Tobias Stimmer

(b Schaffhausen, 17 April 1539; d Strasbourg, 14 Jan 1584). Draughtsman, painter and wood-engraver.

No details are known of his apprenticeship, which he must have completed c. 1556. His early drawings (1557 and 1558) show surprising self-assurance and by the early 1560s were of extremely high quality, as is shown by Christ on the Cross (1561; London, BM), Crucifixion (1562; New York, Pierpont Morgan Lib.) and Squirrel Eating a Nut (c. 1563; Zurich, Ksthaus; see fig. 1), a brush drawing with white highlights in watercolour and bodycolour, notable for its naturalistic style and reminiscent of Albrecht D?rer's studies of nature. His Self-portrait (c. 1563; Donaueschingen, F?rstenberg Samml.), a pen and watercolour drawing in brown over a preparatory drawing in chalk, is a striking departure from the norm of self-portrayal: his head is bent down so that his right eye is completely obscured by his nose, a position that could hardly have been seen by looking in the mirror. In a second Self-portrait (1569; Darmstadt, Hess. Landesmus.) a pen drawing with white highlights, Stimmer posed with his head imperiously raised. He also produced a group of drawings for bannerets, for example Banneret of Berne (c. 1569; Zurich, Ksthaus), a pen drawing with white highlights on a red ground.

Part of the Stimmer family

See the Abbreviations for further details.

Stimmer, Tobias (Schaffhausen, 1539-84, Strasburg), was by trade an artist producing woodcuts for book illustration, including the Bible (Bilderbibel, 1576). He is the author of a comedy (Fastnachtspiel) commonly called Von zwei Eheleuten (1580). It portrays the misunderstandings arising when a wife plans to seek a lover during her husband's absence and her subsequent discomfiture. Its full title is Comoedia von zweien jungen eeleuten, wie sey sich in fürfallender reiss beiderseitz verhalten.

House zum Ritter

Portrait of Jacob Schwytzer and his wife Elsbeth Lochmann

Tobias Stimmer (7 April^[1] 1539 – 4 January^[2] 1584), was a Swiss painter and illustrator.

He was born in Schaffhausen, and was active in Schaffhausen, Strasbourg and Baden-Baden as a wall and portrait painter. He made a great number of drawings for woodcuts (Bible scenes, allegories, etc.) which were published by the printer Sigmund Feyerabend in Frankfurt am Main, and Bernhart Jobin in Strasbourg.

Stimmer followed Hans Holbein the Younger, but developed his own mannerism. Among his wall paintings remain the "House zum Ritter" in Schaffhausen, although this was actually much restored and changed.

His most famous work is undoubtedly the paintings on the Strasbourg astronomical clock. He died in Strasbourg

References

• Hans Lieb: Tobias Stimmers Geburt und Tod, in Schaffhauser Beiträge zur Geschichte, vol 67, pages 255-262, 1990.

Footnotes

1. ^ He was not born on April 17, see Lieb 1990.
2. ^ In the old style.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tobias Stimmer

• Tobias Stimmer in the German National Library catalogue (German)
• Pictures of the House zum Ritter in the Schaffhausen city archives
• Mannerism article in the Columbia encyclopedia: http://columbia.thefreedictionary.com/Manierism

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