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Veit Stoss

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Veit Stoss
Born Before 1450
Horb am Neckar, Further Austria, Holy Roman Empire
Died 20 September 1533 (aged 83 or older)
Nuremberg, Free Imperial City of Nuremberg, Holy Roman Empire
Resting place St. Johannis Cemetery, Nuremberg
Known for Sculpture
Movement Late Gothic, Northern Renaissance

Veit Stoss (German: [faɪt ˈʃtoːs], also spelled Stoß and Stuoss; Polish: Wit Stwosz; Latin: Vitus Stoss; before 1450 – about 20 September 1533) was a leading German sculptor, mostly working with wood, whose career covered the transition between the late Gothic and the Northern Renaissance. His style emphasized pathos and emotion, helped by his virtuoso carving of billowing drapery; it has been called "late Gothic Baroque".[1] He had a large workshop, and in addition to his own works there are a number by pupils. He is best known for the altarpiece in St. Mary's Basilica in Kraków, Poland.

Early life and marriage

According to the contracts and other official documents written in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Stoss was born in a place pronounced as Horb or Horbn. Most researchers identify this place with Horb am Neckar near Stuttgart in what is now Germany. However, there are artistic traces indicating that Stoss's early education could have taken place in the modern Switzerland. Moreover, his brother was certainly born in Aarau in northern Switzerland, which suggests that the artist's family lived in the region and that Stoss was rather born in the town of Horben, located 30 km southeast of Aarau[2] His exact date of birth is unknown though it must have been shortly before 1450. Nothing about his life is known for certain before 1473 when he moved to Nuremberg in Franconia and married Barbara Hertz. Their eldest son Andreas was born there before 1477, when Stoss moved to Kraków, the royal capital of Poland, where he was commissioned to produce the enormous polychrome wooden Altar of Veit Stoss (Ołtarz Wita Stwosza) at St Mary's Church in Kraków. His son Stanisław who was born in Kraków the next year was also a sculptor.

In Kraków (1477–1496)

Veit lived and worked in Kraków for almost twenty years, from 1477–1496. His name is usually polonized as Wit Stwosz.[3] The altar in Kraków was completed in 1489, and was the largest triptych of its time. Like Stoss' other large works, it required a large workshop including specialized painters and gilders.[4] Other important works from Stoss' period in Poland were the tomb of Casimir IV in Wawel Cathedral, the marble tomb of Zbigniew Oleśnicki in Gniezno, and the altar of Saint Stanislaus. The Polish court was more aware of Italian styles than Nuremberg patrons of that time, and some of Stoss' Polish work used Renaissance classical ornament.[5]

During World War II, on the order of Hans Frank – the Governor-General of that region of occupied Poland – the dismantled Altar was shipped to Nazi Germany around 1941. It was rediscovered in 1945 in Bavaria, hidden in the basement of the heavily bombed Nuremberg Castle.[6] The High Altar underwent major restoration work in Poland and was put back in its place at the Basilica ten years later.[3]

In Nuremberg (1496-1533)

In 1496, Stoss returned to Nuremberg with his wife and eight children. He reacquired his citizenship for three gulden and resumed his work there as a sculptor. Between 1500 and 1503 he carved an altar, now lost, for the parish church of Schwaz, Tyrol of the "Assumption of Mary". In 1503, he was arrested for forging the seal and signature of a fraudulent contractor and was sentenced to be branded on both of his cheeks and prohibited from leaving Nuremberg without the explicit permission of the city council. He was pardoned in 1506 by Emperor Maximilian and his civil rights reinstated.[7]

Despite the prohibition he went to Münnerstadt in 1504, to paint and gild the altarpiece that Tilman Riemenschneider had left in plain wood ten years earlier, presumably according to his contract (unlike Stoss, his workshop did not include painters and gilders). Leaving wood sculpture unpainted was a new taste at the time, and "perhaps the tastes of the city council were somewhat provincial."[8] He also created the altar for Bamberg Cathedral and various other sculptures in Nuremberg, including the Annunciation and Tobias and the Angel. In 1506 he was arrested a second time. In 1507, Emperor Maximilian wrote a letter of pardon. The sole argument was made on the account of his genius. The council of the Imperial free city Nuremberg refused to give him a public notice. But Maximilian's intervention saved him from the dungeons and having his hands chopped off.[9][10] He was able to resettle in Nuremberg from 1506, but was shunned by the council and received few large commissions from that time onwards.[1] In 1512, the Emperor asked Stoss to help with the planning of his tomb monument, which was eventually placed in the Hofkirche, Innsbruck; it seems Stoss's attempts to cast in brass were unsuccessful.

