Jost Amman (June 13, 1539 – March 17, 1591) 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 ...
-German artist, celebrated chiefly for his
woodcut
Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...
s, done mainly for book illustrations.
Early life
Amman was born in
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 ...
, the son of a professor of
Classics
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
and
Logic
Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...
. He was himself well-educated. Little of his personal history is known beyond the fact that he moved to
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 ...
in 1560, where he took on citizenship and continued to reside until his death in March 1591. He worked initially with
Virgil Solis
Virgil Solis or Virgilius Solis (1514 – 1 August 1562), a member of a prolific family of artists, was a German draughtsman and printmaker in engraving, etching and woodcut who worked in his native city of Nuremberg.
Biography
His prints ...
, then a leading producer of book illustrations.
Career
His productivity was very remarkable, as may be gathered from the statement of one of his pupils, who said that the drawings he made during a period of four years would have filled a hay wagon. A large number of his original drawings are in the
Berlin print room. About 1,500 prints are attributed to him. He was one of the last major producers of woodcuts for books, as during his career engravings were gradually taking over that role. Although like most woodcut artists, he normally let a specialist ''formschneider'' cut the block to his drawing, he occasionally included both a cutter's knife and a quill pen in his signature on prints, suggesting he sometimes cut his own blocks.
Amman was the artist for
Wenzel Jamnitzer
Wenzel Jamnitzer (sometimes Jamitzer, or Wenzel ''Gemniczer'') (1507/1508 – 19 December 1585) was a Northern Mannerist goldsmith, artist, and printmaker in etching, who worked in Nuremberg. He was the best known German goldsmith of his e ...
's book ''
Perspectiva corporum regularium'' (1568). A series of
engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...
s by Amman of the kings of
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, with short biographies, appeared in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
in 1576. He also executed many of the
woodcut
Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...
illustrations for the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
published at Frankfurt by Sigismund Feierabend, and for a topographical survey of
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
by
Philipp Apian
Philipp Apian (14 September 1531 – 14 November 1589) was a German mathematician and medic. The son of Petrus Apianus (1495–1552), he is also known as the cartographer of Bavaria.
Life
He was born in Ingolstadt as Philipp Bienewitz (or Benne ...
. Another serial work, the ''Panoplia Omnium Liberalium Mechanicarum et Seden-tariarum Artium Genera Continens'', containing 115 plates, is of great value.
Amman's drawing is correct and spirited, and his delineation of the details of costume is minute and accurate. Paintings in oil and on glass are attributed to him, but none have been identified.
Death
Amman died 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 ...
,
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
, aged 51.
References
*
*''Kartenspiel. A pack of cards.''
eipzig,_Edition_Leipzig,_1967..html" ;"title="Edition_Leipzig.html" ;"title="eipzig, Edition Leipzig">eipzig, Edition Leipzig, 1967.">Edition_Leipzig.html" ;"title="eipzig, Edition Leipzig">eipzig, Edition Leipzig, 1967.(A pack of cards reproduced from Amman’s ''Charta lusoria'' published in 1588, issued in case together with "Einführung von Erwin Kohlmann".)
*''Pictorial archive of decorative Renaissance woodcuts: (Kunstbüchl[e]in)'' / by Jost Amman; with an introduction by Alfred Werner. New York: Dover, [1985] c1968.
*Andresen, Andreas. ''Jost Amman, 1539–1591: Graphiker und Buchillustrator der Renaissance. Beschreibender Katalog seiner Holzschnitte, Radierungen und der von ihm illustrierten Bücher. Mit einer biographischen Skizze und mit Registern seines Werkes und der Autoren illustrierten Bücher.'' Amsterdam: G. W. Hissink
973
Year 973 ( CMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Spring – The Byzantine army, led by General Melias (Domestic of the S ...
(Reprint of the 1864 ed., published by Danz, Leipzig, which was issued as part of v. 1 of the author’s Der deutsche Peintre-Graveur.)
*Becker, Carl. ''Jobst Amman, Zeichner und Formschneider, Kupferätzer und Stecher.'' Leipzig: R. Weigel, 1854.
External links
*
Biography I''Das Ständebuch'' – Book of Trades plates 1568 – from Wikimedia Commons*A deck of
playing cards
A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a fi ...
designed by Jost Amman was featured in the 2012 boo
The Stockholm Octavowhere they were used for a fictional form of
cartomancy
Cartomancy is fortune-telling or divination using a deck of cards. Forms of cartomancy appeared soon after playing cards were first introduced into Europe in the 14th century. Huson, Paul (2004). ''Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient R ...
''Panoplia omnium illiberalium mechanicarum aut sedentariarum artium. (Book of Trades)''1568 - digital facsimile from the
Linda Hall Library
The Linda Hall Library is a privately endowed American library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri, sitting "majestically on a urban arboretum." It is the "largest independently funded public library of scien ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amman, Jost
1539 births
1591 deaths
16th-century Swiss people
16th-century engravers
Swiss engravers
Heraldic artists