Vischer

a family of German bronze and brass founders who worked in Nuremberg in the 15th and 16th centuries.

The Vischer workshop was founded in 1453 by Hermann Vischer the Elder (died 1488). It was expanded and made the largest in Germany by his son Peter Vischer the Elder (born c. 1460; died Jan. 7, 1529). During their lifetimes the workshop mainly produced gravestones, sarcophagi, church chandeliers, and fonts. Peter Vischer the Elder executed statues of kings Arthur and Theodoric for the cenotaph of Emperor Maximilian I (1513) in the Hofkirche at Innsbruck. Models for the Vischer castings were carved from wood by sculptors.

The sons of Peter Vischer the Elder were Hermann Vischer the Younger (born c. 1486; died Dec. 31, 1516), Peter Vischer the Younger (1487–1528), and Hans Vischer (c. 1489–1550). They entered the workshop circa 1514, working as sculptors and founders. Hermann Vischer the Younger and Peter Vischer the Younger visited Italy and later became closely associated with the Nuremberg humanists. They helped spread the artistic principles of the Renaissance in the German plastic arts.

The works of Peter Vischer the Younger are noted for their harmonious clarity and exquisite proportion; they include almost all the figures ornamenting the bronze shrine of St. Sebaldus (1508–19) in the Sebalduskirche, Nuremberg, as well as numerous statuettes, medals, and plaques. Peter Vischer the Younger introduced into Germany Italian techniques of casting from wax molds. After Hans Vischer left Nuremberg in 1549, the workshop declined rapidly.