Background
Stoss was born at Horb am Neckar before 1450; his exact date of birth is unknown though it may have been in 1447. Nothing about his life is known for certain before 1473.
Stoss was born at Horb am Neckar before 1450; his exact date of birth is unknown though it may have been in 1447. Nothing about his life is known for certain before 1473.
He worked in Krakow from 1477 to 1496, where he was highly regarded, and where he left one of his greatest works, the High Altar of the Church of Our Lady (1477 - 1489). From 1496 until his death in 1533, Stoss worked in Nurnberg, weathering a period of disgrace and legal prosecution arising out of a confessed dishonesty. Though Stoss's origin is controversial, his style and the construction of his large religious works correspond closely to the late Gothic types of southern Germany. Brilliantly realistic in detail, these compositions have a general effect of artificial intensity due to the strained postures of the figures and the overelaborate folds of the heavy drapery. The folds, in fact, often become so complex as to develop a fascination and a sense of drama all their own. The outstanding work by Stoss in Nurnberg is the great Rosary, containing a representation of the Annunciation (1517 - 1518), which hangs over the choir in the Church of St. Lawrence. Like the Altar in Krakow, it is carved in wood and preserves the elaborate polychromy of late Gothic work. Stoss also did some stone carving, notably the tombs of two Polish archbishops in the Cathedral of Gnesen. Veit Stoss was buried at St. Johannis cemetery in Nuremberg. His artistic legacy was continued by his son Stanisław.
In 1473 he married Barbara Hertz. They had eight children.