(En) Painter; Draftsman (b. about 1530 Nuremberg, Germany, d. about 1591 Prague, Czech Republic)

Hans Hoffmann was a leading painter of Nuremberg who was commissioned by Emperor Rudolf II of Prague to paint Lot 91, "A Hare in a Forest,' a 62-by-78-inch oil on panel, that is based on Albrecht Durer's "A Study of a Hare" and "Large Piece of Turf," both in the Albertina in Vienna. Hoffmann added botanical elements, some exotic, such as the African marigold, and his painting contrasts sharply with Durer's painting of a hare because his animal is placed in a natural habitat whereas Durer's was isolated. The picture later became the property of Queen Christina of Sweden when her country conquered Prague in 1648. The top of the painting has warped backwards considerable. It has an estimate of $1,000,000 to $1,500,000. It sold for $2,645,750 to the J. Paul Getty Museum. Christopher Apostle, senior vice president and director of Sotheby's Old Master Paintings Department, said after the sale that "we are thrilled that the Hoffmann painting was purchased by such a distinguished institution. This is a very unique work, the only known painting by the artist, and commissioned by Emperor Rudolph II Hapsburg, King of Hungary and Bohemia in 1585."

When veneration of the late Albrecht Dürer's art led to a flurry of activity copying his paintings, drawings, and prints in the late 1500s, Hans Hoffmann was the leading representative of the "Dürer Renaissance." Hoffmann's imitations were so admired that a biographer described him as "a diligent painter . . . who copied Albrecht Dürer so assiduously that many of his works were sold as Dürer originals."Little is known of Hoffmann's training. He probably visited the Netherlands before settling in Nuremberg, where he is first mentioned in 1576. He specialized in watercolor and bodycolor nature studies, many copied after or inspired by Dürer's works in a Nuremberg private collection. Hoffmann's nature studies have earned him consideration as one of Germany's first still-life painters. He often made several copies and different versions of a single drawing, signing one with his own monogram and another with Dürer's. In 1584 he moved to Munich to work for Duke William V of Bavaria. In 1585 Emperor Rudolf II named him court painter and he moved to Prague, the seat of the imperial court. His oil paintings, of which few survive, seem to have comprised primarily religious subjects and portraits.

In the late 1400s, northern European artists began to study and draw plants and animals with a greater interest in accuracy. Although showing the uniqueness of each of these specimens was undoubtedly important to Hans Hoffmann, he equally tried to portray the individual beauty of each flower and insect. He placed the peony, two species of irises, an amaryllis, a may beetle, and a june bug in an attractive arrangement on the page. He drew the delicate forms carefully and added lush color in a palette of green, blue, and red. He used plain black chalk to represent the shadow cast by the beetle's body, illusionistically raising the beetle's legs off the ground with this trompe-l'oeil effect. Hoffmann may have intended this arrangement of nature studies to be hung as a painting, since it was listed as such in the archives of its original owner and it remained in a frame until well into the 1800s. Scholars consider this one of the first examples of still life painting.

Hoffmann was a great admirer and imitator of Albrect Durer (who died before Hoffmann was born) and his paintings were often mistaken for Durer's (partly because Hoffmann sometimes signed Durer's name to his own work).

(Ru) Немецкий график и живописец, ведущий представитель круга художников, которые были последователями и продолжателями традиций Альбрехта Дюрера (посмотрите еще раз на знаменитого дюреровского "Жука-оленя"!). Хоффман настолько усердно копировал своего кумира, что многие его работы были проданы как оригиналы Дюрера. Мастерство Хоффмана особенно проявлялось в изображениях растений и животных, и это снискало ему славу одного из первых мастеров натюрморта в Германии.

(De) Deutscher Maler (geboren 1545/1550 in Nürnberg, gestorben 1591/1592 in Prag)