Hans Leu the Younger (ca. 1490 – 24 October 1531) was a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

, native to

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

. He was the son of the painter

Hans Leu the Elder Hans Leu the Elder (german: Hans Leu der Ältere; 1460–1507) was a Swiss painter, native to Zürich. The Episcopal collection of the St. Gallen Abbey includes the main altar of the church of the Rüti Abbey, probably a late work by Hans Leu ...

, with whom he probably had his first training as an artist.Hans Leu the Younger
Städel Museum. He traveled in

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

ca. 1510 where he worked in the studio of

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...

, and he later may have worked with

Hans Baldung Hans Baldung (1484 or 1485 – September 1545), called Hans Baldung Grien, (being an early nickname, because of his predilection for the colour green), was a painter, printer, engraver, draftsman, and stained glass artist, who was considered th ...

Freiburg-im-Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as of ...

.Eisler, Colin (1975). ''German Drawings From the 16th Century to the Expressionists''. Boston: Little, Brown and Co. p. 134. . By 1514 he had returned to Zürich, where he became the city's foremost painter.Hans Leu the Younger
The British Museum. As Zürich came under the influence of the

iconoclastic Iconoclasm (from Greek: grc, εἰκών, lit=figure, icon, translit=eikṓn, label=none + grc, κλάω, lit=to break, translit=kláō, label=none)From grc, εἰκών + κλάω, lit=image-breaking. ''Iconoclasm'' may also be conside ...

church reformer

Huldrych Zwingli Huldrych or Ulrich Zwingli (1 January 1484 – 11 October 1531) was a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland, born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swiss mercenary system. He attended the Unive ...

, commissions for church decorations became scarce. Much of Leu's work was destroyed by followers of Zwingli in 1523. Leu became a mercenary to support himself, and was killed on 24 October 1531 in the battle of Gubel. Leu's surviving works include a small number of paintings and woodcuts, drawings of religious subjects, and landscape studies. Museums holding works by Leu include the

Städel The Städel, officially the ''Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie'', is an art museum in Frankfurt, with one of the most important collections in Germany. The Städel Museum owns 3,100 paintings, 660 sculptures, more than 4,600 ...

in Frankfurt and the

Fogg Art Museum The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.

References

1490s births 1531 deaths 16th-century Swiss painters Swiss male painters Swiss military personnel killed in action Year of birth uncertain {{Switzerland-painter-stub