Adam Kraft
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Adam Kraft (or Krafft) (?January 1509) was a German stone
sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
and master builder of the late Gothic period, based in
Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...
and with a documented career there from 1490. It is not known where Kraft was born and raised; his hand has been claimed to be evident as an assistant in works in
Ulm Minster Ulm Minster () is a Gothic Architecture, Gothic church (building), church located in Ulm, State of Baden-Württemberg (Germany). It was originally built as a Roman Catholic church (building), church but became a Lutheran Church in the 16th Cen ...
(completed 1471) and the pulpit at
Strasbourg Cathedral Strasbourg Cathedral or the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg (, or ''Cathédrale de Strasbourg'', ), also known as Strasbourg Minster (church), Minster (), is a Catholic cathedral in Strasbourg, Alsace, France. Although considerable parts of ...
, completed in 1485. Kraft is believed to have married twice, but is not known to have produced any children. All his known works are in stone, but he may also have carved unidentified pieces in wood. His
masterpiece A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...
is considered to be the tall
tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle (), also known as the Tent of the Congregation (, also Tent of Meeting), was the portable earthly dwelling of God used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. Moses was instru ...
at St. Lorenz, Nuremberg. The tabernacle, that has the shape of a gothic tower reaching into the church's vault, is made up of tracery interspersed with figural scenes from Christ's Passion and was commissioned in 1493 by Hans Imhoff, a patrician from Nuremberg. The contract for the commission was preserved and stipulates details about the execution and finish of the work. Nash, Susie (2008) ''Northern Renaissance Art''. Oxford:
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, p. 149.
The stone tower, which is supported by three figures, was lightly damaged during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and restored afterwards. One of the supporting figures is a self-portrait by Kraft (at right). Another important work is a huge
relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...
of 1490-92 depicting the
Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Ancient Carthag ...
,
Entombment of Christ The burial of Jesus refers to the entombment of the body of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus after his crucifixion before the erev Shabbat, eve of the sabbath. This event is described in the New Testament. According to the Gospels, canonical gospel ...
, and
Resurrection of Christ The resurrection of Jesus () is Christian belief that God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion, starting—or restoring—his exalted life as Christ and Lord. According to the New Testament writing, Jesus w ...
, on the exterior of St. Sebaldus Church, Nuremberg. Kraft is believed to have completed all of his sculpting work in Nuremberg and its environs in
Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
, between the years 1490 and 1509, working with only a small complement of two or three assistants. His other significant works were the monumental reliefs in the various churches in Nuremberg. He produced the great Schreyer monument in 1492 for St. Sebaldus Church and ''Christ bearing the Cross'' above the altar of the same church. He also made various works for public and private buildings, such as the relief over the door of the Wagehaus, a ''
Saint George and the Dragon In a legend, Saint Georgea soldier venerated in Christianity—defeats a dragon. The story goes that the dragon originally extorted tribute from villagers. When they ran out of livestock and trinkets for the dragon, they started giving up a huma ...
'', several
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s, and other purely decorative pieces. The great tabernacle, covered in statuettes, in
Ulm Minster Ulm Minster () is a Gothic Architecture, Gothic church (building), church located in Ulm, State of Baden-Württemberg (Germany). It was originally built as a Roman Catholic church (building), church but became a Lutheran Church in the 16th Cen ...
, and the very spirited ''Stations of the Cross'', on the road to the Nuremberg
cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...
, are also his. He is buried in nearby
Schwabach Schwabach () is a German city of about 40,000 inhabitants near Nuremberg in the centre of the region of Franconia in the north of Bavaria. Together with the neighboring cities of Nuremberg, Fürth and Erlangen, Schwabach forms one of the three me ...
. Many of his pieces are exhibited at the Nuremberg museum, the
Germanisches Nationalmuseum The ''Germanisches Nationalmuseum'' is a museum in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded in 1852, it houses a large collection of items relating to German culture and art extending from prehistoric times through to the present day. The museum is Germany' ...
.


Notes


References

*Schleif, Corine. "Does Religion Matter? Adam Kraft's Eucharistic Tabernacle and Eobanus Hessus", in: ''Art, Piety and Destruction in the Christian West, 1500–1700'', edited by Virginia Chieffo Raguin, Farnham 2010, 45–63. *Schleif, Corine. "The Many Wives of Adam Kraft: Renaissance Artists' Wives in Legal Documents, Art-historical Scholarship, and Historical Fiction", revised version reprinted in the anthology: ''Saints, Sinners and Sisters. Women and the Pictorial Arts in Northern European Art'', edited by Jane Carroll and Alison Stewart, Basingstoke 2003, 202–22. *Schleif, Corine. "''Rituale in Stein: Erzählungen für eine breite und diverse Öffentlichkeit''" ("Rituals in Stone: Narratives for a Widely Diverse Public"), in: ''Adam Kraft Colloquium'', edited by Frank Matthias Kammel, Nuremberg 2002, 253–70. *Schleif, Corine. "''Wem Gehört Adam Kraft? Zum Umgang mit Kraft und Seinen Werken in Wort und Tat''" ("To Whom Did Adam Kraft Belong? Words and Deeds Engaging Adam Kraft and his Work"), in: ''Adam Kraft Colloquium'', edited by Frank Matthias Kammel, Nuremberg 2002, 31–44. *Schleif, Corine. "Nicodemus and Sculptors: Self-Reflexivity in Works by Adam Kraft and Tilman Riemenschneider", in: ''Art Bulletin'' 75 (1993), 599–626. * Snyder, James; ''Northern Renaissance Art'', 1985, Harry N. Abrams, *Translation of German Wikipedia article (July 23, 2005) usin
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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kraft, Adam 1450s births 1509 deaths 15th-century German sculptors German male sculptors 16th-century German sculptors Gothic sculptors Artists from Nuremberg Catholic sculptors