Elsheimer, Adam (ä`däm ĕls`hīmər), 1578–1610?, German painter. After studying in Frankfurt, Munich, and Venice, he settled in Rome and worked for Pope Paul V. He painted small pictures on copper. They were chiefly of biblical and mythological subjects with landscape backgrounds, which he executed with minute precision. He had numerous students (including Pieter Lastman, who was the teacher of Rembrandt) and is thought to have had a considerable influence on Dutch landscape painting. Elsheimer was particularly successful in rendering light effects. His Good Samaritan is in the Louvre. Tobias and Coronis are both in the National Gallery in London.

Elsheimer, Adam

(baptized March 18, 1578, Frankfurt am Main—died December 1610, Rome, Papal States) German painter and printmaker. After studying in Frankfurt, he went to Rome in 1600 and began producing images of Italian Classical subjects, nocturnal scenes, and landscapes. He painted on small copper plates and executed drawings and etchings. He frequently depicted illumination by firelight, candlelight, and moonlight. His Flight into Egypt (1609) was the first painting to depict the constellations accurately. An important figure in the development of 17th-century landscape painting, he greatly influenced Dutch, Italian, and French artists. He died at age 32.