German painter and engraver, best known for his 115 monogrammed copper engravings. He was born in Colmar, Alsace (now in France), where he spent most of his life. Most of his works are not authenticated or precisely datable. His late Gothic paintings show the strong influence of Flemish painters, especially Rogier van der Weyden. Although he painted prolifically, only a few of Schongauer's canvases have survived. Of these his masterpiece is Madonna of the Rose Arbor, also known as Virgin and Child in a Rose Garden, a monumental sensitive altarpiece, executed in 1473 for the Church of Saint Martin in Colmar.
Schongauer's monogrammed copper engravings show a special richness and maturity because of his knowledge of painting. He was the first and foremost engraver of his time in northern Europe and his ornamental designs greatly influenced the development of German art, particularly the work of the later German master Albrecht Dürer. Schongauer's engravings, all of religious subjects, exhibit fine detail, economy of composition, and a greater range of light-and-shadow contrasts and textures than earlier printmakers had used. Among his best-known engravings are Death of the Virgin, one of his large, early works, and Passion of Christ, a set of 12 engravings executed later in life (circa 1477) when he had turned to work on smaller plates.

Works