(b ?Colmar, c. 1450; d Colmar, 1494). Painter and engraver, brother of (1) Martin Schongauer. He was probably an apprentice in the workshop of Caspar Isenmann in Colmar. He made his name in Ulm, married there and became a citizen in 1479, before becoming a citizen of Augsburg in 1486. He returned to Colmar after Martin’s death in 1491 and remained there until his own death. The fact that most of his training and subsequent activity were in three different places makes it difficult to define his work clearly. However, the similarity among engravings signed with his initials, woodcuts and a group of panel paintings allowed Stange (1954) to restore an oeuvre to this artist, previously known only from archives. The altarpiece of the Life of the Virgin from the Wengenkirche at Ulm (now in Ulm, Ulm. Mus. and priv. col.) demonstrates Ludwig Schongauer’s approach and shows that a High Rhenish style managed to flourish in a Swabian setting. He did not strive for monumental effects but was most at ease when working on a small scale. Other major works that have at times been attributed to him with certainty are now disputed. These include Christ before Pilate and the Resurrection (both New York, Met.), which are more likely the work of one of his brother’s followers; Zachariah in the Temple (Stuttgart, Staatsgal.), which is more typically Swabian; the altarpiece of the Virgin (Philadelphia, PA, Mus. A.; Paris, Louvre, on dep. Colmar, Mus. Unterlinden; Darmstadt, Ksthalle; and the Sarre priv. col.), where the style is so soft and any robustness so moderate that it seems to have little in common with the cruder and more expressive design of the Wengenkirche altarpiece; and the Portrait of a Young Woman (Switzerland, Kisters priv. col.), which has been attributed to both Ludwig and Martin Schongauer and remains a problem.

Part of the Schongauer family

• Schongauer, Ludwig
  • Schongauer
  • Schongauer: (1) Martin Schongauer, §1(i)(d): Paintings: Other attributions