STOSS, VEIT (STWOSZ WIT). — Sculptor of the late German Gothic period, born probably in Nuremberg in the fifth decade of the 15th century, died there in 1533.
His first period of artistic activity took place in Poland between 1477 and 1496; from this period dates his masterpiece, the great wooden altarpiece of the church of the Virgin Mary in Krakow, which also houses a Crucified Christ by him. Also noteworthy among the works of his Polish period are several marble funerary monuments, foremost among them that of King Casimir Jagellon (d. 1492) in Wawel Cathedral in Krakow, that of Cardinal Zbignievo Olesnicki (d. 1493) in Gniezno Cathedral (Gnesen), and that of Bishop Mosinski in Włocławek Cathedral. Recently, an altar carved by S. was discovered in Salzburg (Nonnberg).
In 1496 S. moved to Nuremberg, where he led a troubled and turbulent life; for forging a bill of exchange, in 1503 he was branded on the cheeks by the executioner. Amid these troubles, the artistic activity of his Nuremberg period appears weaker; its most notable work is the Annunciation in the church of St. Lawrence in Nuremberg. In Italy there is only one work considered to be by S.; it is the St. Roch of the Gundagni Chapel in the Santissima Annunziata in Florence.