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- Hans Weiditz
- Also known as
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Hans Weiditz
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primary name: Weiditz, Hans
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other name: Petrarch Master
- Details
- individual; painter/draughtsman; printmaker; German; Male
- Life dates
- b. c.1500-d. c.1536
- Biography
- Probably the son of a sculptor of the same name who is documented in Freiburg-im-Breisgau in 1497-1510, Weiditz first trained in Strasbourg c.1515, and in 1518 he was a journeyman with Hans Burgkmair in Augsburg. Designs for book illustrations published by Grimm and Wirsung in Augsburg between 1518 and 1522, and from 1522-3 he worked for Johann Schott and other publishers in Strasbourg although some woodcuts, including designs for Petrarch's 'Von der Artzney bay der Glück' continued to be published in Augsburg into the 1530s. Other interesting woodcuts include his design for a large view of Augsburg, the first German panorama of its kind, which is dated 1521 and was printed from eight blocks (British Library, Map Room; see C.Dodgson, II, p. 173, 57); and an impressive set of decorated alphabet letters, dated 1521 and printed by Jost de Negker (Röttinger, 1904, 39). Few drawings by him have survived; they include designs for stained glass commissioned by the Alsatian nobility, and a series of water-colours as illustrations to Otto Brunfels' famous herbal, 'Herbarum vivae eicones' (Johann Schott, Strasbourg, 1530-36; see Landau and Parshall, pp.247ff). Weiditz's work fell quickly into obscurity owing to the fact that only two of his woodcuts are signed. Since Röttinger's identification of Weiditz with the 'Petrarch Master', so called after the illustrations to this book, he has emerged as one of the most witty and creative artists of the period.
- Bibliography
- G.K.Nagler, 'Neues allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon', xxi, Munich, 1851, pp.364; H. Röttinger 'Hans Weiditz der Petrarkameister', Strasbourg, 1904;H. Röttinger, 'Neues zum Werke Hans Weiditz', in 'Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für vervielfältigende Kunst', Vienna, 1911, pp. 46ff; W. Scheidig, 'Die Holzschnitte des Petrarca-Meisters: Zu Petrarcas Werk, Von der Artzney bayder Glück', Berlin, 1955; G.Bartrum, 'German Renaissance Prints', exhibition catalogue, London, BM, 1995, p.160; G.Messling, 'Beck or the Petrarch Master', PQ, June 2004, pp.146-154
