The Forge of the Heart

This dazzling allegory is no bigger than a bookplate, which evidently it was. Its presumed owner was Willibald Pirckheimer, a prominent Nuremberg humanist and scholar (and Albrecht Dürer's best friend). Here Tribulation beats an anvil, Envy casts a disdainful glance, Hope looks up to see soothing drops fall on the flaming heart, and Tolerance rests patiently below. The iconography suggests that patience in the face of hardship brings grace, a fitting sentiment considering Pirckheimer was ill when the engraving was completed and died the following year.