The Hand and the Brush Niklas Prucker lived through a period of shifting borders and changing tastes in Germany. Born in 1620, his life spanned much of the seventeenth century, ending in 1694. He was a painter who worked with the steady, practiced hand of a man accustomed to the quiet demands of his craft. His name appears in various records under many spellings—Nikolaus Prucker, Nikolaus Brucher, and even Nicolas Prucker—suggesting a…