Hans Vredeman de Vries (1527 – c. 1607) was a Dutch Renaissance architect and engineer. Vredeman de Vries is known for his publication in 1583 on garden design and his books with many examples on ornaments (1565) and perspective (1604).
Biography
Born in Leeuwarden and grown up in Friesland, in 1546 he went to Amsterdam and Kampen. In 1549 he moved to Mechelen where the Superior Court was seating. Sebastian, his brother was the organplayer in the local church. Vredeman de Vries designed ornaments for merry parades of Charles V and Philip II. Studying Vitruvius and Sebastiano Serlio, translated by his teacher Pieter Coecke van Aelst he became an international known specialist in perspective. Hans continued his career in Antwerp, where he was appointed city architect and fortification engineer. After 1585 he fled the city because of the Spanish occupation by Alessandro Farnese. Then the Protestants had to leave the city within two years. Vredeman de Vries moved to Frankfurt and worked in Wolfenbuttel, designing a fortification and a new lay-out of the city for Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. After his dead the project was cancelled and Hans worked in Hamburg, Danzig (1592), Prague (1596) and Amsterdam (1600). On his trips Vredeman was accompanied by his son Paul and Hendrick Aerts. Vredeman de Vries tried to get an appointment at the University of Leiden in 1604. It is not known when and where Hans Vredeman de Vries died. Paul was living in Hamburg when he inherited.
References
- "Vredeman de Vries, Hans". Winkler Prins encyclopedia (8). (1975).
- Lombaerde, Piet (2005). Hans Vredeman de Vries and the "Artes Mechanicae" revisited. Brepols.
External links
- The Delft University on Vredeman de Vries
- University of Heidelberg 28 Prints from "Pictores, statuarii, architecti, latomi, et quicunque principum magnificorumque virorum memoriae aeternae inservitis, adeste" (1620)
- Ornaments by Vredeman de Vries in a museum in Schleswig-Holstein
