 He was born in about 1480-85, presumably in Strasbourg, then in Germany and now in France, where his father, also called Hans Wechtlin, was a cloth merchant.Most of his identified works are woodcut book illustrations, the first, scenes from the "Life of Christ", are from a Strasbourg book of 1502, and the last is a Strasbourg title-page of 1526.In 1505 he began a year of employment as a painter to René II, Duke of Lorraine in Nancy.