During the period 1515–1520, Veit Stoss received a commission for sculptures by Raffaele Torrigiani, a rich Florentine merchant. In 1516 he made Tobias and the Angel (now in Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg), and a statue of Saint Roch for the Basilica of Santissima Annunziata in Florence. This wooden statue represents the saint in a traditional way: in the garb of a pilgrim, lifting his tunic to demonstrate the plague sore in his thigh. Even Giorgio Vasari, who did not think much of artists north of the Alps, praised it in his Le Vite and called it "a miracle in wood", though misattributing it.[11]

Veit Stoss was buried at St. Johannis cemetery in Nuremberg.[12]

Artistic sons

His artistic legacy was continued by his sons, of whom Stanisław d. 1528, worked from 1505 on as a woodcarver in Kraków,[13][14] while three other sons settled in Transylvania sometime after 1515: Johann (Hans; painter and woodcarver, author of masterful winged altarpieces; d. before 1531) in Schäßburg (Sighişoara), goldsmith Martin in Medwisch (Mediaş), and woodcarver Veit the Younger in Kronstadt (Braşov), where he died before 1534.[14][15]

Wit Stwosz is featured in Judith Weir's opera, The Black Spider. He is one of the singing sculptors in Act 3 Scene 2 inside the Wawel Cathedral. He is shown chiseling at the tomb of King Casimir IV. There is a Polish book (1913) and film (1961) Historia żółtej ciżemki (The story of a yellow crakow)[16] about Wit Stwosz in Krakow.

See also

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Veit Stoss — <!— p. 310 —>

Stoss, Veit, sculptor, b. at Nuremberg in 1438; d. there in 1533. In 1477 he established a large work shop at Cracow, Poland, but in 1496 he returned to

Image:Death and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin - Veit Stoss, Church of Our Lady, Cracow, 1477-84

Nuremberg. With Adam Kraft and Peter Vischer, he is considered the most important representative of the late Gothic sculpture in Germany. A quick, skilful workman, of great technical ability, in his youth he carried naturalism to the extreme, while often there was a lack of spirituality. Perhaps this may be traced to a trait of his own character as in the documents of the same era he is spoken of as a "restless, unquiet citizen". A certain lack of repose is evident, especially in his treatment of the drapery, while in his entire handling of the figure he is very independent of the Gothic style and carries out his designs in his own manner throughout. His later works, however, show an undoubted depth of feeling. Moreover, the question as to the number of his productions is not yet satisfactorily settled; the latest investigation regards him as the creator of most of the works of the celebrated Vischer, whom it represents as merely the bronze-founder who carried out Stoss's designs. His earliest work (1477) is the celebrated altar of the Blessed Virgin in the Church of Our Lady at Cracow, which is made in three parts, as an altar with wings. In the centre is seen the almost life-size figure of the <!— p. 311 —>Mother of God as she sinks dying into the arms of an Apostle. Another altar of his in this church has reliefs depicting six scenes in the life of St. Stanislaus. The fine qualities of this work, especially the animation of the portrayal and the effective composition, obtained for him in 1492 the commission of making the tomb of King Casimir IV in the Cathedral of Cracow. Probably, however, he only prepared the design of the marble sarcophagus; the king is represented in his coronation robes, while statuettes showing the people as mourners are placed on the sides. For unknown reasons Stoss returned to Nuremberg, where he accomplished a large amount of work; however, only a few of the works attributed to him are authentic, as in former times nearly every important piece of carving in southern Germany was ascribed to him. Perhaps his best work is the "Salutation of the Angel" in the Church of St. Laurence at Nuremberg (1518): the archangel, a finely conceived figure, and Mary, are surrounded by a huge wreath of roses in which are inwoven the Seven Joys of Mary; the figure of the Blessed Virgin is however somewhat commonplace. Other excellent but less celebrated productions are the memorial table of Konrad Imhoff, now in the national museum at Munich, and the reliefs of the Carrying of the Cross and the Burial of Christ in the Church of Our Lady at Nuremberg. Of the altars which he carved, mention should be made of those at Schwabach, Bamberg, and of that in the Church of St. Ægidius at Nuremberg.

