Moral story : The Prayer Hands | English story

The Prayer Hands | English story

In the fifteenth century, in a small village near Nuremberg, there lived a family with eighteen children. Eighteen! To keep food on the table for this crowd, a goldsmith's father and head of household, by profession, worked for about eighteen hours each day in his business and any other paying outpost he would find in the neighborhood. Despite his seemingly hopeless situation, Albrecht Dyer's two children had big dreams. They both wanted to pursue their talent for the arts, but they were well aware that their father would never financially send them to study at the academy in Nuremberg.

After several lengthy discussions on their crowded bed at night, the two boys finally reached a compromise. They will toss a coin. The loser runs into nearby mines and, with his earnings, supports his brother while he attends the academy. Then, when that brother who won the toss finished his studies, in four years, he would support another brother in the academy, either with the sale of his artwork or, if necessary, by laboring in the mines.

He tossed a coin after church on Sunday morning. Albrecht Dürer won the toss and went to Nuremberg. Albert went into dangerous mines and, for the next four years, financed his brother, whose work at the academy was almost a sensation. Albrecht's imitations, his wooden bowls, and his oil were far better than most of his professors, and by the time he graduated, he had begun to earn considerable fees for his commission work.

When the young artist returned to his village, the Dorr family held a festive dinner on his lawn to celebrate Albrecht's victorious homecoming. After a long and memorable meal, pausing with music and laughter, Albrecht rose from his honored place at the head of the table to drink a toast to his beloved brother for years of sacrifice, which enabled Albrecht to fulfill his ambition. Had enabled. His closing words were, "And now, blessed Albert, my brother, now it's your turn. Now you can go to Nuremberg to fulfill your dream, and I'll take care of you."

All heads eagerly turned to the far end of the table where Albert was sitting, tears streaming down his pale face, he shook his bottom head from side to side, while he repeated, "No… did not say. .No no."

Finally, Albert woke up and wiped tears from his cheek. He looked down at the long table on his favorite faces and then placing his hand near his right cheek, said softly, "No, brother. I can't go to Nuremberg. It's too late for me. See ... Look That's what the mines have done to my hands for four years! The bones in each finger have been banged at least once, and recently I have suffered from arthritis in my right hand so badly that I can get your toast back Can't even hold a glass to do. Very few make delicate lines on parchment or canvas with a pen or brush. No, brother… it's too late for me. "

More than 450 years have passed. So far, hundreds of exquisite paintings of Albrecht Dürer, pen and silver-point sketches, watercolor, charcoal, woodcut and copper engraving are hanging in every great museum in the world, but the possibilities are great that, like most people, you too are familiar with it. Huh. Only one of Albrecht Dyer's works. More than just getting acquainted with it, you can very well hang a reproduction in your home or office.

One day, to pay tribute to Albert for all that, Albrecht Dürer painstakingly pulled his brother's mistreated hands with palms and stretched thin fingers towards the sky. He called his powerful drawing only "hands", but the whole world almost immediately opened his heart to his magnum opus and named his love "The Praying Hands".

Moral : The next time you see a copy of that touching composition, see it a second time. If you still need one, let it remind you, that no one - anyone - ever makes it alone!