CONCERNING GENERAL IDEAS IMPORTANT TO THE COMPREHENSION OF DUeRER'S LIFE
AND ART




CHAPTER I

THE IDEA OF PROPORTION


I

Ich hab vernomen wie der siben weysen aus kriechenland ainer gelert hab
das dymass in allen dingen sitlichen und naturlichen das pest sey.

DUeRER, British Museum MS., vol. iv., 82a.

I have heard how one of the Seven Sages of Greece taught that measure is
in all things, physical and moral, best.

La souveraine habilete consiste a bien connaitre le prix des choses. LA
ROCHEFOUCAULD, III. 252.

Sovereign skill consists in thoroughly understanding the value of
things.

The attempt that the last quarter century has witnessed, to introduce
the methods of science into the criticism of works of art, has tended,
it seems to me, to put the question of their value into the background.