- Hans Weiditz
Hans Weiditz the Younger, Hans Weiditz der Jüngere, Hans Weiditz II (1495
Freiburg im Breisgau [ [http://www.wissen-digital.de/computer/Widi:Lexikon?article=Hans_Weiditz_der_J%C3%BCngere Widi:Lexikon - Computer - Wissens-Portale, Wörterbücher und Lexika - WISSEN DIGITAL ] ] - c1537Bern ), [ [http://www.chinaoilpainting.com/china%20oil%20painting/artist-Hans%20Weiditz.html 1 Hans Weiditz Wholesale China Oil Painting & Frame ] ] was a GermanRenaissance artist, also known as The Petrarch Master for his woodcuts illustratingPetrarch 's "De remediis utriusque fortunae", or "Remedies for Both Good and Bad Fortune", or "Phisicke Against Fortune". [ [http://www.humrichfineart.com/weiditz.html Humrich Fine Art] ] He is best known today for his very lively scenes and caricatures of working life and people, many created to illustrate the abstract philosophical maxims ofCicero and Petrarch. [A Hyatt Mayor, "Prints and People", nos. 313-314, Metropolitan Museum of Art/Princeton, 1971, ISBN 0691003262]Like most artists in woodcut he only designed the woodcuts, leaving the block-cutting to a specialist "formschneider" who pasted the design to the wood and chiselled the white areas away. The quality of the final woodcuts, which varies considerably, depended on the skill of the cutter as well as the artist. Weiditz was unfortunate in that his publishers went bankrupt part way through the production of his two longest series of woodcuts, and the cutting was later completed by cutters of lower skill. [Hyatt Major, op cit]
Life
His father, Hans Weiditz the Elder, Hans Weiditz dem Älteren, Hans Weiditz I (c1475 Straßburg - c1516 Straßburg), worked in
Freiburg between 1497 and 1514, and was described as a 'bildhower' or sculptor in the Painters' Guild records. In 1505 he worked on the "Dreikönigsaltar" inFreiburg Cathedral . Parish records show a 1510 payment to him for carved wooden rosettes on the keystones in the chancel, working withHans Baldung , the gifted student of Albrecht Dürer. He is not to be confused with the slightly older Strasbourg woodcut artistHans Wechtlin .Weiditz the Younger, a brother of Christoph Weiditz (1500-1559), was a prominent member of an elite group of woodcut artists including such figures as
Albrecht Dürer ,Hans Holbein , andHans Burgkmair , his teacher. He was active inAugsburg between 1512 and 1522, and from 1522 to 1536 inStraßburg , producing woodcuts for book illustrations in the style of Burgkmair. He also produced notable work for an edition ofCicero 's popular "De Officiis " in 1531, forApuleius ' "The Golden Ass " (1538), and the "Comedies" ofPlautus . [ [http://www.wissen-digital.de/computer/Widi:Lexikon?article=Spezial:Alle_Seiten/Hagen_(Nibelungen) Widi:Lexikon - Computer - Wissens-Portale, Wörterbücher und Lexika - WISSEN DIGITAL ] ]Illustrations for the "Herbarum vivae eicones"
The "Herbarum vivae eicones" (Living plant images), published in
Strasbourg in three parts between 1530 and 1536, was a landmark publication in the development of botanical illustration. The text was compiled byOtto Brunfels from earlier writings, but the illustrations by Weiditz represented a novel approach and set a high standard of realism in the portrayal of plants. Weiditz took his plants from nature, often showing the changing appearance with the seasons. His technique was admired and inevitably copied, leading to a copyright infringement lawsuit against the publisherChristian Egenolff . [ [http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/iss/library/speccoll/exhibitions/botex/herbals1.html Early Herbals ] ]elected books illustrated by Hans Weiditz
*"Der Altenn Fechter anfengliche Kunst",
Christian Egenolff , (Frankfurt am Main 1529)
*Petrarch "De Remediis Utriusque Fortunae ", or "Remedies for Both Good and Bad Fortune", or "Phisicke Against Fortune as well prosperous as adverse"References
External links
*http://www.infobitte.de/free/lex/artsLex0/w/weiditzHansDae.htm
ee also
List of florilegia and botanical codices
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