Vischer family | Swiss, Baroque, Foundry (original) (raw)

Vischer family, sculptors and brass founders working in Nürnberg in the 15th and 16th centuries. Hermann the Elder (d. January 13, 1488) established the foundry. His son Peter the Elder (1460–1529) was the most-celebrated member of the family, producing monumental brass work and bronze work that attracted patrons from as far off as Poland and Hungary.

Peter Vischer: Theodoric the GreatTheodoric the Great, King of the Ostrogoths, bronze sculpture by Peter Vischer the Elder, c. 1513; in the Hofkirche (Court Church), Innsbruck, Austria.

Works by Peter, who was assisted by his five sons, include the tomb of Archbishop Ernst von Sachsen in Magdeburg Cathedral (1494–95), the colossal bronze figures of Theodoric and King Arthur (1513) for the tomb planned by the emperor Maximilian I, and the Shrine of St. Sebaldus (1516) in the Church of St. Sebaldus in Nürnberg.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Naomi Blumberg.