The art of Jost Amman: woodcuts, some pared with poetry by Hans Sachs

July 13, 2013 7:00 AM

Jost Amman (1539 – 1591) was a Swiss artist, best known for his woodcut illustrations. He was a prolific artist, with some 1,500 prints attributed to him, in the era when engravings were replacing woodcuttings. Amman also made stained glass (Google books preview) and jewelry, but there are more examples of his woodcut illustrations, as found on the colored cover of this bible from 1564, and the black and white images of biblical scenes. Amman's most widely know work is "the book of trades," Eygentliche Beschreibung Aller Stände auff Erden (Google books; PDFs of sections of the book). Ptak Science Books has 25 images with (most) job titles in English, and here is a full index of English titles, linking back to Wikimedia Commons. But that's only half of the book. The other part is the descriptions of the jobs, which are short poems by Hans Sachs, some of which are translated on the Victoria and Albert Museum.
posted by filthy light thief (2 comments total)

Thanks flt, a well-deserving target for a post. I've actually got (somewhere or other) a whole collection of digitised images from a kind of a collage and sketch book by Amman intended (?) to be some sort of treatise on the art of coats of arms or maybe a how-to guide for artists in heraldry. It's on of those way-way-way-way backburner collections intended for my own blog posting. One day.

Mefi's own misteraitch did a post years ago on Jost Amman's playing cards book, 'Charta lusoria', which is well worth seeing.
posted by peacay at 10:56 AM on July 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

Thanks for the interesting post, flt, and thanks too, peacay, for the mention. Among Amman’s other projects were the 1586 Gynæceum, or, The Theatre of Women, wherein may be seen the female costumes of all the principal nations, tribes, and peoples of Europe, and, in a similar vein, illustrating the modes of dress, etc., of persons in the Catholic church, the 1585 Cleri totius Romanae ecclesiae subiecti… And I’m rather fond of Amman’s etched portrait of the goldsmith and master of perspective Wentzel Jamnizter.
posted by misteraitch at 12:22 PM on July 13, 2013 [1 favorite]