Hans Brosamer

1495-1554 German

Hans Brosamer

Prolific German Renaissance printmaker and Little Master

Hans Brosamer was a German draughtsman, printmaker and painter of the Renaissance period. His life has left hardly any documentary trace, other than his prints, but he was active in Fulda from 1536 to 1545, and later worked in Erfurt. His works include over 600 woodcuts, mostly illustrations for books of various sorts, but also a number of independent prints. He produced 38 engravings (as listed by Hollstein), and a number of drawings, mostly with his monogram. As a painter, a number of portraits of figures from the local elites, normally at half-length, are attributed to him. On account of the small size of his engravings he is counted among the Little Masters, and many of these are rather derivative of others in the group, such as Jacob Binck and Heinrich Aldegrever, and of Lucas Cranach the Elder in his portraits. One of his woodcuts was in contrast very large, and no doubt intended to be pasted to walls. This was his David and Bathsheba, built up from nine blocks, and printed in 1554, his last dated work; unsurprisingly, it is very rare. His woodcuts include a hostile Caricature of Luther with Seven Heads (1529). He signs himself on his portrait of the Landgrave of Hesse, 'Formschneider zu Erfurt,' ("blockcutter" of Erfurt), where he resided during the latter part of his life. He sometimes marked his plates with his name, and sometimes with a cipher.

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