Let us pass to the master's room. The staircase is thought to have been added in the 17th century. Until then, the various floors were a bit roomier than today. As in many other Nuremberg townhouses, access to the upper floors was probably via an external staircase in the courtyard.

In this room, we can learn about the gilding process and other color preparations. To get a gilded page with text or picture, the sheet of the book was usually removed from the book, placed on the gilder's cushion. By using a broad, long-haired gilder's brush, the wafer-thin gold cover was applied to the surface which has been treated with an adhesive substance. When gilding, the surface has to be covered first with a soft lay bole of clayey, "fatty" mud; only then can the gold be polished. In the middle ages, this was done using a wolf's, boar's, or a horse's tooth. Malted gold is applied like paint with a brush.

Showcase next to the door presents several materials the paints were made out. Lapis lazuli, semi-precious stone, was quarried in Afghanistan and brought over the sea to Venice. Monks in Venice specialized in the production of this azure paint. The stone was broken up, heated to 500 C, and ground to pale blue powder. This powder was blended with resin and wax into a mixture, which was then kneaded for hours. The kneading was then continued in cold water. This paint waa as valuable as gold Today's price: € 15,250,- per kilo. Arsenic sulfide is the mineral from Hungary. The powder was very poisonous and could only be used with a protective mask. Dürer liked to use this color when portraying black, blue tones. Semi-precious stone from Hoh Schwaz came from the copper mines. Schwaz was the second biggest town in Austria after Vien. 10.000 miners worked in these copper, and silver mines belong to a Fugagers patrician family from Augsburg. Dürer liked to use these green tones as a background color. Mercury sulfide. The alchemists heated yellow sulfur and mercury in the hope of producing gold. At a temperature of 500 C, it was disintegrating, leaving red powder. Ultramarine, Aurum pigment, Azurite, Malachite, Cinnabar, Dragon's blood, resin from a tropical tree; all of them were the essential ingredient for ink. Painters made white lead staunch ink. They were placing a roll of lead with vinegar in a receptacle, which was then put in the manure heap, thus exposing it to ammonia fumes and oxygen. After four weeks, the white crystals could be scraped off the lead. Heating to 350 C was producing yellow paint, to 480 C, orange-red. Mild vinegar was producing blue, sour vinegar, green tones. The insect lays its eggs in oak leaves, which then swell up with the development of the larvae (Cynipidae). These "gall apples" were dried and ground and mixed with sour wine and vitriol (ferrous sulfate) and brought to the boil, producing a brownish-black ink. Soot, egg-white, and water used to make black ink. Grit was used for transporting freshly mixed paint by sealing the edges of containers. The water-soluble resin was used as a binder for watercolors. Mastix - the resin from a bush found in Mediterranean countries, the pistacia lentiscus was used as a binder and as vanish, being especially transparent. Linseed oil or nut oil was used to produce the oil paints. Colors and pigments could be mixed at will.