judgment, ask: Has the artist succeeded in welding aim and result into one organic whole?
Neither the "motif" nor its form are in themselves of value, but the harmony of both—hence we may place Dürer's "Man of Sorrows" by the side of Michelangelo's "Moses," as of equal importance, of equal greatness. This "Man of Sorrows" we must praise as immortal Art, and the reason is evident; Dürer, who designed it during an illness, had himself suffered and knew sorrow—felt what he visualised.
If we compare another woodcut, viz. the one from "Die heimliche Offenbarung Johannis," illustrating Revelations i. 12–17, we will have to draw a different conclusion. Let us listen to the passage Dürer set himself to illustrate:
12. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
