WECHTLIN Hans

(Strasburgo 1485 – later 1526)

Painter and xylograph of the German Renaissance active between 1502 and 1526, whose woodcuts are his only remaining work. Although most of his engravings were performed as book illustrations, he was also a prolific creator of chiaroscuro woodcuts with two or more colors produced as loose sheets. Born around 1485 probably in Strasbourg where his father was a cloth merchant. Among his early works there are a series of tables dedicated to the life and passion of Christ published in Strasbourg in 1508 by the printer J. Knoblouch and later in 1522 by J. Schott. In 1505 he worked as a painter in Nancy for René II, Duke of Lorraine. After leaving Nancy, he stayed in Wittenberg between 1506 and 1507 where he met court painter Lucas Cranach the Elder.

Returning to Strasbourg in 1514 he became a master in the painters’ guild in 1519. His woodcut style appears to be influenced by Albrecht Dürer and Hans Baldung Grien.

The date of his death is not known.