Amsler, Samuel

Amsler, Samuel a distinguished modern engraver, was born at Schinznach, in the canton of Aargau, Switzerland, in 1791. He studied under Lips and Hess, and practiced chiefly in Rome from 1816 until 1829, when he succeeded his former master, Hess, as professor of copper-engraving in the Munich Academy. He possessed wonderful skill in retaining the expression of the original from which he worked. He was a passionate admirer of Raphael, and had great success in reproducing his works. Amsler's principal engravings are, The Triumphal March of Alexander the Great and a full- length Christ, after the sculptures of Thorwaldsen and Dannecker; the Burial of Christ and two Madonnas, after Raphael; and the Triumph of Religion in the Arts, after Overbeck, his last, on which he spent six years. He died May 18, 1849. See Encyclop. Brit. (9th ed.), s.v.