STOSS, Veit (Stwosz Witr). — German late-Gothic sculptor, probably born in Nuremberg in the fifth decade of the 15th century, died there in 1533.
His first period of artistic activity unfolded in Poland between 1477 and 1496; from this period comes his masterpiece, the great wooden altarpiece of the church of Our Lady in Cracow, in which is also preserved a Crucifix by him. Also noteworthy from this period are a few marble sepulchral monuments, above all that of King Casimir Jagiellon (d. 1492) in the cathedral of Wawel in Cracow, that of Cardinal Zbigniew Olesnicki (d. 1492) in the cathedral of Gniezno (Gnesen), and that of Bishop Mosinski in the cathedral of Włocławek. Recently at Salzburg (Nonnberg) an altarpiece carved by S. has been discovered.
In 1496 S. moved to Nuremberg, where he led a troubled and stormy life; in 1503, for having forged a bill of exchange, he was branded on the cheeks by the executioner with marks of infamy. Amid these troubles his artistic activity in the Nuremberg period appears weaker; the most notable work from it is the Annunciation in the church of St. Lawrence in Nuremberg. In Italy there exists a single work attributed to S.; it is the St. Roch in the Guadagni Chapel in the Most Holy Annunciation in Florence.