JOST

See also:

• AMMAN, JOHANN CONRAD (1669-c.773o)
• JOST AMMAN (1539-1591)
• AMMAN, PAUL (1634-1691)

AMMAN (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 156o to Nuremberg, where he continued to reside until his death in March 1S91 . 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 .