Witz, Konrad (c. 1400–c. 1445)

German-born Swiss painter. His sharply observed realism suggests that he was familiar with the work of contemporary Flemish artists such as Jan van Eyck. Lake Geneva is the setting for a biblical story in his The Miraculous Draught of Fishes (1444, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva), one of the earliest recognizable landscapes in European art.

Witz was the son of a painter who worked for Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. He went with his father to Burgundy and the Netherlands, and was influenced by the art of both. He worked mainly in Basel, developing a strength and sureness of design which can be seen in the Annunciation of about 1445 (Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg).