Death of [Vallenstein 
 
Piloty, Artist 
 
                                   A 
 
 T HE subjedt of our picture is drawn rather from legend than from 
        actual history. Albrecht, Count of Wallenstein, a celebrated Ger-

        man general of the sixteenth century, joined the Imperial Army and

won many victories for his master, but he was undermined by enemies, and

assassinated in his palace at Eger. He is said to have shared in the super-

stitious belief in astrology so common in his time, and had been warned by

Seni, an adept in that art in his employ, that his life was in danger. He

defied the omen, and the artist imagines the astrologer entering the death-

chamber and looking pitifully on the body of the man he had tried to save.