Daniel Hopfer

The son of Anna Sendlerin and painter Bartholomäus Hopfer, Daniel moved to Augsburg early in his life, and acquired citizenship there in 1493.

[2] He sat on the committee of the Augsburg guild of smiths, which at this time included painters and etchers, probably because these crafts were uniquely connected in the town, one of Europe's principal manufacturing places of arms and armour.

His achievements had been widely recognized during his life, and in 1590 he was posthumously named as the inventor of the art of etching, with the imperial patent of nobility bestowed upon his grandson Georg.

Applied to prints, this produced silhouetted designs on a black ground, doubtless by multiple bitings of the plates.

From religious prints to designs for goldsmiths, secular subjects such as peasants, military figures (especially Landsknechts), portraits of contemporary worthies, mytholological and folkloric themes, the sheer range of the Hopfers' productions are both remarkable and unique, designed to appeal to a clientele far wider than the metalsmiths who bought their patterns to create their wares.

[citation needed] A further print run of 92 plates was made in 1802 by the publishers C. W. Silberberg of Frankfurt under the title Opera Hopferiana.