Hans Gieng

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Hans Gieng (first mentioned 1525, died 1562) was a Swiss Renaissance sculptor best known for his public fountain figures in Bern’s Old Town and in Fribourg. He was probably of Swabian origin and became a Fribourg citizen and a member of the traders’ guild in 1527. He most likely learned his craft in the workshop of Hans Geiler and took over in 1533. For a long time Geiler and Gieng were thought to be the same person, but modern research treats them as two artists.

Gieng worked mainly in Fribourg, but he also did work in Bern in the 1540s, in Solothurn from 1554 to 1556, and in St. Gallen in 1557. His style follows Swabian traditions: his religious pieces stay in a Gothic mood, while his secular works are strong, realistic, and bold.

In Freiburg his key works include the Renaissance council table (1546) and the seven public fountains (1547–60), which are among the most important Swiss sculpture of the period. He is credited with creating several of Bern’s fountains built between 1542 and 1546. The records about him are scarce: a 1543 council diary mentions “Master Hans, sculptor, living at the Great Hospital.” Because the fountain figures are unsigned, authorship has been debated. In 1945, Paul Schenk’s Berner Brunnen-Chronik credited him with three fountains with certainty—the Pfeiferbrunnen (Piper Fountain), the Kindlifresserbrunnen (Ogre Fountain), and the Simsonbrunnen (Samson Fountain)—and suggested he may have made others. Later scholars are more confident that Gieng created most of Bern’s fountains.

Beyond fountains, Gieng also made monumental crucifixes, stonework for the church at Tafers, statues, tombstones, and heraldic designs.