Mair Von Landshut Hans

(born in Freising (?) around 1450, active from 1490 to 1510)

German painter, draftsman and engraver of whom there are few and fragmentary information. His name was quoted for the first time in 1490 in the tax register of Munich of Bavaria as a painter.
In 1497 a certain Hans Mair was reported being a painter and citizen of Freising. Mair might have been assistant to Jan Polack (who died in 1519) in Munich, since two panels of Polack’s “Pala di San Pietro” are attributed to Mair: ‘San Pietro heals a crazy’ today in Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, and ‘St. Peter in prison’ in Peterskirche both in Munich.
No signed or otherwise documented painting by Mair is known, but thirteen pictorial works attributed to him through the association with his engravings are known. He is best known as an engraver, many of his works (twenty-two engravings and three woodcuts) are signed and ten are dated 1499. His association with Landshut derives from the coat of arms of this town on one of his engravings. He also collaborated with the publisher Hans Wurm active in Landshut between 1501 and 1504.

His works are splendid examples of spontaneity and inventiveness.
Mair’s depictions are set into nice and complex Gothic architecture, so quite unlikely scenery for sacred and mythological subjects.
The fantastic suggestion is often exalted by the use of colored paper for its prints, in some cases complete with white lead streaks.
The technique by which Mair made his engravings anticipated multi-colored and color-tone chiaroscuro experiments by Hans Burgkmair and Lucas Cranach in the second decade of the 15th century.