His sculptures are mostly in stone, and are quite numerous in Würzburg and its vicinity. His monument to the Knight Eberhard von Grumbach, in the church at Rimpar, was probably his earliest important work. In it he has contrived to express strength and bravery of character in spite of the stiff costume, every detail of which is worked out (Fig. 91).
Fig. 91.—Count Eberhard von Grumbach.
Rimpar.
In 1495 Riemenschneider received the important commission to erect in Bamberg Cathedral a splendid monument to the Emperor Heinrich II. and his wife Kunigunde. This occupied him until 1513, and is a splendid example of his skill. The figures of the two royal personages lie upon a large sarcophagus; the statues are more than life-size, and are dressed in the fantastic costume of the fifteenth century. Upon the sides of the sarcophagus are five reliefs, representing as many scenes from the lives of the emperor and empress. The monuments and religious subjects executed by this sculptor are very numerous. In the church at Maidbrunn there is a relief representing the "Lamentation over the Dead Body of Christ," which is probably his latest work. It is cut from sandstone, and the figure of Nicodemus is believed to be the sculptor's own portrait.
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| Fig. 92.—Justice. Fig. 93.—The Three Wise Virgins. | |
We give here four figures from the portal of the cathedral at Berne, in Switzerland. The really splendid sculptures were the work of Nicolaus Künz, and from their style seem to belong to about 1520. They show the influence of such artists as the painters Nicolaus Manuel (1484-1531) and Hans Holbein (about 1459-1524). The statues of the Wise and Foolish Virgins are fine, and that of Justice, whose pose is full of grace, and whose almost transparent garment is an exquisite work, affords an excellent illustration of the most pleasing sculpture of this period (Figs. 92, 93).
Another art, which had its headquarters at Nuremberg in the fifteenth century, is bronze-casting, and its chief master was the famous Peter Vischer, who was the son of another brasier, Hermann Vischer. The date of Peter Vischer's birth is given as 1460, and he was admitted to be a master in his art in 1489. Five years later than this he was summoned to Heidelberg together with a sculptor, Simon Lamberger, to aid the Elector Philip with advice and skill. Nothing is known of any work which Vischer did there.
Vischer's foundry at Nuremberg enjoyed a great fame, and orders were sent to it from far and near. No doubt a great many monuments were cast here which were not designed by Vischer at all. His works were numerous, but I shall only describe his masterpiece, which was the shrine or tomb of St. Sebald, and occupied Peter Vischer from 1508 to 1519, he being assisted by his five sons. The son Peter was admitted as a master in the thimble trade in 1527. Hans was called "the caster," and seems to have superintended the carving of models; Hermann went to Italy and brought home designs and models; and Jacob and Paul seem to have had no special departments. Between 1495 and 1508 so little was recorded of Peter Vischer that it leads to the belief that these years must have been given to study and to the improvement which the tomb of St. Sebald shows over the work of the monument to Archbishop Ernst, in the Magdeburg Cathedral, which was done in 1495.
The bones of St. Sebald had been inclosed in a sarcophagus of the Middle Ages, and the work required of Vischer was a fitting tomb for such precious and honored relics, for St. Sebald is the special patron saint of Nuremberg, and dwelt in a cell near that city. His legend relates that he was the son of a Danish king, who came to Germany as a missionary and settled at Nuremberg, where he did many miraculous works of charity. On one occasion, during very cold weather, he is said to have found a family nearly frozen and without fuel; he commanded them to bring the icicles hanging from the roof and make a fire of them. They obeyed, and were thus warmed. Many such wonders are told of him, and Vischer in his statue makes him to appear as a pilgrim, with shell in hat, staff, rosary and wallet, while in his hand he holds a model of a church intended to represent that in which the tomb is erected. This Church of St. Sebald is now used for the Lutheran service, and the shrine still stands in the centre of the choir. (Fig. 94.)