Gerhard, Hubert (c. 1545–1620)

Netherlands sculptor. Trained in Italy, he imported to northern Europe the so-called Mannerist style of sculpture. He worked for several important patrons, including the Fugger banking family in Augsburg and Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria in Munich. In Augsburg he created the Augustus fountain, the first major work of monumental German sculpture to incorporate the latest Italian fashions.

He worked in Augburg for the Fuggers from 1581, and his commissions included figures and fittings for Hans Fugger's new castle at Kirchheim (1583–95), as well as the courtyard fountain showing Mars and Venus embracing. His Augustus fountain in Augsburg was erected in 1594 to celebrate the city's centenary.

From 1584 he worked for the Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria in Munich. The first sculptor of note to work in Munich for many years, he made sculptures for Wilhelm's palace there (the Residenz) and for the Church of St Michael which Wilhelm was building for the Jesuits. After Wilhelm abdicated in 1597, Gerhard moved to the court of his successor, Archduke Maximilian I, at Innsbruck.