Albrecht Durer and the Emperor Maximilian

The Emperor Maximilian, having seen some of Durer's pictures, invited him to his court to decorate his palace. The artist was received with great distinction, and his work went on in the presence of the Emperor and the noblemen of his suite. One day, when Durer was drawing a portrait group upon the wall, the Emperor noticed that the ladder was not standing firm. He made a sign to one of the noblemen to hold it. The nobleman, surprised to receive such an order, stepped back and called a servant. Maximilian dismissed the servant with a gesture, and, placing his foot upon the lowest step of the ladder, remained standing until the drawing was finished. When Durer descended the Emperor immediately ennobled him, giving him three escutcheons of silver upon an azure ground. Then turning to his surprised courtiers, he said: "Know ye that the title I have conferred upon Albrecht Durer cannot raise him in the esteem of any sensible man, for he is already, by his talent, a member of that grand and illustrious nobility to which none of you can ever belong. An act of our imperial pleasure can make him a count or a duke, but it is God who makes the artist."