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

“Maestro del candeliere’” (Kaufbeuren c. 1470 – Augsburg 1536)
Son of the painter Bartholomäus Hopfer and his wife Anna Sendlerin, Daniel moved to Augsburg as 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 children: Jörg, Hieronymus and Lambert.
The last two followed the father’s profession of 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 aimed to make the city a leading center of Humanism, Hopfer was probably the first armor decorator to begin printing etchings on paper.
This particular experience led him to treat metal plates with acid to obtain depictions on a paper support.
It is indeed a widely shared view that it was Daniel Hopfer who first introduced the use of etching in graphic art at the end of the 15th century.
Besides decorative prints, in which the origin from armor decorations is easily recognizable, he also produced religious, mythological, military and folkloric subjects, using iron plates as matrices for printing.

SAINT ROCCO AND THE ANGEL
Etching on iron plate, 225 x 150 mm. 230 x 160 mm sheet
Unique state.
Work with the artist’s monogram at the bottom center. Rag paper, watermarked
A specimen of a late impression, datable to the 18th century. Very rare

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