Hans Schwarz is first documented in 1506, listed in the Augsburg guild register as an apprentice to the sculptor Stephan Schwarz. After completing his training, he produced the first portrait medals, cast in metal from wooden models, of Augsburg patricians. In 1518, at the time of the Augsburg Diet, Schwarz portrayed such important figures of his time as Albrecht of Brandenburg and Georg of Saxony. After 1519 he lived in Nuremberg, and there created some fifty medals before he was banished from the city as the result of a brawl. He then travelled to Heidelberg, Speyer, and in 1521 to the Diet of Worms, where he is last documented. In addition to wooden reliefs, his oeuvre comprises some 175 bronze medals and wooden models and 130 portrait drawings that served as studies. He is considered the founder of the German portrait medal.
