1434 -1519 · Nuremberg and German Renaissance

Colorful altarpieces, precise portraits and printed images make Michael Wolgemut the great workshop manager of Nuremberg on the eve of Dürer.

Michael Wolgemut was born in Nuremberg in 1434 and died there in 1519. Trained in the world of Franconian workshops, he probably worked in Munich before returning to his hometown. By marrying Barbara, widow of the painter Hans Pleydenwurff, in 1472, he took over and developed an important workshop. Wolgemut produced altarpieces, portraits, religious panels and models intended for wood engraving. His organization brought together apprentices and companions capable of responding to vast commissions where painting, sculpture, gilding and printing complemented each other. His organization brought together apprentices and companions capable of responding to vast commissions where painting, sculpture, gilding and printing complemented each other. His organization brought together apprentices and companions capable of responding to vast commissions where painting, sculpture, gilding and printing complemented each other. His organization brought together apprentices and companions capable of responding to vast commissions where painting, sculpture, gilding and printing complemented each other. His organization brought together apprentices and companions capable of responding to vast commissions where painting, sculpture, gilding and printing complemented each other. His organization brought together apprentices and companions capable of responding to vast commissions where painting, sculpture, gilding and printing complemented each other. His organization brought together apprentices and companions capable of responding give the face a firm individuality. Between 1486 and 1489, the young Albrecht Dürer completed his apprenticeship in the workshop, where he discovered painting, drawing and preparation of engraved wood. The most famous printed project associated with Wolgemut is the Nuremberg Chronicle by Hartmann Schedel, published by Anton Koberger in 1493. Produced with Wilhelm Pleydenwurff and a vast workshop, it brings together hundreds of compositions and more than a thousand images taken from numerous blocks, representing cities, sovereigns, biblical stories and universal history. Some views are observed, others reused for several places. Wolgemut thus embodies the passage between the large workshop medieval and the printed culture of the German Renaissance. The "Michael Wolgemut" selection notably compares Portrait of Hans Tucher. His reading favors drawing.

Michael Wolgemut leads the image like a collective workshop: from the patrician face to the engraved city, each form must be clear, transmissible and durable.