Hans Baldung oil painting Germany, antique oil paintings

Hans Baldung
German Northern Renaissance painter, printmaker, bookmaker, graphic designer & stained glass artist
born 1484 - died 1545

Also known as: Hans Baldung Grien, Hans Baldung Grien, Hans Baldung Grun.
Student of: Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528).
Collaborated with: Hans Weiditz, I (1475-1516).

Baldung Grien, Hans (b. 1484-85, Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Württemberg (now Germany); d. 1545, Imperial Free City of Strasbourg (now France)). German painter and graphic artist. Hans Baldung probably trained with Dürer in Nuremberg, but his brilliant color, expressive use of distortion, and taste for the gruesome bring him closer in spirit to his other great German contemporary, Grünewald.

Hans Baldung, called Grien, was most probably born in Schwäbisch Gmünd in southwestern Germany, the site of the family home. The most important evidence for deducing his date of birth (between 1484 and 1485) is a self-portrait drawing at age 49 which is preparatory to a 1534 woodcut. It has been pointed out that Hans Baldung was the only male member of his family not to receive a university education, for unlike many artists, he belonged to a family of academics, intellectuals, and professionals: Hans Baldung was surrounded by physicians, lawyers and scholars. his father was an attorney who seems by 1492 to have settled in Alsace. It is usually assumed that his earliest training took place around 1499/1500 in the Upper Rhine, perhaps with a Strasbourg artist, but an apprenticeship in Swabia has also been suggested. Hans Baldung probably trained with a painter from Martin Schongauer's school. - Hans Baldung oil painting Germany, antique oil paintings - Hans Baldung oil painting Germany, antique oil painting Hans Baldung Bio by antique oil paintings workshops, supply Germany oil paintings, Hans Germany oil painting antique.

Baldung and Dürer
By 1503 Baldung had moved to Nuremberg and had become a member of Albrecht Dürer's workshop. It was probably here that Hans Baldung acquired the nickname "Grien", perhaps a reference to his use of the color green or a preference for green attire -- he has a marked affinity for the color green, and many of his religious scenes are bathed in a weird, supernatural glow. It could also have distinguished him from Hans Schäufelein, Hans Süss von Kulmbach, and Hans Dürer, Albrecht's younger brother, all of whom were in Dürer's atelier. Baldung immediately absorbed Dürer's formal vocabulary, as is evident in one of his earliest dated works, the 1503 pen drawing of Aristotle and Phyllis. This picture symbolizes the power of the women by representing the phylosopher Aristotle as Hans Baldung brings on his back his lover, Phyllis. This story was often pictured by Renaissance artists.

In 1505 Hans Baldung produced alongside Dürer most of the woodcuts from Ulrich Pinder's book, Beschlossen Gart, and after Dürer's departure to Italy in 1505, he illustrated Speculum Passionis from the same author. It is quite possible that Baldung became head of the workshop during Dürer's second journey to Italy in 1505-1507, and these years saw the production of designs for stained glass, woodcuts from 1505 on, and engravings beginning in 1507. Dürer and Baldung remained lifelong friends, and on his trip to the Netherlands Dürer took along some of his woodcuts to sell.

In 1507 Baldung was probably in Halle where Hans Baldung had received commissions for two altarpieces, the triptychs of The Adoration of the Magi (Berlin) and Saint Sebastian (Nürnberg museum). Although still displaying some clumsiness, colors are surprisingly sure, and his self-esteem is revealed by the fact that Hans Baldung drew a self-portrait behind the main character at the center of the retable of Saint Sebastian.

Strasbourg
In 1509 the artist returned to Strasbourg and became a citizen. Hans Baldung soon became famous, and later even became a member of the town council. The following year he married Margarethe Herlin, joined the guild "zur Steltz", opened a workshop, and began signing his works with the HGB monogram that Hans Baldung used for the rest of his career. In addition to traditional, religious subjects, Baldung was concerned during these years with the profane theme of the imminence of death and with scenes of sorcery and witchcraft. Hans Baldung was responsible for introducing supernatural and erotic themes into German art. He often depicted witches, also a local interest: Strasbourg's humanists studied witchcraft and its bishop was charged with ferreting out witches. - Hans Baldung oil painting Germany, antique oil paintings - Hans Baldung oil painting Germany, antique oil painting Hans Baldung Bio by antique oil paintings workshops, supply Germany oil paintings, Hans Germany oil painting antique.

Along with Cranach and Hans Burgkmair, Hans Baldung was one of the earliest masters of the chiaroscuro woodcut.

The titles of oil painting old master Hans Baldung