MANUEL, NIKLAUS d. Ä.

circa 1484 Bern 1530

The Bernese painter, poet, and reformer Niklaus Manuel was probably the son of the Bernese pharmacist Emanuel de Alemanis and his wife Margaretha Fricker, which is why he was also called 'Deutsch'. He gave up the name Alemanis on the occasion of his marriage to Katharina Frischung in 1509 and called himself simply Niklaus Manuel. He was a member of the Grand Council in Bern and was admitted to the Society of Ober-Gerwen in 1512. In 1516 he took part in the Milan campaign in the service of France, and on his return, he painted the famous Dance of Death in the Dominican monastery in Bern, which was destroyed in 1660. He was also commissioned to paint the choir vault of Bern Cathedral, which he executed with the help of his workshop. From 1520 onwards, he devoted himself increasingly to literary works, held important political offices in his home town and campaigned for the implementation of the Reformation in Bern. As the most important exponent of Renaissance painting in Switzerland alongside Hans Holbein (c. 1497–1543), Manuel created numerous altarpieces and portraits.