Daniel Hopfer (1470–1536) - San Rocco e L'angelo

Master of the Candleholder (Kaufbeuren c. 1470 – Augsburg 1536)
Son of the painter Bartholomäus Hopfer and his wife Anna Sendlerin, Daniel moved to Augsburg while still a teenager and there obtained citizenship in 1493.
A few years later he married Justina Grimm, sister of the publisher and humanist Sigismund Grimm, with whom he had three sons: Jörg, Hieronymus and Lambert.
The last two followed their father’s trade as engravers.
During his apprenticeship as an engraver and decorator of armor, Daniel learned to use acid solutions to etch metal.
In Augsburg, working under the patronage of Maximilian I, who wished to make the city a leading center of Humanism, Hopfer was probably the first armor decorator who began to print etchings on paper.
This particular experience led him to treat metal plates with acid to obtain depictions on a paper support.
It is indeed widely held that Daniel Hopfer was the first to introduce the use of etching in graphic art at the end of the 15th century.
In addition to decorative prints, in which the origin from armor decorations can be easily recognized, he also produced religious, mythological, military and folkloric subjects, using iron plates as matrices for printing.

ST. ROCCO AND THE ANGEL
Etching on an iron plate, 225 x 150 mm. The sheet: 230 x 160 mm
Single state.
Work with the artist’s monogram at the bottom center. Wove paper
An example from a late edition, datable to the 18th century. Very rare

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