Painter and engraver, b. atNuremberg, 1434; d. there, 1519. He was the most prominentartist ofNuremberg in the fifteenth century, and was selected topaint the greataltar-piece for the church of Zwickau. He was the pupil and assistant of Hans Playdenwurff, and, though a very great master, must not be regarded as the equal of Pleydenwurff, whose technique he carefully copied and adopted. Perhaps his greatest claim toimmortality is the fact that he wasDürer's master, working with him between 1486 and 1490. "At that time the workshop of Wolgemut must have been one of the busiest in the city, frequented", says Mr. Campbell Dodgson, "by all the bestpainters, carvers, and wood engravers of the day." Whether Wolgemut himself was a wood engraver is not definitely known, but undoubtedly many of the altar-pieces carved in wood were carved in his workshop, and Veitoss the eminent carver, was one of his friends and companions, and worked with him in the production of carved andpainted altar-pieces. He was certainly responsible for some wood-cuts, and the designs for severalstained glasswindows inNuremberg are also attributed to him. His most important picture after that of Zurcken is in theparish church at Crailsheim; otherpaintings by him are at Schwaback, Hersbruck,Munich, andNuremberg. He was an ardentCatholic, and a man of great devotion, praised by his contemporaries for his upright life.
See the works of THODE on Wolgemut and on the painters of Nuremberg; CAMPBELL DODGSON, Catalogue of German and Flemish Wood-cuts; various articles in The Prussian Year-Book by VAN LOGA, LEHRS, THODE, and SCHEIBLER.
APA citation.Williamson, G.(1912).Michael Wolgemut. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15684a.htm
MLA citation.Williamson, George."Michael Wolgemut."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 15.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1912.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15684a.htm>.
Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by Michael T. Barrett.Dedicated to the memory of Michael Wolgemut.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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