Wenzel Jamnitzer

Wenzel Jamnitzer (sometimes Jamitzer, or Wenzel Gemniczer) (1507/1508 – 19 December 1585) was a Northern Mannerist goldsmith, artist, and printmaker in etching, who worked in Nuremberg. He was the best known German goldsmith of his era, and court goldsmith to a succession of Holy Roman Emperors.

A native of Vienna, Jamnitzer was a member of a Moravian German family which, for more than 160 years, had produced works under the names Jamnitzer, Jemniczer, Gemniczer, and Jamitzer. Wenzel, with his brother Albrecht, was trained by his father Hans the Elder. Later, Wenzel's son Hans Jamnitzer (1539–1603) and grandson Christof Jamnitzer (1563–1618) continued his business.

Jamnitzer worked as a court goldsmith for all the German emperors of his era, including Charles V, Ferdinand I, Maximilian II, and Rudolf II. Also, he probably invented an machine.

In 1534, Jamnitzer settled in Nuremberg. He made vases and jewelry boxes with great skill, in a style based on that of the Italian Renaissance. Besides precious metals, he incorporated hardstones, shells, corals, and small birds' eggs in his works.

In 1543 he was appointed as a coin and seal die-cutter by the city of Nuremberg. In 1552, he became master of the city mint.

Jamnitzer performed scientific studies to improve the technical knowledge of his guild. In 1568 he published Perspectiva Corporum Regularium (Perspective of regular solids), a book remembered for its engravings of polyhedra. This book was based on Plato's Timaeus and Euclid's Elements, and it contained 120 forms based on the Platonic solids.

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