AMMAN, JOST (1539-1591), Swiss artist, celebrated chiefly
for his engravings on wood, was born at Zurich. Of his
personal history little is known beyond the fact that he
removed in 1560 to Nuremberg, where he continued to reside
until his death in March 1591. His productiveness was very
remarkable, as may be gathered from the statement of one of
his pupils, that the drawings he made during a period of four
years would have filled a hay wagon. A large number of his
original drawings are contained in the Berlin collection of
engravings. The genuineness of not a few of the specimens
to be seen elsewhere is at least questionable. A series of
copperplate engravings by Amman of the kings of France, with short
biographies, appeared at Frankfort in 1576. He also executed
many of the woodcut illustrations for the Bible published at
Frankfort by Sigismund Feierabend. Another serial work, the
Panoplia Omnium Liberalium Mechanicarum et Sedentariarum
Artium Genera Continens, containing 115 plates, is of great
value. Amman's drawing is correct and spirited, and his
delineation of the details of costume, &c., is minute and
accurate. He executed too much, however, to permit of his reaching
the highest style of art. Paintings in oil and on glass are
attributed to him, but no specimen of these is known to exist.
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