Urs Graf
Born in 1485.
Died in 1527.
Urs Graf is documented as a goldsmith, engraver and draughtsman whose graphic oeuvre—woodcuts and prints on metal, as well as drawings—is notably represented in public collections, particularly at the Kupferstichkabinett Basel. A distinctive feature of the documentary record is, among other things, the attribution to him of the invention of «taille blanche», a method of woodcutting in white lines on a black ground, which marks part of his technical contribution as presented by the sources.
Initially trained in drawing and goldsmithing by his father Hugo Graf, he completed a journeyman period in Strasbourg and then, in 1507, continued his training with the goldsmith Lienhart Triblin in Zurich. He settled in Basel in 1509, where he worked for local publishers and served as an assistant to the stained-glass painter Hans Heinrich Wolleb, while simultaneously pursuing work as a goldsmith and graphic artist.
Graf’s career combined artistic production and military service: the sources indicate his participation as a mercenary in several campaigns—in Italy (1510), at Dijon (1513), at Marignan (1515), and in Milan (1521). His public life was also marked by legal troubles and several periods of imprisonment, attributed by the sources to a violent temperament.
A significant part of his etchings and drawings is held by the Kupferstichkabinett Basel, which notably brings together the majority of the known sheets and ensures their documentary preservation. His practices include reproductive engravings after Martin Schongauer and Albrecht Dürer, adapted to his own graphic language, as well as autograph compositions attested by the sources, such as La Mort dans un arbre (woodcut, 1524) and Femme violoniste nue avec un vieux fou de Bâle (woodcut, 1523). The documentary record brings together material relating to the workshop, goldsmithing and the printmaking workshop, making it possible to trace a practice that combined goldsmithing techniques, engraving on metal and woodcut, without the sources permitting further unsupported generalisations.
