SPRINGINKLEE Hans

(Nuremberg 1490/95 – after 1527)

Painter, draftsman, xylograph and miniaturist active in Nuremberg since 1512. Very little is known of his life. He is best known as a pupil and principal collaborator of Albrecht Dürer.
In 1547 Neudofer wrote that Springinklee was famous as a painter and draftsman and lived in Dürer’s house in Nuremberg.
Between 1510 and 1511 he was in Constance where he made numerous miniatures for the missal and other manuscripts of Bishop Hugo Von Hoen Landenberg. Working closely with Dürer, he was involved by his master in the printing projects commissioned by Emperor Maximilian I. In particular, he contributed significantly to the gigantic work of the Triumphal Arch and to several woodcuts of the Triumphal Procession series.
He rarely signed his works but over 200 woodcuts are now attributed to him. Many of these are illustrations of books published by Anton Koberger in Nuremberg and in Lyon. These include the Hortulus Animae, a popular prayer book published in Lyon in 1516, which includes a large number of small woodcuts mainly carved by Springinklee and Schön.
As a painter, his work is testified by a document of 1520 in which the Council of Nuremberg commissioned “the young Springenclee” together with other “good painters” the decorations of the rooms of the Castle on the occasion of the visit of Charles V.
Furthermore, fifteen unsigned paintings in the churches of Nuremberg and its surroundings are attributed to him.