Erhard Schön ( 1491–1542) was a German

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only t ...

designer and painter. Schön was born 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 ...

as the son of painter Max Schön III. He probably started to learn his trade as an artist in the workshop of his father. He was clearly influenced by the printmaking of Albrecht Dürer and may have contributed a few woodcuts to Dürer's ''

Triumphal Arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crow ...

'' (1515) and ''Theuerdank'' (1517). Especially Schön's way of modelling and placing figures is clearly derived from Dürer. After the death of Dürer, Schön also produced a woodcut portrait of the artist. Such woodcut portraits was only one of the genres Schön worked in. He produced prints of various kind for the popular market and established himself as a popularly demanded artist. Around 1200 illustrations for 116 books in addition to 200 separate woodcuts have been attributed to Schön. His first known work is a series of woodcuts for a book, from 1513. Until 1524 he mainly illustrated religious books. Together with Hans Springinklee he provided illustrations of rather high quality for the popular prayer book ''

Hortulus Animae ''Hortulus Animae'' ( en, Little Garden of the Soul, german: Seelengärtlein, french: Jardin des Âmes, pl, Raj duszny) was the Latin title of a prayer book also available in German. It was very popular in the early sixteenth century, printed in ...

'' in 1515. A ''Great Rosary'' form approximately the same time has been described as his finest religious work. From the 1520s he produced several polemical works criticising

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and in favour of

Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

. From the mid-1520s and early 1530s these satirical works display an influence from

Barthel Beham Barthel Beham (or Bartel)With manother variants/ref> (1502–1540) was a German engraver, miniaturist, and painter. Biography The younger brother of Hans Sebald Beham, he was born into a family of artists in Nuremberg. Learning his art from hi ...

Sebald Beham Sebald Beham (1500–1550) was a German painter and printmaker, mainly known for his very small engravings. Born in Nuremberg, he spent the later part of his career in Frankfurt. He was one of the most important of the " Little Masters", the group ...

and

Georg Pencz Georg Pencz (c. 1500 – 11 October 1550) was a German engraver, painter and printmaker. Pencz was probably born in Westheim near Bad Windsheim/Franconia. He travelled to Nuremberg in 1523 and joined Albrecht Dürer’s atelier. Like Dürer, ...

. At this time, he also expanded his repertoire from religious to secular subjects, still with a satirical tone. From the 1530s, he switched to Classical themes such as the ''

Judgement of Paris Judgement (or US spelling judgment) is also known as ''adjudication'', which means the evaluation of evidence to make a decision. Judgement is also the ability to make considered decisions. The term has at least five distinct uses. Aristotle su ...

'' and ''

Laocoön Laocoön (; grc, , Laokóōn, , gen.: ), is a figure in Greek and Roman mythology and the Epic Cycle. Laocoon was a Trojan priest. He and his two young sons were attacked by giant serpents, sent by the gods. The story of Laocoön has been the s ...

''. In 1538 Christoph Zell of Nuremberg published a treatise on proportion in art.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schön, Erhard German wood engravers Artists from Nuremberg 1542 deaths 1490s births Northern Renaissance