Christoph Schwarz

1548 – 1592

German painter and draughtsman. He was the son of a Munich goldsmith, Conrad Schwarz (active 1540s), and was apprenticed to Hans II Bocksberger (c. 1530-after 1583) from 1560 to c. 1566. In 1568 he worked on festive decorations for the marriage of Prince William (later Duke) of Bavaria and Duchess Renata of Lorraine together with Hans Mielich, the master in charge, and Hans Ostendorfer II (d. ca. 1570). He also assisted Mielich on paintings for the High Altar (1560-72; in situ) of the Liebfrauenkirche, Ingolstadt. In 1569 he was awarded his master's certificate and citizenship of Munich. Between 1570 and 1573 he was in Italy, mainly in Venice, though he did spend some time in Padua with Lambert Sustris. After his return in 1573 he was first appointed Town Painter in Munich and the following year court painter to Duke Albert IV, as Mielich's successor. The façade paintings praised by Sandrart on the merchant's house at Kauffingerstrasse 4 (Rape of the Sabine Women, drawing; Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie), on the Senger brewery in Burgstrasse and elsewhere, partially known through drawings made after them, were executed in this period. In the 1570s he also depicted subjects from Classical mythology (e.g. the Rape of Proserpine; Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum) and painted portraits.

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