Hans Brosamer

Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg, wood engraving, ca. 1545. Now in the Kupferstich-Kabinett in Dresden.

Hans Brosamer, an old German engraver, was born at Fulda about the year 1506. On account of the small size of his prints he is ranked among what are called the Little Masters. He designed both on wood and copper, although he was properly a wood-engraver, signing himself on his portrait of the Landgrave of Hesse, 'Formschneider zu Erfurt,' where he resided during the latter part of his life. In his copper engravings his style is somewhat modern, and resembles rather the engravers who copied the designs of others than those of the earlier period, who invented their own subjects. He sometimes marked his plates with his name, and sometimes with a cipher. The following are his principal works:

Copper plates

• The Portrait of George Wicelaus. 1542.
• The Portrait of John II, Abbot of Fulda.
• Samson and Delilah; Johannes Brosamer Fulda degens faciebat, 15 H. B. 45.
• David and Bathsheba.
• Solomon and his Wives worshipping the Idol. 1543.
• Xantippe riding on Socrates.
• Laocoon and his Children. 1538.
• Marcus Curtius leaping into the Gulf; circular. 1540.
• The Judgment of Paris.
• The Crucifixion; Joh. Brosamer Fulda degens faciebat, 1542; fine.

Woodcuts

• Creation of Eve.
• Eve giving Adam the apple.
• Bathsheba in the Bath.
• Queen of Sheba before Solomon.
• The Last Supper.
• SS. Jerome, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James the Great.
• John the Baptist in Prison.
• Twenty-one pieces from the Revelation.
• Martin Luther. 1530.

Portraits

• Eoben Hess, the poet.
• George Sturtz, physician.
• Philip, Landgrave of Hesse.

References

This article incorporates text from the article "BROSAMER, Hans" in Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers by Michael Bryan, edited by Robert Edmund Graves and Sir Walter Armstrong, an 1886–1889 publication now in the public domain.