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VISCHER

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 128 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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VISCHER , the name of a See also:

family of See also:Nuremberg sculptors, who contributed largely to the masterpieces of See also:German See also:art in the 15th and 16th centuries. 1. See also:HERMANN, the See also:elder, came to Nuremberg as a worker in See also:brass in 1453 and there became a " See also:master " of his gild. There is only one See also:work that can be ascribed to him with certainty, the baptismal See also:font in the See also:parish See also:church of See also:Wittenberg (1457). This is decorated with figures of the Apostles. 2. His son, See also:PETER, the elder, was See also:born about 1455 in Nuremberg, where he died on the 7th of See also:January 1529. He became " master " in 1489, and in 1494 was summoned by the Electoral See also:Prince ' Philipp of the See also:Palatinate to See also:Heidelberg. He soon returned, however, to Nuremberg, where he worked with the help of his five sons, Hermann, Peter, Hans, See also:Jakob and See also:Paul. His See also:works are: the See also:tomb of See also:Bishop Johannes IV., in the See also:Breslau See also:cathedral (1496); the tomb of See also:Archbishop Ernest, in See also:Magdeburg cathedral (1497); the See also:shrine of See also:Saint Sebald in the Sebalduskirche at Nuremberg, between 1508 and 1519; a large See also:grille ordered by the See also:Fugger See also:brothers in See also:Augsburg (lost); a See also:relief of the " Crowning of the Blessed Virgin " in the See also:Erfurt cathedral (a second example in the Wittenberg Schlosskirche, 1521); the tombstones for Margareta Tucherin in the See also:Regensburg cathedral (1521), and for the Eisen family in the Agidienkirche at Nuremberg (1522); the See also:epitaph for the See also:cardinal Albrecht of See also:Brandenburg in the collegiate church at See also:Aschaffenburg (1525); the tomb of the electoral prince See also:Frederick the See also:Wise in the Schlosskirche at Wittenberg (1521); the epitaph of the duchess Helene of See also:Mecklenburg in the cathedral at See also:Schwerin. Besides these works there are a number of others ascribed to Peter the elder with less certainty. In technique few See also:bronze sculptors have ever equalled him, but his designs are marred by an excess of mannered See also:realism and a too exuberant See also:fancy.

His See also:

chief See also:early work, the tomb of Archbishop Ernest in Magdeburg cathedral (1495), is surrounded with See also:fine statuettes of the Apostles under semi-See also:Gothic canopies; it is purer in See also:style than the magnificent shrine of St Sebald, a tall canopied bronze structure, crowded with reliefs and statuettes in the most lavish way. The See also:general See also:form of the shrine is Gothic,' but the details are those of the 16th-See also:century See also:Italian See also:Renaissance treated ' This See also:great work is really a canopied See also:pedestal to support and enclose the shrine, not the shrine itself, which is a work of the 14th century, having the gabled form commonly used in the See also:middle ages for See also:metal reliquaries. with much freedom and originality. Some of the statuettes . of See also:saints attached to the slender columns of the See also:canopy are modelled with much See also:grace and even dignity of form. A small portrait figure of Peter himself, introduced at one end of the See also:base, is a marvel of See also:clever realism: he has represented himself as a stout, bearded See also:man, wearing a large leathern See also:apron and holding some of the tools of his See also:craft. This gorgeous shrine is a remarkable example of the uncommercial spirit which animated the artists of that See also:time, and of the evident delight which they took in their work. Dragons, grotesques and little figures of boys, mixed with graceful See also:scroll foliage, See also:crowd every possible See also:part of the canopy and its shafts, designed in the most See also:free and unconventional way and executed with an utter disregard of the time and labour which were lavished on them. See R. See also:Bauer, Peter Vischer and das alte Nurnberg (1886) ; C. Headlam, Peter Vischer (19o1).

End of Article: VISCHER

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