Jost de Negker
Encyclopedia
Woodcut
Woodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges...
s and also a printer and publisher of prints during the early 16th century, mostly in Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
, Germany. He was a leading "formschneider" or blockcutter of his day, but always to the design of an artist. He is "closely tied to the evolution of the fine woodcut in Northern Europe". For Adam von Bartsch, although he did not usually design or draw, the quality of his work, along with that of Hans Lützelburger
Hans Lützelburger
Hans Lützelburger , also known as Hans Franck, was a German blockcutter for woodcuts, regarded as one of the finest of his day. He cut the blocks but as far as is known was not an artist himself...
and Hieronymus Andreae
Hieronymus Andreae
Hieronymus Andreae, or Andreä, or Hieronymus Formschneider, was a German woodblock cutter , printer, publisher and typographer closely associated with Albrecht Dürer...
, was such that he should be considered as an artist. Some prints where the designer is unknown are described as by de Negker, but it is assumed there was an artist who drew the design, although it has been suggested that de Negker might fill in a landscape background to a drawing of a figure.
Born in Antwerp c.1485, he worked as a cutter in the Netherlands to 1508, when a print he cut by Lucas van Leyden
Lucas van Leyden
Lucas van Leyden , also named either Lucas Hugensz or Lucas Jacobsz, was a Dutch engraver and painter, born and mainly active in Leiden...
was published. He probably moved in that year to Augsburg (certainly before 1512) and worked for Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I , the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleanor of Portugal, was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 until his death, though he was never in fact crowned by the Pope, the journey to Rome always being too risky...
on his print projects, as well as cutting blocks from designs by Hans Burgkmair the Elder and others. He was probably not used by Burgkmair in 1508 on his first chiaroscuro woodcut, for which precise cutting was essential to align the multiple blocks, but was working with him by 1510 on later works. Later states
State (printmaking)
A state, in printmaking, is a different form of a print, caused by a deliberate and permanent change to a matrix such as a copper plate or woodblock ....
(in effect editions) of Burgkmair's two earliest chiaroscuro woodcuts, the equestrian portraits of Saint George and the Emperor Maximilian on horseback, and other Burgkmair prints, carry Negker's name and sometimes address, suggesting he owned the blocks, and was acting as publisher, though it is now thought that he may not have cut the earliest ones himself.
In 1512 de Negker wrote a long letter to the Emperor, in itself an indication of his status, which among other things makes it clear that he had been working on Maximilian's projects for some time, and had two assistants, paid via himself. As Maximilian's programme expanded, the signatures of eight different cutters are found on the reverse of blocks (surviving in the Albertina, Vienna
Albertina, Vienna
The Albertina is a museum in the Innere Stadt of Vienna, Austria. It houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and approximately 1 million old master prints, as well as more modern graphic works, photographs and architectural drawings...
) from 1516–18, including that of the other great cutter of the period, Hans Lützelburger
Hans Lützelburger
Hans Lützelburger , also known as Hans Franck, was a German blockcutter for woodcuts, regarded as one of the finest of his day. He cut the blocks but as far as is known was not an artist himself...
. Negker still seems to have been the co-ordinator of the cutting side of the projects, though Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
brought in his own man, the difficult Hieronymus Andreae, for the Triumphal Arch
Triumphal Arch (woodcut)
The Triumphal Arch is a 16th-century monumental woodcut print, commissioned by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. The composite image was printed from 192 separate wood blocks...
. Giulia Bartrum says that the "Imperial commissions enabled the block-cutter and printer Jost de Negker to raise the status of his profession to an unprecedentedly high level."
On Maximilian's death in 1519, the large teams assembled for his projects dispersed, and de Negker became as much a publisher as a cutter, retaining many blocks by Burgkmair, Hans Weiditz
Hans Weiditz
Hans Weiditz the Younger, Hans Weiditz der Jüngere, Hans Weiditz II , was a German Renaissance artist, also known as The Petrarch Master for his woodcuts illustrating Petrarch's De remediis utriusque fortunae, or Remedies for Both Good and Bad Fortune, or Phisicke Against Fortune...
and others, and pirating many works such as the Dance of Death by Holbein, Lützelburger's masterpiece as a cutter. Negker's edition of this was published in 1544, and is his last known work.
The cutters of most "single-leaf" woodcuts (prints) produced at the period are unknown, as they were usually only credited on the printed piece if they also acted as publisher, or at least printer. If the original block has survived these may be marked or signed, as they normally were in the case of Maximilian's projects, to ensure the right cutter was paid from the large teams. In the absence of other evidence, it is not usually worthwhile to speculate on the identity of a cutter based on style or quality, so many single prints cut by Negker during these years probably remain untraceable in the large production of the period. With books there is more evidence, from title-pages. He is attributed with the cutting of the German chiaroscuro woodcut with the largest number of different colour blocks, a seven-block coat of arms by Hans Weiditz
Hans Weiditz
Hans Weiditz the Younger, Hans Weiditz der Jüngere, Hans Weiditz II , was a German Renaissance artist, also known as The Petrarch Master for his woodcuts illustrating Petrarch's De remediis utriusque fortunae, or Remedies for Both Good and Bad Fortune, or Phisicke Against Fortune...
(1520) used as a book frontispiece
Book frontispiece
A frontispiece is a decorative illustration facing a book's title page. The frontispiece is the verso opposite the recto title page. Elaborate engraved frontispieces were in frequent use, especially in Bibles and in scholarly books, and many are masterpieces of engraving...
.
Jost de Negker's business was continued until at least the mid 1560s by his son David de Negker, who inherited his blocks and after leaving Augsburg also worked in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. Another (presumed) son, Samson, also cut blocks.