Master E. S.

cutting Samson's hair, Master E. S. ( ; previously known as the Master of 1466) is an unidentified German engraver, goldsmith, and printmaker of the late Gothic period. He was the first major German artist of old master prints and was greatly copied and imitated. The name assigned to him by art historians, Master E. S., is derived from the monogram, E. S., which appears on eighteen of his prints (variants appear on others). The title, Master, is used for unidentified artists who operated independently. He was probably the first printmaker to place his initials on his work. Remaining signed works by E. S. indicate that he was active in printmaking from 1450 to 1467, the latest date to appear on one of his prints. After this date, he is presumed to have died. He was the most distinguished German engraver before Martin Schongauer.

cutting Samson's hair, ]] Master E. S. ( ; previously known as the Master of 1466) is an unidentified German engraver, goldsmith, and printmaker of the late Gothic period. He was the first major German artist of old master prints and was greatly copied and imitated. The name assigned to him by art historians, Master E. S., is derived from the monogram, E. S., which appears on eighteen of his prints (variants appear on others). The title, Master, is used for unidentified artists who operated independently. He was probably the first printmaker to place his initials on his work. Remaining signed works by E. S. indicate that he was active in printmaking from 1450 to 1467, the latest date to appear on one of his prints. After this date, he is presumed to have died. He was the most distinguished German engraver before Martin Schongauer. ==Ars Moriendi== He produced a series of eleven engravings for the Ars moriendi (The Art of Dying), a very popular devotional work. These were no doubt intended to be inserted into a manuscript copy of the book. The very controversial question of whether these were copies of woodcut versions of the same compositions in blockbooks was effectively solved in 1942, when Fritz Saxl published a set of manuscript illuminations using the same compositions found in the London library of the Wellcome Institute. These clearly predated all printed versions, all of which now can be seen to be derived from no doubt different versions of manuscript drawings in the same tradition. It has also been suggested that E. S. later designed the woodcuts for the earliest of the blockbooks, which are now seen as being created later than his engravings. File:Christ as Man of Sorrows between Four Angels.jpg|Christ as Man of Sorrows between Four Angels File:Master E.S. - Madonna with Angel Giving Roses - Google Art Project.jpg|Madonna with Angel Giving Roses File:Ars moriendi (Meister E.S.), L.177.png|Temptation of Despair, from the Ars Moriendi series File:The Knight and the Lady.jpg|The Knight and the Lady File:Designs for Goldsmiths MET DP820844.jpg|Designs for Goldsmiths File:Master E. S. - Madonna and Child - Google Art Project.jpg|Madonna and Child, with later hand-colouring File:Vogel Unter.png|Playing-card: Jack of Birds ==Notes== ==References== Alan Shestack, Master E. S., Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1967 Alan Shestack; Fifteenth Century Engravings of Northern Europe, 1967, National Gallery of Art (Catalogue), LOC 67-29080 A Hyatt Mayor, Prints and People, Metropolitan Museum of Art/Princeton, 1971, nos 118-123. ==External links== Prints & People: A Social History of Printed Pictures, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Master E.S. (see index) Works of Master E. S. at Zeno.org Master E. S. "Large deck of playing cards" History of Printing Costume in The Early German Renaissance 1470-1520, Master E. S. Web gallery of art

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