Memoirs of Journeys to Venice and the Low Countries | Page 5

four times the value for
anything, for they are the falsest knaves that live there. No one expects
to get an honest service of them. For that reason some good people
warned me to be on my guard against them. They told me that they
cheat both man and beast, and that you could buy better things for less
money at Frankfort than at Venice.
As for the books which I was to order for you, Imhof has already seen
to it, but if you are in need of anything else, let me know, and I shall do
it for you with all zeal. And would to God that I could do you some real
good service. I should gladly accomplish it, since I know how much
you do for me.
And I beg of you be patient with my debt, for I think oftener of it than
you do. As soon as God helps me to get home I will pay you
honourably, with many thanks; for I have to paint a picture for the
Germans, for which they are giving me 110 Rhenish gulden, which will

not cost me as much as five. I shall have finished laying and scraping
the ground-work in eight days, then I shall at once begin to paint, and if
God will, it shall be in its place for the altar a month after Easter.
[Editor note: This refers to the [altarpiece called the] "Madonna of the
Rose Garlands," painted for the chapel of S. Bartolommeo, the
burial-place of the German colony. About the year 1600 it was bought
for a high price by the Emperor Rudolf II, who is said to have had it
carried [over the Alps] by four men all the way to Prague to avoid the
risk of damage in transport. [It suffered serious water damage during
the Thirty Years' War of 1618-1648, and many parts of it had to be
repainted to replace much of the original paint that was lost, but] it still
remains one of the most important [and lavishly colored] of all Drer's
works.]
The money I hope, if God will, to put by; and from that I will pay you:
for I think that I need not send my mother and wife any money at
present; I left 10 florins with my mother when I came away; she has
since got 9 or 10 florins by selling works of art. Dratzieher has paid her
12 florins, and I have sent her 9 florins by Sebastian Imhof, of which
she has to pay Pfinzing and Gartner 7 florins for rent. I gave my wife
12 florins and she got 13 more at Frankfort, making all together 25
florins, so I don't think she will be in any need, and if she does want
anything, her brother will have to help her, until I come home, when I
will repay him honourably. Herewith let me commend myself to you.
Given at Venice on the day of the Holy Three Kings (Epiphany), the
year 1506. Greet for me Stephen Paumgartner and my other good
friends who ask after me.
--Albrecht Drer

7th February, 1506
First my willing service to you, dear Master. If it is well with you, I am
as whole-heartedly glad as I should be for myself. I wrote to you
recently. I hope the letter reached you. In the meantime my mother has
written to me, chiding me for not writing to you, and has given me to
understand that you are displeased with me because I do not write to
you; and that I must excuse myself to you fully. And she is much
worried about it, as is her wont. Now I do not know what excuse to
make, except that I am lazy about writing and that you have not been at

home. But as soon as I knew that you were at home or were coming
home, I wrote to you at once; I also specially charged Castel (Fugger)
to convey my service to you. Therefore I most humbly beg you to
forgive me, for I have no other friend on earth but you; but I do not
believe you are angry with me, for I hold you as no other than a father.
How I wish you were here at Venice, there are so many good fellows
among the Italians who seek my company more and more every
day--which is very gratifying to me--men of sense, and scholarly, good
lute-players, and pipers, connoisseurs in painting, men of much noble
sentiment and honest virtue, and they show me much honour and
friendship. On the other hand, there are also amongst them the most
faithless, lying, thievish rascals; such as I scarcely believed could exist
on earth; and yet if one did