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Erhard Altdorfer

Erhard Altdorfer was a German Early Renaissance printmaker, painter, and architect, who worked as a court painter in Schwerin from 1512 until his death in 1561.

Erhard Altdorfer was the younger brother of Albrecht Altdorfer. Most likely, he was trained by his brother and it is believed they started a workshop together in 1506.

It is assumed Erhard Altdorfer worked in Austria at the Lambach Abbey, and in St Florian and Klosterneuburg around 1510. In 1512, he went to Schwerin where Duke Henry V of Mecklenburg-Schwerin appointed him court painter and architect. During a trip with the duke that year he probably came in contact with Lucas Cranach the Elder. A commission for the duke and Albert VII was an altarpiece in Sternberg, however destroyed by fire in 1741.

In 1533–34 his woodcuts appeared in Johannes Bugenhagen’s Low German translation of the Bible printed in Lübeck by the printer and bookmaker Ludwig Dietz, a work for which he was rewarded with a house. Between 1546 and 1551, further construction projects were realized, projects of which remains virtually no traces, why one can have only vague ideas of their character.

In 1552, the written records of John Albert I of Mecklenburg (1525–1576) tells us Erhard Altdorfer was working for him, and until 1555 Erhard probably worked as the leading architect of the court of Wismar. He is mentioned a last time in 1561.

Of his surviving works most are those he produced as a painter, and at least parts of the altar pieces in the collection of the St. Annen Museum in Lübeck are attributed to him.

Compared to his brothers, Erhard was less independent and creative in his work, and took a lot of influence from the working practice of the workshop of Cranach and from artists such as Jacopo de’ Barbari. As it seems, he was primarily as draughtsman and a printmaker and only produced a few paintings. However, he only signed a few of his works, so most of those associated with him are only attributed works.

Works

Attributed paintings
Aufseee, castle chapel
Escape to Egypt.

Berching, St. Lorenz parish church
8 plates for a Laurentius altar.

Gutstetten, parish office
Johannes Altar.

Klosterneuburg, Abbey Museum
St. Leopold finds the veil.

Paris, private collection
The sermon of St. John the Baptist.

Regensburg, Historical Museum
The decapitation of St. John the Baptist.
The martyrdom of St. John the Evangelist.
Saint Agnes.
St. Apollonia.

Warsaw, Muzeum Narodowe
Scenes from life Jobs. (is attributed to the workshop)

Whereabouts unknown
The mortifying St. Jerome. (last in a private collection not mentioned)
Saint John on Patmos. (last detectable in American private possession)

Drawings

Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett
Company in a room with fountains. 1506
Mary with the child. (recto); Crucifix with a thief and praying St. John. (verso) around 1520 – 1530

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Brunswick, Duke Anton Ulrich Museum
St. Sebastian. around 1510 – 1515

Dresden, Kupferstichkabinett
Mountain landscape with bridge.

Erlangen, graphic collection of the university
Mountain landscape behind water. (recto); St. Barbara. (verso) around 1510 – 1515

Frankfurt / M., Städel
Flag-wavers and two mercenaries. around 1506 – 1508
St. Anna Selbdritt. around 1509/10
Saint John the Evangelist on Patmos. around 1510

formerly Haarlem, Koenigs Collection
Two riding women with cavalier.
St. Elizabeth of Thuringia.

Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Art
Landscape with big spruce. around 1530 – 1535

London, University College
Standing woman. around 1508 – 1510

New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Two standing mercenaries.

Nuremberg, Germanic National Museum
Tree Group. around 1514

Paris, Musée National du Louvre
Mountain landscape at the water.

Regensburg, Municipal Museum
The decapitation of St. John the Baptist. around 1506

Vienna, graphic collection Albertina
Seascape. around 1525

Windsor, Royal Collection
The dragon fight of St. George.

Graphics

engravings
Symbol of vanity. 1506
Lady with peacock coat of arms. 1506
Lovers with whore. 1508

woodcuts
Competition. 1513 (three parts)
Title enclosure to Nicolaus Marschalk: Institutionum Reipublice Militaris ac civilis libri novem. 1515
Announcement of the Rostock Glückshafen. 1518
Title enclosure to Ordinary incl. 1519
The birth of Christ. around 1519/20
Illustrations to Reyneke Vosz de olde, Rostock: Ludwig Dietz 1539
79 woodcuts to the Lübeck Bible (1533/34)
Title to the New Testament 1539

etchings
Mountain landscape. around 1515-1520

Source from Wikipedia

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