Stoss, Veit

SCULPTOR, ENGRAVER, PAINTER (HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE)
BORN c1447, Horb am Neckar, Baden-Württemberg - DIED 1533, Nürnberg, Bayern
GRAVE LOCATION Nürnberg, Bayern: Sankt-Johannis Friedhof (I, 0268)

Veit Stoss came from Horb am Neckar, a city in Baden-Württemberg. He was a pupil of Nikolaus Gerhard. In 1743 he moved to Nürnberg, where he married Barbara Hertz. They had a son there, Andreas. In 1477 he left for Kraków, where he made the wooden altar for St. Mary's Church (finished in 1484).

In 1496 he returned to Nürnberg. By now he and his wife had eight children. Between 1500 and 1503 he created a wooden altar for the schurch of Schwaz in Tirol. In 1503 he made a copy of the seal and signature of a fraudulent contractor. This came out and he was branded on both cheeks and forbidden to leave Nürnberg without the permission of the city council.

However, he soon left the ciry, because in 1504 he painted the altar of Tilman Riemenschneider at Münnerstadt and he also made the altar for Bamberg cathedral. In 1506 he was once more arrested in Nürnberg. The emperor Maximilian wrote a letter in which he pardoned him, but the city of Nürnberg rejected this, stating that it was an internal affair. In 1512 Maximilian asked his advice for the imperial tomb at the Hofkirche in Innsbruck.

His fame had spread to Italy and from 1515 to 1520 he worked for the Florentine merchant Raphael Torrigiani, for whom he made "Tobias and the Angel" (Germanisches Museum, Nürnberg). He died in 1533 in Nürnberg.

Images

The grave of Veit Stoss at the Sankt-Johannis Friedhof, Nürnberg.
Picture by Androom (11 Aug 1998)

 

The grave of Veit Stoss at the Sankt-Johannisfriedhof, Nürnberg.
Picture by Androom (28 Feb 2009)

 

Sources
• Fischer, Manfred F., Ruhmeshalle und Bavaria, Bayerische Verwaltung der Staatlichen Schlösser, München, 1987
• Schwemmer, Wilhelm, Nuremberg, A Guide to the Old Town, Nuremberg Tourist Office, Nürnberg, 1991
Veit Stoss - Wikipedia


Stöwer, Willy

Published: 26 Dec 2008
Last update: 05 Mar 2024