of the Master of the Playing Cards is the MASTER OF THE YEAR 1446, so named from the date which appears in the _Flagellation_. His prints present a more or less primitive appearance, and were it not for this date, one might be tempted, on internal evidence, to assign them to an earlier period. In the _Passion_ series, in particular, many of the figures are more gnome-like than human. Such creatures as the man blowing a horn, in _Christ Nailed to the Cross_, and the man pulling upon a rope, in the same print, recall to our minds, by an association of ideas, the old German fairy tales. Contemporary with the Master of 1446, and belonging to the Burgundian-Netherlands group, to which also belong the two anonymous engravers known as the MASTER OF THE MOUNT OF CALVARY and the MASTER OF THE DEATH OF MARY, is the MASTER OF THE GARDENS OF LOVE. His figures are crude in drawing and stiff in their movements. His knowledge of tree forms is rudimentary; but his animals and birds show real observation and seem to have been studied from life. [Illustration: MASTER OF THE YEAR 1446. CHRIST NAILED TO THE CROSS Size of the original engraving, 4⅛ × 3¼ inches In the Royal Print Room, Berlin] [Illustration: MASTER OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST. ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST Size of the original engraving, 8½ × 5⅞ inches In the Albertina, Vienna]