Michael Wolgemut | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Michael Wolgemut byAlbrecht Dürer, circa 1516. | |
| Born | 1434 Nuremberg,Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 30 November 1519(1519-11-30) (aged 85) |
| Resting place | Nuremberg |
| Occupation | Painter andprintmaker. |
| Spouse | Hans Pleydenwurff's widow |
| Children | Wilhelm Pleydenwurff |
Michael Wolgemut (formerly speltWohlgemuth; 1434 – 30 November 1519) was a German painter andprintmaker, who ran a workshop inNuremberg. He is best known as having taught the youngAlbrecht Dürer.
The importance of Wolgemut as an artist rests not only on his own individual works, but also on the fact that he was the head of a large workshop, in which many different branches of the fine arts were carried on by a great number of pupil-assistants, including Albrecht Dürer, who completed an apprenticeship with him between 1486 and 1489. In hisatelier large altar-pieces and other sacred paintings were executed, and also elaborate carved painted woodretables, consisting of crowded subjects in high relief, richly decorated with gold and colour.[1]
Wolgemut was a leader among the artists reviving the standards of Germanwoodcut at this time. The production of woodcuts was a large part of the work of the workshop, the blocks being cut from Wolgemut's designs. They were mostly made to supply the many publishers in Nuremberg with book illustrations, with the most attractive also being sold separately. Wolgemut's woodcuts followed the advances inengraving, depicting volume and shading to a much greater extent than before.[citation needed] Many are remarkable for their vigour and clever adaptation to the special necessities of the technique of woodcut.[1] Nonetheless, they were very often hand-coloured before or after sale. His pupil Dürer was to build on and to so surpass his achievement that it is often overlooked.
Wolgemut's paintings showFlemish influence, and he may have traveled within Flanders (modernBelgium and surrounding areas).
Wolgemut trained with his father Valentin Wolgemut (who died in 1469 or 1470) and is thought to have been an assistant toHans Pleydenwurff in Nuremberg. He worked with Gabriel Malesskircher in Munich early in 1471,[2] leaving the city after unsuccessfully suing Malesskircher's daughter for breach of contract, claiming she had broken off their engagement.[3] He then returned to his late father's workshop in Nuremberg, which his mother had maintained since Valentin's death.[2]
In 1472 he married Pleydenwurff's widow and took over his workshop;[3] her sonWilhelm Pleydenwurff worked as an assistant, and from 1491 a partner, to Wolgemut. Some consider Wilhelm a finer artist than Wolgemut, however he died in January 1494, when he was probably still in his thirties. Wilhelm'soeuvre remains unclear, though works in various media have been attributed to him.[citation needed]
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Two large and copiously illustrated books have woodcuts supplied by Wolgemut and his stepson Wilhelm Pleydenwurff; both were printed and published by Germany's largest publisher, the NurembergerAnton Koberger, who was also Dürer's godfather. The first is theSchatzbehalter der wahren Reichthumer des Heils (1491); the other is theHistoria mundi, bySchedel (1493), usually known as theNuremberg Chronicle, which is highly valued, not for the text, but for its remarkable collection of 1,809 spirited illustrations.[1] Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff were first commissioned to provide the illustrations in 1487 and 1488, and a further contract of 29 December 1491 commissioned manuscript layouts of the text and illustrations. A further contact of 1492 stipulated that Koberger should provide a locked room for the blocks to be kept safely. A drawing by Wolgemut for the elaborate frontispiece, dated 1490, is in theBritish Museum.[5] As with other books of the period, many of the woodcuts, showing towns, battles or kings were used more than once in the book, with the text labels merely changed. The book is large, with a double-page woodcut measuring about 342x500mm.
The earliest known work by Wolgemut is aretable consisting of four panels, dated 1465, now in theMunich gallery, a decorative work of much beauty. In 1479 he painted the retable of the high altar in the church of St Mary atZwickau, which still exists, receiving for it the large sum of 1400 gulden. One of his finest and largest works is the great retable painted for the church of theAugustinian friars at Nuremberg, now moved into the museum; it consists of a great many panels, with figures of locally venerated saints.[1]
In 1501 Wolgemut was employed to decorate the town hall atGoslar with a large series of paintings; some on the ceiling are on panel, and others on the walls are painted thinly intempera on canvas. As a portrait-painter he enjoyed much repute, and some of his works of this class are very admirable for their realistic vigour and minute finish.[1]
Outside Germany Wolgemut's paintings are scarce: the Royal Institution atLiverpool possesses two good examples--Pilate washing his Hands, andThe Deposition from the Cross, parts probably of a large altar-piece. During the last ten years of his life Wohlgemut appears to have produced little by his own hand. One of his latest paintings is the retable atSchwabach, executed in 1508, the contract for which still exists. He died at Nuremberg in 1519.[1]
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One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Wohlgemuth, Michael".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 769.
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