Here again I have to pull up. Generalisations are so easy, appear so justified, and are more often than not misleading.
Dürer was not a pure-blooded Teuton; his father came from Eytas in Hungary.[1]
That German music owes a debt of gratitude to Hungary is acknowledged. Does Dürer owe his greatness to the strain of foreign blood?
Possibly; but it does not matter. He was a man, and a profound man, therefore akin to all the world, as Dante and Michelangelo, as Shakespeare and Millet. Born into German circumstances he appears in German habit—that is all.
His father Albrecht was a goldsmith, and Albrecht the son having shown himself worthy of a better education than his numerous brothers, was, after finishing school, apprenticed to and would have re-
- ↑ Eytas translated into German is Thür (Door), and a man from Thür a Thürer or Dürer.
