"Meyer Madonna."

HOLBEIN, 1498-1543.

There being two pictures exactly alike called by this name, one at Dresden, and the other at Darmstadt, a hotly contested dispute has existed, as to which is the original of Hans Holbein, and which the copy.

In the Dresden Gallery this picture is well known and highly prized, being the only picture, except the Sistine Madonna, which has a room especially appropriated to it. It has belonged to the collection for more than a century. All the world has valued it as the most renowned work of Holbein, and the masterpiece of German classic art, just as the "Sistine" of Raphael is the crowning glory of Italian art. The picture represents the Madonna as standing in an alcove, holding in her arms, not the infant Saviour (who is standing at her feet), but (as many maintain) the sick child of the Burgomaster, Hans Meyer. This 'Burgomaster had ordered the painting as a thank-offering to the Virgin for the recovery of a sick child; the little one holds out its hand as if in blessing. This Madonna is the only one that does not hold the Holy Child in her arms. All the Burgomaster's family are assembled before the Madonna--himself, his deceased wife, his second wife and her daughter Anna, and his two sons; the figures being all life-size and likenesses. It is this domestic scene which has made the picture so famous, and which appeals so strongly to the German heart.

In 1871 the pictures were displayed side by side in the Dresden Gallery, and the slight differences noted by the critics; on the whole, it was apparent to all that the Darmstadt picture was fuller of life and warmth, the Madonna pressed closer into the niche, and the family closer to the Madonna. The color-tone of the Dresden picture was insipid compared with the Darmstadt.

An English authority declared that in his opinion, Holbein had never touched the Dresden picture, and Woltmann, the Holbein connoisseur, wrote with fervor to the same effect. Kugler says: "It is easy to understand that the patron, desiring to possess such excellent portraits of his own family as an ornament of one of his rooms, was induced to get Holbein to paint a repetition or replica of the subject. I am therefore convinced that the Dresden picture owes its creation to some such circumstance." Thus maintaining the theory that both pictures were painted by Hans Holbein.

The rival claims have very lately been discussed again, owing to what is claimed to be indisputable proof in favor of the Darmstadt. This latter picture has been cleaned by Hauser, who has removed an overlayer of paint as well as varnish; this removal brings to light the fact that the original had been tampered with. The points that told against it have all disappeared, and it is now admitted to be the original. Hence its value has increased from 20,000 to 1,000,000 thalers, or $730,000.