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18 March 1578

Born

18 March 1578

A master tailor’s family in Frankfurt

Born in Frankfurt am Main, one of ten children of a master tailor. His father’s house stood a few metres from the church where Dürer’s Heller Altarpiece was then displayed, and survived until it was destroyed by Allied bombs in 1944.

1598

Sets out for Italy via Munich

At twenty he travelled to Italy, and he is documented in Munich in 1598. His teacher Philipp Uffenbach specialised in large altarpieces, whereas Elsheimer’s earliest small paintings on copper seem to date from before he reached Italy.

early 1600

Arrives in Rome

He arrives in Rome in early 1600. His stay in Venice is undocumented, but its influence on his style is clear: he is believed to have painted “The Baptism of Christ” (London) and “The Holy Family” (Berlin) there, which show the influence of Tintoretto, Veronese and Rottenhammer.

1600

Befriends Faber and Bril in Rome

Soon after arriving he befriends contacts of Rottenhammer: Giovanni Faber, a papal doctor, botanist and collector from Bamberg who was curator of the Vatican Botanical Garden, and the Flemish landscape painter Paul Bril, long established in Rome. Both had converted from Lutheranism to Catholicism, as Elsheimer would later do.

1601

Meets Rubens

Rubens, who was in Rome in 1601 and knew both Faber and Bril, becomes another friend of Elsheimer and later reproaches him for not producing more work. Elsheimer also knew David Teniers the Elder, recently Rubens’ pupil, and there is evidence that the two lodged together.