Veit Stoss | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Before 1450 |
| 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:[faɪtˈʃtoːs], also spelledStoß andStuoss;Polish:Wit Stwosz;Latin:Vitus Stoss; before 1450 – about 20 September 1533) was a leadingGerman sculptor, mostly working with wood, whose career covered the transition between the lateGothic and theNorthern Renaissance. His style emphasized pathos and emotion, helped by his virtuoso carving of billowing drapery; it has been called "late GothicBaroque".[1] He had a large workshop, and in addition to his own works there are a number by pupils. He is best known for thealtarpiece inSt. Mary's Basilica inKraków,Poland.
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 withHorb am Neckar nearStuttgart in 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 inAarau 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 toNuremberg inFranconia 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 enormouspolychrome woodenAltar of Veit Stoss (Ołtarz Wita Stwosza) atSt Mary's Church in Kraków. His sonStanisław who was born in Kraków the next year was also a sculptor.
Veit lived and worked in Kraków for almost twenty years, from 1477–1496. His name is usuallypolonized as Wit Stwosz.[3] The altar in Kraków was completed in 1489, and was the largesttriptych 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 thetomb of Casimir IV inWawel Cathedral, the marble tomb ofZbigniew Oleśnicki inGniezno, and the altar ofSaint 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 ofHans Frank – the Governor-General ofthat region ofoccupied Poland – the dismantled Altar was shipped toNazi Germany around 1941. It was rediscovered in 1945 inBavaria, hidden in the basement of the heavily bombedNuremberg Castle.[6] The High Altar underwent major restoration work in Poland and was put back in its place atthe Basilica ten years later.[3]
In 1496, Stoss returned to Nuremberg with his wife and eight children. He reacquired his citizenship for threegulden and resumed his work there as a sculptor. Between 1500 and 1503 he carved an altar, now lost, for the parish church ofSchwaz,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 byEmperor Maximilian and his civil rights reinstated.[7]
Despite the prohibition he went toMünnerstadt in 1504, to paint and gild the altarpiece thatTilman 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 forBamberg Cathedral and various other sculptures in Nuremberg, including theAnnunciation andTobias 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 theImperial 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 theHofkirche,Innsbruck; it seems Stoss's attempts to cast inbrass were unsuccessful.
During the period 1515–1520, Veit Stoss received a commission for sculptures byRaffaele Torrigiani, a richFlorentine merchant. In 1516 he madeTobias and the Angel (now in Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg), and a statue of SaintRoch for theBasilica 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 theplague sore in his thigh. EvenGiorgio Vasari, who did not think much of artists north of the Alps, praised it in hisLe Vite and called it "a miracle in wood", though misattributing it.[11]
Veit Stoss was buried at St. Johannis cemetery in Nuremberg.[12]
His artistic legacy was continued by his sons, of whom Stanislaus (Polish: Stanisław; d. 1528), worked from 1505 on as awoodcarver in Crakow,[13][14] while three other sons settled in Transylvania sometime after 1515: Johann (Hans; painter and woodcarver, author of masterfulwinged 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]
Veit Stoss is featured inJudith Weir'sopera,The Black Spider. He is one of the singing sculptors in Act 3 Scene 2 inside theWawel Cathedral. He is shown chiseling at the tomb of KingCasimir IV.There is a Polish book (1913) and film (1961)Historia żółtej ciżemki (The story of a yellow crakow)[16] about Veit Stoss in Cracow.
Among the pupils of this great master who became famous were Stanislaw Stwosz the younger...
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