Pankraz Labenwolf

(b Nuremberg, 1492; d Nuremberg, 20 Sept 1563). Having trained under Peter Vischer (i), he acquired citizenship in 1519 and also became a master. He set up his own workshop in 1523, and in 1537 the Nuremberg City Council permitted him to build his own foundry. Pankraz is often incorrectly referred to as a sculptor. He did not make his own models. Instead he cast brass statues after wooden models prepared by sculptors. This collaboration resulted in the production of works in a variety of styles. The finest example of this practice is the beautiful silver altar (see fig.) commissioned in 1531 by King Sigismund I of Poland for the Sigismund Chapel in Wawel Cathedral in Krak?w. Hans D?rer created the overall design. Georg Herten made the wooden frame and Georg Pencz executed the paintings on the exterior. The core of the altar consists of 12 silver reliefs depicting the Life of the Virgin. Peter Fl?tner carved the wooden reliefs; Pankraz then made brass casts after these; finally Melchior Baier chased them in silver. Pankraz and the others completed the altar in 1538 and received 5801 guilders. About five years later Pankraz and Fl?tner reused their model for one of the reliefs of the silver altar, the Adoration of the Shepherds, for the brass epitaph of Josef Feyerabend in St Gumbertus, Ansbach.

Part of the Labenwolf family

See the Abbreviations for further details.