DAUN, Veit Stoss und seine Schule (Leipzig, 1903); IDEM, Veit Stoss (Bielefield, 1906); STASIAK, Die Wahrheit uber Peter Vischer (Cracow, 1910).

Beda Kleinschmidt.

References

  1. Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Snyder 1985, p. 309
  2. Back to citation Kępiński, Zbigniew (1981). Wit Stwosz. Auriga. pp. 7–9.
  3. Back to citation occurrence 3.0 Back to citation occurrence 3.1 Życie i twórczość Wita Stwosza (Life and Art of Wit Stwosz.) Jagiellonian University (in Polish)
  4. Back to citation Snyder, 308–309
  5. Back to citation "Janusz Kębłowski, Wit Stwosz w Krakowie (Wit Stwosz in Krakow)". Archived from the original on 2003-06-07. Retrieved 2011-03-23.
  6. Back to citation Kirkpatrick
  7. Back to citation Durant, Will (1957). The Reformation. Simon and Schuster: New York. p. 307.
  8. Back to citation Snyder, 305
  9. Back to citation Grössing, Sigrid-Maria (2002). Maximilian I.: Kaiser, Künstler, Kämpfer (in German). Amalthea. p. 233. ISBN 978-3-85002-485-3. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  10. Back to citation Weilandt, Gerhard. Stoß, Veit - Deutsche Biographie (in German). Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  11. Back to citation Baxandall
  12. Back to citation "St. Johannisfriedhof > Prominente". Evangelisch-Lutherische Friedhofsverwaltung, St. Johannis und St. Rochus. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  13. Back to citation Piltz, Erasmus, ed. (1909). Poland, her people, history, industries, finance, science, literature, art, and social development. London: H. Jenkins Limited. p. 360. Retrieved 18 January 2018. “Among the pupils of this great master who became famous were Stanislaw Stwosz the younger...”
  14. Back to citation occurrence 14.0 Back to citation occurrence 14.1 Weilandt, Gerhard (2013). "Stoß, Veit". Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German). Vol. 25 (online version ed.). München: Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. pp. 458–461. Retrieved 4 October 2025.
  15. Back to citation Burnichioiu, Ileana (2018). Biserici parohiale și capele private din comitatele Alba și Hunedoara (1200-1550) [Parish churches and private chapels in Alba and Hunedoara counties (1200-1550)] (in Romanian). Editura Mega. p. 288, nota 1512. Retrieved 4 October 2025 – via Academia.edu.
  16. Back to citation "Story of the Golden Boot" – via imdb.com.

Bibliography

  • Baxandall, Michael (1980). The Limewood Sculptors of Renaissance Germany. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-02829-6.
  • Bautz, Traugott, ed. (1996). "Stoss, Veit". Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 11. Herzberg: Bautz. cols. 1–5. ISBN 3-88309-064-6.
  • R. Kahnsitz, ed. (1983). Veit Stoss in Nürnberg. Werke des Meisters und seiner Schule in Nürnberg und Umgebung (catalogue of the exhibition) (in German). Munich.
  • Kepinski, Zdzislaw (1981). Veit Stoss (in German). Verlag der Kunst. ISBN 83-221-0138-4.
  • Kirkpatrick, Sidney (2010). Hitler's Holy Relics. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4165-9062-0.
  • Schultz, Ellen, ed. (1986). Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 978-0-87099-466-1.
  • Skubiszewski, Piotr (1978). "Der Stil des Veit Stoss" (in German). 41 (2). Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte: 93–133.
  • Snyder, James (1985). Northern Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, the Graphic Arts From 1350 to 1575. Prentice-Hall / Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 0-13-623596-4.

Further reading

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