SCHÄUFELEIN, Hans Leonhard

German painter and designer of woodcuts. Nothing is known about the date and place of Hans Schäufelein's birth or his initialGLOSSARYthe first letter of the text in medieval manuscripts and early printed books, made to stand out emphatically by its colour, size, and ornamentation. training, but he is considered to have been born c. 1480/1485. Although often called Hans Leonhard Schäufelein, there is apparently no documentation for the name Leonhard. Schäufelein probably entered Albrecht Dürer's Nuremberg workshop c. 1503/1504 and Dürer's influence is evident in Schäufelein's earliest graphic works, the woodcuts he produced for Der Beschlossen Gart der Rosenkranz, published by Ulrich Pinder in 1505, and in 1507 the illustrations to the Speculum Passionis Domini Nostri Ihesu Christi. At the time of Dürer's second trip to Italy, Schäufelein seems to have held a responsible position in the shop, for he painted, partly from Dürer's designs, the Ober-Sankt Veit altarpieceGLOSSARYA picture or sculpture that stands on or is set up behind an altar. The term reredos is used for an ornamental screen or partition, not directly attached to the altar table but affixed to the wall behind it. A diptych is an altarpiece consisting of two panels, a triptych one of three panels, and a polyptych one of four or more panels. From the 14th to 16th century, the altarpiece was one of the most important commissions in European art; it was through the altarpiece that some of the most decisive developments in painting and sculpture came about., commissioned by ElectorGLOSSARYone of the German princes who elected the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. From the middle of the 14th century there were seven Electors; the king of Bohemia, the duke of Saxony, the count Palatine of the Rhine, the margrave of Brandenburg, and the archbishops of Mainz, Trier and Cologne. Friedrich the Wise and his brother John, possibly for a church in Nuremberg.

Schäufelein left Nuremberg around 1507; he seems to have gone first to Augsburg where he may have worked in the shop of Hans Holbein the Elder. His first dated painting is the CrucifixionGLOSSARYAn important method of capital punishment, particularly among the Persians, Seleucids, Jews, Carthaginians, and Romans from about the 6th century BC to the 4th century AD. Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, abolished it in the Roman Empire in AD 337, out of veneration for Jesus Christ, the most famous victim of crucifixion. There were various methods of performing the execution. Usually, the condemned man, after being whipped, or "scourged," dragged the crossbeam of his cross to the place of punishment, where the upright shaft was already fixed in the ground. Stripped of his clothing either then or earlier at his scourging, he was bound fast with outstretched arms to the crossbeam or nailed firmly to it through the wrists. The crossbeam was then raised high against the upright shaft and made fast to it about 9 to 12 feet (approximately 3 metres) from the ground. Next, the feet were tightly bound or nailed to the upright shaft. A ledge inserted about halfway up the upright shaft gave some support to the body; evidence for a similar ledge for the feet is rare and late. Over the criminal's head was placed a notice stating his name and his crime. Death, apparently caused by exhaustion or by heart failure, could be hastened by shattering the legs (crurifragium) with an iron club, so that shock and asphyxiation soon ended his life. with John the Baptist and King David of 1508, and around this time he begins to sign works with the combination of his monogram in ligature and a small shovel (Schaufel). Schäufelein journeyed to Tirol in 1509/1510, where in Niederlana bei Meran he painted scenes of the PassionGLOSSARYThe events leading up to Good Friday, beginning with Christ's arrest and ending with his burial. Portrayals of the Passion, which focus on the Suffering Christ, include depictions of Judas betraying Christ with a kiss, Peter cutting off Malchus's ear, the crown of thorns, and so on. on the wings of an altarpiece carved a local artist, Hans Schnatterpeck. He returned to Augsburg in 1510 where he was active both as a painter and a designer of woodcuts; in 1513 he painted a large altarpiece with scenes of the Passion and the ApocalypseGLOSSARYthe Revelation of St John, the last book of the New Testament. The wrath of God descending upon the earth is depicted in three visions; in the form of terrible natural catastrophes, in the battle between the forces and good and evil, and in the union of a new Heaven and new Earth in the Heavenly Jerusalem. The announcement of the Second Coming of Christ at the end of the world was intended to console the persecuted Christians and also prepare them for the horrors connected with the event. for the high altar of the Benedictine abbey at Auhausen, near the Swabian city of Nördlingen.

In 1515 Schäufelein moved to Nördlingen and quickly obtained citizenship. This began a decade of great productivity which saw several painted commissions, as well as numerous woodcuts for projects ordered by Maximilian I. Schäufelein remained active in Nördlingen well into the 1530s and it was the influence and example of Dürer that remained paramount for him throughout his career. He was an important and talented continuator of the Dürer style. Among his last works are the illuminations of 1537/1538 in a prayer book done for the Counts of Oettingen.

Hans Schäufelein died sometime between 1538 and 11 November 1540, when his wife is mentioned as a widow.