But whether the monument won the young Peter Vischer the Mastership or not, it is undoubtedly a masterpiece of German Renaissance. It is by document and signature his as it is his in design and execution. There are, indeed, still a few traces of the earlier influences of his house visible. The background, for instance, is decorated in the Gothic style, and the fantastic figures in the two corners formed by the arch remind us of those on the tomb-plate of the Duchess Helene von Mecklenburg, for whose father. Elector Philip of the Palatinate, his father had worked in Heidelberg thirty-three years before. But in spite of the beauty of the rich details of the elaborate architecture, arms and pilasters, that form the setting of this work, it is the central commanding figure of the whole which rightly rivets our attention. In this strong and thoughtful man of action and man of mind, who is a Christian and a fighter, a warrior, but none the less a theologian, whose watchword recorded on the monument was (in spite of all the Popes and princes of Europe), “The word of the Lord endureth for ever,” Peter Vischer has proclaimed, so it has been suggested, the ideal Kaiser for whom Germany was looking in vain, the perfect Emperor of the Reformation movement. The power of portraiture which his practice as a maker of medallions had developed, has enabled him to lend to the bronze a wonderful force of expression, so that he may even challenge a comparison with Dürer, who, thirty years previously, had portrayed the protector of Luther. The design of this monument was borrowed by Hans Vischer, who copied it in 1534 to serve as a memorial of Prince John the Stable, producing, however, but a feeble version of the original. It may be supposed that the relations between Peter Vischer the younger and the Guild of Coppersmiths were somewhat strained by their treatment of him. For this reason, perhaps, and also for the reason that the new Italian fashion of tombstones, had, by this time, injuriously affected the demand for bronze work, he seems to have thought seriously of leaving Nuremberg in the year following the completion of the Wittenberg monument. The quarrel with the House of Fugger, which we shall presently relate, may likewise have conduced to make him entertain the proposal which came to him now from the agent of Duke Albrecht of Prussia, or it may be that he approached the agent on his own initiative. That prince was, for reasons of his own with which we have no concern, anxious to secure the services of a cannon-founder. It was suggested that the young Peter Vischer should go to Prussia to act in this capacity. But he was not destined to do so. The Duke’s agent reports unfavourably. “He is too delicate a craftsman,” he says, “and has no experience in casting large pieces.” It would have made little difference, in fact, if he had gone, for he died in this same year—the year in which Nuremberg lost also her prince of draughtsmen—Albert Dürer.