1. Daniel Hopfer (1470-1536)
after Erhard Schön (1491-ca. 1542)
The Soldier and His Wife

(click on image to print)
Hopfer, The Soldier and His Wife

The Soldier and His Wife

Iron etching, 1505-36, Bartsch 63 ii/ii, Hollstein 71 ii/ii, 201 x 145 mm. Although it bears the Funk number 122 in the lower right corner, indicating a 17th-century printing, this is a rich, black impression with practically no rust marks, on thin, laid paper with small margins. The soldier, of course, is a typical German or Swiss landsknecht (mercenary soldier) with typical flamboyant costume and multiple weapons. Hopfer, whose trade was the embellishing of armor, was probably the first artist to have made an etching, using iron plates (as in armor) and biting the design in with acid. The new technique was used by Dürer among others, who abandoned it probably because of the rusting of the plates. Later, it was discovered that etching could also be done on the same kind of copper plates used for engravings and the technique flourished.