chester by the bishop of London. Here he soon made a
name for himself as the champion of Calvinism in his de-
bate with the minister of the Arminians (see ARMINIANISM)
at Rotterdam in 1613. Between 1622 and 1633 he was pro-
fessor of theology at Franeker university in Friesland,
where his reputation was such that he attracted students
from all over Europe. Ill health led to his resignation and
he died at Rotterdam a few months later.
Amman, Jobst (1539–1591) Swiss-born print maker and
designer of stained glass
The son of a choirmaster and teacher of rhetoric, Amman
worked first as a stained-glass designer in his native
Zürich before moving, successively, to Schaffhausen,
Basle, and Nuremberg. Although he is not documented as
an assistant of Virgil SOLIS, he was effectively the latter’s
successor as the leading book illustrator in Nuremberg.
His voluminous output included numerous ornamental
and heraldic prints and title-pages, as well as narrative il-
lustrations. He received numerous commissions from hu-
manists and editors, such as Sigmund Feyerabend of
Frankfurt. In 1574 he married the widow of a Nuremberg
goldsmith and became a citizen of his adopted city. On ac-
count of his commissions he traveled widely: to Augsburg
(1578), Frankfurt and Heidelberg (1583), Würzburg
(1586–87), and Altdorf (1590). Amman’s penetrating por-
traits, such as Hans Sachs and Wenzel Jamnitzer, and his
genre works and studies, such as the Series of Animals,
constitute his finest work.
Ammanati, Bartolommeo (1511–1592) Italian sculptor
Born near Florence, Ammanati trained in the workshop
of Pisa cathedral, where his first independent work is
found (1536). In 1540 he tried to make his mark in Flo-
rence with a private commission for the tomb of Jacopo
Nari, but it was sabotaged by the jealous BANDINELLI, leav-
ing only the effigy and a good allegorical group of Victory
(both Bargello, Florence). Ammanati left for Venice,
where he was helped and influenced by his fellow-
countryman Jacopo SANSOVINO. His principal sculptures
in north Italy were Michelangelesque allegories for the
palace and the tomb of the humanist Marco Benavides
(1489–1582) in the Eremitani church in Padua.
After Pope Julius III was elected (1550) Ammanati
moved to Rome, where he executed all the sculpture on
the monuments to members of the pope’s family in San
Pietro in Montorio. The portrait effigies and allegories are
among Ammanati’s masterpieces. Moving with VASARIto
Florence, he entered the service of the Medici dukes. His
spectacular fountain of Juno has six over-life-size marble
figures mounted on a rainbow (components now in the
Bargello). Ammanati’s best-known sculpture is the foun-
tain of Neptune in the Piazza della Signoria, Florence
(c. 1560–75). The central figure was carved out of a colos-
sal block of marble already begun by Bandinelli before his
death (1560); this inhibited Ammanati’s treatment. More
successful are the surrounding bronze figures of marine
deities, fauns, and satyrs, modeled and cast under his su-
pervision. These figures and his Ops, a female nude stat-
uette that Ammanati contributed (1572–73) to the
Studiolo of Francesco de’ Medici, epitomize his style,
which concentrates on grace of form at the expense of
emotion. Ammanati rivalled Vasari as a mannerist archi-
tect, with his amazingly bold but capricious rustication in
the courtyard of the Palazzo Pitti (1558–70) and his grace-
ful bridge of Sta. Trinità (1567–70). By 1582 the COUNTER-
REFORMATIONhad so strongly influenced the sculptor that
he denounced on moral grounds the public display of
nude sculpture.Amorbach, Johannes See AMERBACH, JOHANNESAmsdorf, Nikolaus von (1483–1565) German Lutheran
theologian
Probably born at Torgau on the Elbe, Amsdorf studied at
Wittenberg, where he later met LUTHER. He soon became a
close friend and one of Luther’s most determined support-
ers. Amsdorf assisted in the translation of the Bible and ac-
companied Luther to the Leipzig conference (1519) and
the Diet of WORMS(1521). He became an evangelical
preacher, spreading word of the Reformation at Magde-
burg (1524), Goslar (1531), Einbeck (1534), and Schmal-
kald (1537). John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, appointed
him bishop of Naumburg-Zeitz in 1542, a post he held
until 1547. In 1548 he helped found the university of
Jena, and, in the same year actively opposed the Interim of
AUGSBURG. From 1552 until his death he lived at Eisenach,
remaining a conservative and influential Lutheran.Amsterdam A Netherlands city and port on the Ijs-
selmeer, an inlet of the North Sea. As a small fishing vil-
lage Amsterdam gained toll privileges from Count Floris V
of Holland in 1275 and prospered during the Renaissance
to become Holland’s largest commercial center by the late
15th century. Political developments, combined with the
expansion of trade, fishing, and shipbuilding, made 16th-
century Amsterdam one of the greatest European financial
and commercial centers. Its citizens rejected Spanish rule
and adopted the Calvinist cause under the leadership of
WILLIAM THE SILENT(1578); they profited from the Span-
ish recapture of Antwerp (1585) and the subsequent clo-
sure of the River Scheldt to trade. By the early 17th
century Amsterdam had close to 100,000 inhabitants and
could claim to be not only Europe’s financial capital but
also a center of world trade, especially the tea and spice
trades. Its institutions included the Dutch East India
Company (founded 1602), the Amsterdam exchange bank
(founded 1609), and the Amsterdam stock exchange. The
Nieuwe Kerk is the city’s most notable surviving Renais-
sance building.1144 AAmmmmaann,, JJoobbsstt