DEUTSCH, NIKLAUS MANUEL

(1484-1530)

   Swiss painter, engraver, and stained-glass designer from Bern who also had a career as statesman, mercenary, and poet. Deutsch's profession as artist only spans a decade (1514-1524), and his style is closely linked to that of Hans Baldung Grien in that, like Grien, he depicted macabre scenes, as included in the Temptation of St. Anthony (1520; Bern, Berner Kunstmuseum), a work filled with grotesque demonic creatures. His Judgment of Paris (1524; Basel, Kunstmuseum) presented an opportunity to render the female nude, which in Deutsch's case is distinctly Northern in its oversimplification of anatomical details and rounded abdominal area. The emphasis on decorative patterning and linearity are also elements common to his art.