Hans Knieper

Hans Knieper (alternative names: Hans Kniepper, Hans Knipper, Johan van Antwerpen, Hans Maler, Hans Knibber, Jan Knibber, signature: I. D. Knibber and monogram IDK) (probably Antwerp, ? – Elsinore, 2 November 1587) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman. He became a court painter and tapestry carton designer at the Royal Danish Court and ran a tapestry weaving shop in Denmark.

Very little is known about Knieper’s early life and training in Flanders. He was likely born in Antwerp, as he was referred to by the name 'Johannes de Antwerpia' in his initial contract with the Danish king. A training in Brussels has been proposed based on a possible link with the Brussels family of weavers de Smet and the fact that he added a mark composed of a crown and a B to the tapestries that he designed for Kronborg Castle in Denmark. The B mark was a famous mark of a Brussels weaving workshop. The only work attributed to him in his home country is a watercolour of an allegorical figure now in Gaasbeek in Belgium.

Knieper must have had quite an international reputation as an artist since the Danish king Frederick II's envoy Thomas Tenniker engaged him in 1577 on the king's behalf to go to Helsingør to design tapestries for the decoration of Kronborg Castle. At the time king Frederick II was transforming the medieval fortress radically into a magnificent Renaissance castle, using as principal architects Knieper’s fellow Flemings Hans Hendrik van Paesschen and Anthonis van Obbergen. Rather than decorating the castle by importing finished art works, Frederick decided to invite artists to produce their work in situ.

Knieper arrived in Kronborg in the company of the Flemish master weaver Anthonius de Goech (or the Corte or de Gorth). Anthonius de Goech brought all materials to execute the tapestries with him but died within three months of his arrival (eight months after his appointment). Knieper was then given the post of director of the weaving workshop. He travelled back and forth between Denmark and Flanders to import further materials and skilled workers. He managed to establish a high-quality workshop near Kronborg Castle which had about 20 weavers and executed many works for the king. He probably appointed another master weaver to manage the actual weaving work in the shop.

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