Hans Asper ( – 21 March 1571) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

best known for his

portraits A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better re ...

Life

Asper was born in in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, where he lived his entire life. Nothing is known of him until 1526, when he married the daughter of Ludwig Nöggi, a master carpenter who sat in the city council, and Asper himself was a citizen of some standing, being elected to the Great Council in 1545. He is thought to have studied with Hans Leu the Younger, in Zürich, and appears to have received early influence in portrait painting from the works of

Hans Holbein the Younger Hans Holbein the Younger ( , ; ; – between 7 October and 29 November 1543) was a German-Swiss painter and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style, and is considered one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He ...

. His first artworks date from 1531, with possibly the most well-known portrait of Swiss reformator

Huldrych Zwingli Huldrych or Ulrich Zwingli (1 January 1484 – 11 October 1531) was a Swiss Christian theologian, musician, and leader of the Reformation in Switzerland. Born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swis ...

, painted with

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared Tanning (leather), untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves and goats. It has been used as a writing medium in West Asia and Europe for more than two millennia. By AD 400 ...

. In the same year Asper painted the interiors of some of Zürich's government buildings, being at the time the official painter to the city. He painted in a variety of styles, and is particularly known for his studies of flowers and fruit. Many of his works are lost. Notable works include portraits of

and Zwingli's daughter Regula Gwalter, which came into the ownership of the public library of Zürich. Asper is also believed to have provided the illustrations for

Conrad Gesner Conrad Gessner (; ; 26 March 1516 – 13 December 1565) was a Old Swiss Confederacy, Swiss physician, natural history, naturalist, bibliographer, and philologist. Born into a poor family in Zürich, Switzerland, his father and teachers quickly ...

's . Asper had a medal struck in his honor, but died in poverty in 1571. Two of his eleven children,

Hans Rudolf Asper Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi ...

and Rudolf Asper, were also painters.

Gallery

Ulrich-Zwingli-1.jpg, Huldrych Zwingli, 1531 Hans Asper 001.jpg, Cleophea Holzhalb, 1538 Bild Zwingli Asper.jpg, Huldrych Zwingli, 1549 Wilhelm Froelich by Hans Asper.jpg, Wilhelm Frölich, 1549, Asper's only full-length portrait Zentralbibliothek Zürich - Porträt von Regula GwaltherZwingli und Anna Gwalther - 500000029.jpg, Regula Gwalther Zwingli and Anna Gwalther, 1549, Huldrych Zwingli's daughter and granddaughter Pietro Vermigli by Hans Asper.jpg,

Pietro Martire Vermigli Peter Martyr Vermigli (; 8 September 149912 November 1562) was an Italian-born Reformed theologian. His early work as a reformer in Catholic Italy and his decision to flee for Protestant northern Europe influenced some other Italians to convert ...

, 1560 Bildnis des Johannes Oekolampad.jpg, Johannes Oekolampad

References

Attribution: *

External links

* 1490s births 1571 deaths Artists from Zurich 16th-century Swiss painters Swiss male painters Renaissance painters Swiss portrait painters {{Switzerland-painter-stub