Hans Fries (c. 1465 – c. 1523) was a Swiss painter before the Reformation.

Fries was born in Fribourg, the son of a baker, and studied with the Bernese painter Heinrich Bichler. After a stay in Basel in the year 1487/88, he returned to his hometown. Here he held the official post of city painter in the first decade of the 16th Century and was in addition a councilman. During this time he designed and painted many altars. Around 1510 he moved to Bern where he lived until his death.

Selected works[edit]

• Christ carrying the Cross, 1502, canvas, 81×164 cm, Bern Kunstmuseum (Art Museum)
• Wing of a St. John altar, outside: St. John Drinks the Poison, c. 1507, wood, 130×32 cm, Zürich, Swiss National Museum
• Wing of a St. John altar, inside: Two Visions of St. John, c. 1507, wood, 130×32 cm, Zürich, Swiss National Museum
• St. Barbara (Altar wing), 1503, wood, 98×67 cm, Fribourg, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire
• St. Christopher (Altar wing), 1503, wood, 98×67 cm, Fribourg, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire.
• St. Margareta (Altar wing), c. 1505, wood, 97×30 cm, Fribourg, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire.
• St. Nikolaus (Altar wing), c. 1505, wood, 97×30 cm, Fribourg, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire.
• Allegory of the Cross, c. 1515, wood, 148×98 cm, Fribourg, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire.
• from a John the Baptist Triptych, left wing outside: Sermon of John the Baptist before Herod, 1514, Wood, 124×76 cm, Basel, Kunstmuseum
• from a John the Baptist Triptych, left wing inside: The Beheading of John the Baptist, 1514, wood, 124×76 cm, Basel, Kunstmuseum
• from a St. John Triptych, right wing inside: John the Evangelist in Boiling Oil, 1514, wood, 125×75 cm, Basel, Kunstmuseum

See also[edit]

• Heinrich Bichler

References[edit]

• Kelterborn-Haemmerli, Anna (1927) Die Kunst des Hans Fries Studien zur deutschen Kunstgeschichte No. 245, J.H. Ed. Heitz, Strasbourg, pp. 1–22
• Myers, Bernard Samuel (ed.) (1969) "Fries, Hans (1465?-1523)" McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Art McGraw-Hill, New York, ISBN 0-07-079724-2
• Villiger, Verena & Schmid, Alfred A. (eds.) (2001), Hans Fries 1460-1523: Ein Maler an der Zeitenwende, Hirmer, Munich. ISBN 3-7774-9400-3

External links[edit]

• "Hans Fries". SIKART Lexicon on art in Switzerland.
• Hans Fries. Ein Maler an der Zeitenwende in German