Michael Wolgemut

Biography
1434 - 1519

About the artist

Michael Wolgemut, also spelled Wohlgemut or Wohlgemuth, was a celebrated Gothic painter and printmaker. In 1471 he worked with Gabriel Malesskircher in Munich. In 1472 he married Barbara, widow of the painter Hans Pleydenwurff. Michael Wolgemut produced large altarpieces, portraits and book illustrations.

The altarpieces of the St. Jakob Basilika (Straubing, circa 1475-1476), the Marienkirche (Zwickau, 1476-1479), the Stiftskirche (Feuchtwanger, 1484) and the Heiligkreuzkirche (Nürnberg, 1486) were made in his large workshop, in which many different branches of fine arts were practiced by many pupils.

In collaboration with his stepson Wilhelm Pleydendorff he completed the designs for the woodcuts of the Liber chronicarum by Hartmann Schedel in 1493 and the woodcuts of Schatzbehalter der wahren Reichtümer des Heils by Stephan Fridolin in 1491. Wolgemut adapted 15th-century early Netherlandish styles to local taste. His designs for woodcut were surpassed by his pupil Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528).

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